Peppery smell?

[belizemama]

Hi! I am a newbie here. Can anyone tell me what I can do to rid my tank of a very strong peppery smell? It is a ten gallon tank with 2 cory, a Pleco, 3 neon tetras, and about 6 guppies (at the present time...).
This smell just started about 2 days ago and seems to be getting stronger. I did a 1/2 water change about 5 days ago. I also have live plants in it. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[BigJim]

Welcome to AA!

Can't say I've ever heard of a tank having a peppery smell. A healthy tank will usually have an earthy smell to it. Are you sure your electrical equipment is in order? Ozone from shorted electrical equipment could have a peppery smell.

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

My tanks have that earthy smell but I've not heard of a peppery smell. Change out your filter(assuming you have a hob with inserts like I do) if it's time and see what happens.

 

[cabezon]

New plastic smells peppery to me, like a storage bin.

or, are you growing peppers in your tank?

 

[belizemama]

Peppery smell or something else? Not sure.

Thanks for the responses. I have checked the elictrical stuff and it seems to be fine. Could I be overfeeding? Would that cause a smell like this? I am only saying "peppery" because that is the first thing I associated it with. It definitely is not an earthy smell. I have also noticed a sort of whitish to grayish (algae?) in it recently. It was floating and clinging to plantlife. That is new to me also, but I think I may have gotten that worked out.

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

The fuzzy white stuff is decaying food (i think) but without a pic i couldnt tell you for sure. If it is indeed decaying food then you have nothing to really worry about, but i would keep an eye on how much you are feeding. again i would do a water change and change out your filter media.

 

[wierdkid]

have you used Melafix in your tank recently? It has a very noticeable peppery smell to it. if so, a water change should get rid of it very quickly. It could also be something else that has been put in the tank (medications, something a little kid put in the tank), in which case a water change would be helpful.

 

[Butterflikissies]

lol.... I don't mean to laugh. But I thought I was just going nuts. Your post really caught my eye.. My tank also smells like pepper! I can't figure out why either. Do you happen to use Prime?

 

[jessibell]

I read this post a couple days ago, and then I put melafix into my tank yesterday and immediately associated the smell with pepper! It made me think of this post.

 

[7Enigma]

My tanks have that earthy smell but I've not heard of a peppery smell. Change out your filter(assuming you have a hob with inserts like I do) if it's time and see what happens.

I read your posts and cannot give any help except to say make sure you are doing gravel vacs with your water changes to pick up any poo and left over food as that can most definitely cause smell-related issues. I have no clue what would make a pepper smell (both Pimafix and Melafix IMO smell nothing like peppers, but we all have different smell analogies), but white bacteria will form in round balls around leftover rotting food. I get that in my puffer tank if there is an uneated snail part for a couple days before I remove it with a gravel vac.

The main reason I posted in this thread was in regards to the post I quoted. DO NOT change out filter inserts, even if the directions say too. That is a sure-fire way to cause your tank to cycle again. Most of us in the hobby just rinse out our inserts in USED TANK WATER when the flow gets restricted. Again even if your directions say to change out every X months, DO NOT DO IT. And CA_Broncofan, please don't repeat this advice as it will cause a lot of issues.

Also wanted to mention IMO you are overstocked for a 10 gallon tank. The pleco should be returned to the store outright (as it will get much too big too quickly and is a very messy fish), and you will need to cull the guppy population once they start breeding to prevent disaster in the tank. And by cull I do not mean flush down the toilet/kill, you will need to find a proper outlet for the fry.

 

[corrado33]

The main reason I posted in this thread was in regards to the post I quoted. DO NOT change out filter inserts, even if the directions say too. That is a sure-fire way to cause your tank to cycle again. Most of us in the hobby just rinse out our inserts in USED TANK WATER when the flow gets restricted. Again even if your directions say to change out every X months, DO NOT DO IT. And CA_Broncofan, please don't repeat this advice as it will cause a lot of issues.

I thought multi-insert filters were better. For example mine has 3 inserts (sponge, bio holder stuff, and carbon). I've read you can change out one at a time just fine? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Multi-insert filters are good. In your case, I'd only change out the carbon insert. If the others become really gunky or start slowing down the outflow of the filter, then you could change them out but only one at a time. Usually, people just change out carbon since it will lose its effectiveness after a month or so (sometimes less).

 

[corrado33]

Multi-insert filters are good. In your case, I'd only change out the carbon insert. If the others become really gunky or start slowing down the outflow of the filter, then you could change them out but only one at a time. Usually, people just change out carbon since it will lose its effectiveness after a month or so (sometimes less).

Ah thanks! Funny thing is I have only changed out the carbon, and I've usually washed the sponge with the sink, then run some aquarium water through it, so I guess I've been... doing good maintenance unknowingly?

OH EDIT: I'm so sorry to threadjack. Honestly I have no idea why a tank would have a peppery smell. You haven't tried to make fish soup have you? (I kid I kid...)