musty water

[rmusicpixie]

My 55 gallon tank has a terrible musty smell to it now. Does anyone have any information on how to get rid of that smell?

I have some live plants
1 pleco
2 black mollies
6 platys
7 danios

I have kept up on 15% water changes weekly and water testing weekly but when I tested yesterday I had .25 Nitrite 0 Amonia between 40-80 Nitrate (normal for my tank) and 7 ph level. I have the liquid test kit. I also use a gravel vac when doing water changes. I pulled the sponge from my filter yesterday to clean it and it just about blew me away it smelled so musty. I ran clean water on it instead of using the water from the tank change. The fish do not seem to be any different. I use Prime and Stress Zyme for my water changes. Hopefully I have hit the right answers to any other questions. I am thinking to replace the sponge in the filter and do a large water change to see if this helps but do not want to end up starting a cycle that will result in a fish kill.

Any answers?

 

[OrangeCones]

You may want to check your tank for cyanobacteria. It typically has a very musty/earthy smell.

 

[rmusicpixie]

How do I test for that?

 

[OrangeCones]

I don't know of a test for it, other than visually looking for it.

 

[rmusicpixie]

There is not any algae build up anywhere in the tank just cloudy water and a musty smell. I looked up that stuff and it doesnt resemble anything going on in my tank. I will just keep with more frequent water changes which seemed to cure everything a couple months ago. Get a new sponge in the filter too maybe that will help as well. Thanks for your input!

 

[are YOU a fish?]

Have you looked under your hood where the light is? That's usually what causes the smell in my tank.

 

[bmoraski]

i agree, check your cover and maybe give a good cleaning.
also i would do 50% water changes, and see if that helps. and some carbon will help polish the water, i think it also helps with smell but im not sure.
be careful when changing out filter media because thats were most of your good bacteria lives, if you swap it out youll go into a mini cycle.if im going to put new filter media in, i put new in with the old for a week to establish good bacteria on it then throw out the old.
good luck

 

[paperdog9]

Strange, I had this smell as well but it was caused by the numerous pounds of algea I pulled out doing water changes.

 

[wananwu]

more then likely it is a bacteria plume from when you cleaned the sponge filter and lost too much of you bio-filter. next time before you do a water change use an api product called aqua clear. it will make all the solid mater in you water settle to the bottom in about ten minutes. then you vacuum it up when you do you water change. becareful if you have any snails though the will litteraly run from the water when you do this but it shouldn't hurt your plants

 

[OrangeCones]

more then likely it is a bacteria plume from when you cleaned the sponge filter and lost too much of you bio-filter. next time before you do a water change use an api product called aqua clear.

The OP's problem was there BEFORE the sponge in the filter was washed out incorrectly, so its not the current bacteria bloom that caused the musty smell.

Also, its "Accu-Clear" by API, not aqua clear. I've never used it so have no idea how it works or what it does that could be harmful, but incase anyone else wants to check it out.

More frequent water changes with gravel vacs cures much of what ails fish aquariums!

Just my 2cents.
OC

 

[lauraf]

Ditto on OrangeCones. Water changes and gravel cleaning. Try not to add any more chemicals to the water - they often just mask the underlying issue, which is usually poor water quality due to overstocking, overfeeding, and under-maintenance.