I hate New LIFe Spectrum(NLS) FIsh food

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I have the exact same problem with NLS. I am using the 3mm Thera +A pellets. I have large fish in the tank that have no trouble swallowing the pellets whole. However, I can see the brown dust coating the water surface as soon as I put it in the tank. I have a surface skimmer running and it does clear up in a few minutes; however, the canister filter pads quickly clog up because of it.

I also have the fish odor after feeding as well.

Maybe this problem is limited to the Thera +A formula. I am going to switch back to the regular formula and see what happens.
 
I use the 2mm pellets and I never have any of these problems. I feed only enough for the fish to eat in a few bites before I offer more. I do this 3x a day at each feeding. Now I have seen all types of food foul the water when fish are offered too much for them to eat easily and quickly. When I feed flakes to my young and small fish, they tend to blow a lot of particles from their gills. I have different brands of pellets and my tank remains clear. Actually in my experience, my other brands of pellets will dissolve much faster than the hard NLS pellets.
 
I almost find NLS to be more powdery in a way... my fahaka basically bites all her pellets, and with Massivore it seems less messy and doesn't break apart as much as NLS does...

But yeah... since i ran out of massivore i start using NLS Therma A+, so maybe i'll try switching it up again when i run out of NLS?
 
Iam just using the large fish formula, and when I do a small handful all my fish eat all of it in 5 minutes or less. My fish are medium to large catfish, and oscar, and three koi.
 
Pharaoh;4988486; said:
One thing you might try is to reduce he size of the pellet. Give your fish a pellet that is small enough for them to swallow whole. This will reduce the amount of food they chew up and spit back out.

I tend to overfeed, so I know what you mean by the filter socks, but I've never had a problem with my tanks smelling unless I had forgot to do some maintenance. I also run a drip system, so I have fresh water all the time. That might be some of the difference.
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That's exactly what I was going to say. Most people go for pellets that are too big. If the fish can't swallow the pellet whole, there will always be waste when they try to chew it down.
Go for something like 1mm until fish hits 6", 2mm until they hit about 10-12", then you can switch to 3mm if you like.
Also, I find thera stinks more than other formulas. If you're smelling something like rotten fish, my guess would be that's exactly what you're smelling--uneaten bits of pellet that has FISH in it (actually it has a lot of krill and herring, in that order, and then depending on the formula can have other species of fish, squid, mussels, etc).
 
Iam using 3mm at the moment and it seems to small as is. When my fish eat they do all sem to crush the pellet than swallow, so even if I got the 1mm they would probably still crush and than swallow. fish sizes in my tank range from 6 inches to 22 inches
 
If your tank has a horrible rotten fish smell then I would suggest that you take a closer look at your bio load, your water change schedule, and your DIY bio filtration. The food isn't your problem.

Honestly, short of a crystal ball I wouldn't even know where to begin addressing some of the comments that you have made in this discussion, anymore than I would adressing your question in the topic that you just started regarding water changes.

Are my fish going to still be healthy with a water change of 60-80% once per month?
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http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=403393

Do you honestly think that anyone on MFK can help you when you offer such little information about your system?

You've been complaining about odor issues for several months now, perhaps it's time to look beyond the food that you are feeding.

In the 10 or so yrs that I've been feeding NLS I've yet to have a single person comment on any type of odor in my fish room, including my hyper sensitive wife. I've also been in smallish fish rooms containing 3,000-4,000 gallons of water, ambient room temps in the mid 80's, high humidity, and every last tank being fed NLS, and zero odor issues.
 
wow, Iam sorry if I offended you. I am on this forum for the knowledge and at times I am not the best at asking the right questions to get that knowledge.

I redid my fiilter and I only get a smell after feeding NLS on the days I don't feed NLS I get no smell. Yes my filter was flawed before and might still be, but it keeps ammonia and nitrite at zero and with waterchanges nitrates in the 40-50ppm. Iam a bit overstocked for the 300 and need to upgrade this year. That upgrade will happen and will be done the right way.
 
No, just the normal large fish 3mm formula. I am hoping it is just a bad batch.
 
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