need help with fishiness of the tank!

[AniMallh2You]

the discus is doing ok and eating well, but the tank has a heavy fishiness smell, does it mean the fliter is not doing well?

[hexed]

Can you tell me more about your tank? Are you doing water changes? What are your water perimeters?

[AniMallh2You]

30g tank, and i change water 50% daily!

[RyanH]

How many fish? What size are they?

Do you just have Discus?

Is it planted w/ substrate?

What are you feeding them? How often?

What is your cleaning schedule/ maintenence regime?

What are you using for filtration?

What are your water parameters?

Is it city or well water?

Any odors coming from the tap?

Any cloudiness?

Since you are keeping fish in the tank, it will inevitably have some smell. Some people are also more sensitive to odor than others. I have an extremely sensitive nose that borders on ridiculous. My wife on the other hand, could get blasted point blank by a skunk and be completely oblivious.

Post some more info. on your tank. This may be a warning sign for other problems.

-Ryan

[AADiscus]

When was the last time you cleaned your filter?

[Carol_Roberts]

A bare bottom tank with a clean filter and 50% daily water changes should not have much smell at all. If not bare bottom suspect food trapped in gravel. Rinse filter media in DECHLORINATED lukewarm water.

[iowadiscus]

Ok I know that there are going to be people that disagree with me on this but I have had a tank or to in the past and never had a problem with it. USE CARBON. The carbon will take smell out but change it often. I know some where someone is going to tell you carbon is bad but I have never had a problem and if anyone can show me how it has hurt there fish and thats the only problem that was in there tank at the time. I would love to see it.

[marilyn1998]

Iowa,

Carbon does not discriminate what it removes from the water. It is good you replace it often. If left in for a week or more it can leach all the bad stuff back into the water. In addition, tho, it removes the good nutrients and minerals from the water that the fish need.
IMHO, in general, carbon is not good. But if you are consistent in changing it out, and replace the good stuff it removes, then I suppose it cant hurt.
In general, tho, most people are not paying that close attention, hence the bad rep it gets.

Just MHO.

[AniMallh2You]

thanks for all your help! i clean my fiter twice a week, and 50% water change daily, i think it is the food! my discus did not eat a lot! I will try to feed them 2-3 times a day, see what is happening! i am new to forum, so sometime i have some stupid question, sorry!

[hexed]

Animal,
Ok, Now we know it's not in need of a water change :)
What kind of filter is it? Also how many and what size discus are in the tank? Have you tested the perimeters (pH, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite)?

Please never feel sorry for asking questions! Without asking questions we will never learn anything ;) I want to welcome you to SimplyDiscus! Sorry I forgot to in my first reply ;)
Frank

[AniMallh2You]

my tank is 30g with four 3'' discus, no carbon in my fiter, and NO2 and NO3 are 0, pH = 7.0, ammonia = .25!

[marilyn1998]

How do you clean your filter? Do you use aquarium water? Do you rinse your cartdidges?

IMHO 2x weekly cleaning filter could be causing your cycle to be disrupted. Your ammonia is telling you this. I would only clean them once month. Make sure to use aquarium water in a bucket so as not to disturb your bacteria colony. THen replace the filter/cartridge and dump the water from the bucket.

Just my 2 cents... for what its worth.

Listen to Hex... he is good!

[hexed]

Ok,
Your filters are what kind?
Frank

[AADiscus]

Is this tank a BB? What type of food(s) are you feeding? If you are feeding any beef heart but sure you do your water change after that feeding. You don't want anything left over in the tank.