I used to be a freak about my water levels and i always used to kill my fish so my friend who has 6 tanks and has had them for quite sometime told me to stop checking them and so i did then i checked on thursday and it was 8.0 i tried to ignore it and i couldnt so i changed the cartridge and put some amquel in now it is wednesday and my ammonia is .50 which is fabulous. but now my oscar is not eating and he used to come to the front of the tank when i used to come over but now he runs away. So my question is could he be moping again from the change in ammonia happened so quickly or is it more likely hes sick.

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wow my levels are pretty bad too but

nitrate-20

nitrite-2.0

ammonia-.5

ph-7.0 (atleast somethings good)

i have a baby oscar in a 29 gallon it is with a corydora i will prolly get a bigger tank soon. i have an aquatech 20-40 filter which uses ez change cartrige aquatech.the temp bobs between 78 at night and 80 in during the day. i only used amquel once becuase i dont trust it myself but i decided it wa worth a shot. he is breathing fine and the only thing i could think of is that hes moving slowly but he did that in his moping stage too.
Anything that i can do to get the levels down without hurting my fish? as i said before i used to be a freak about my levels and i used to change water all the time and all i did was kill fish. I am a little nervous about water changes because of that but i will take any advice i can get.
please and thank you

hees probly adjusting to the sudend change in water being nice and clean what other reading did you get as your nitrates could be high which is just as harmfull as amonia. basicly your bilogical filter changes amonia to nitrate ect ect not sure on the detailed version

post the results from
amonia
nitrates
nitrite
ph

and we can go from there. i aume you have the water temp spot on.
dont wory just yet they can goa few days without eating no matter how much they beg. i feed mine every other day at the minute as im trying to get the gravel out gradualy ready for the sand

what kind of filtration are you using?

I ask, because you need to have some form of permanent biological media, whether ceramic, bio-wheels, or something of that nature.

In a cycled tank, you should never see ammonia or nitrite. Even .5 is not healthy.

Ammonia at 8.0 is highly poisonous, so I don't doubt that he is not hungry.

AmQuel ... I don't know if I believe it actually eliminates ammonia or not. I have read things that it disguises it from tests, and the company claims it works.

The best thing is to have a cycled tank and you don't need to chemically try to combat this toxin.

If you have water quality issues, you should never stop checking your water. Those with cycled tanks, that have had consistent readings for long periods of time, taking them before and after water changes and the like can start to reduce the amount of testing, but still do occasionally to make sure there isn't a problem that has come up.

We really need to tackle the reason why you had high ammonia.

Please state the size of the tank, what filters (type and flow rate), number of fish, the filter media you use, temperature of the tank, and any other pertinent information.

A good filtering system will have adequate recycle rate for the type of filter it is, a good amount of biomedia and a good amount of mechanical filtration. With regular water changes, carbon is not needed at all (besides removing medication), for any smell it removes indicates a problem, and any other thing it 'removes' is removed more efficiently and cheaper with a water change. If carbon isn't changed weekly, the toxins can leach back into the water and you are back to square one.

Another thing people sometimes overlook is cleaning out the filters, impeller housings, etc. This builds up waste and can not only hinder the filters efficiency, it can also become a source of contaminants in the water as well. The same goes for not properly cleaning the gravel. If you dig into it with the siphon, and it is not clear, it is dirty and contributing to water quality issues. Discolor is detrius and rotting food, which is not good for the fish. Kind of like us bathing in sewage.

So ... fabulous numbers would be 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 0.1-15 nitrate ... and a stable pH.

If you get the water under control, your Oscar will be happy and hungry Well, other than being quite the characters Os can be at times.

Is your Oscar having labored breathing? Is there any other signs than reduced appetite that would clue in to a sickness or infection?


Hope for the best and ask away. We all will do all that we can to make you and your O as happy and healthy as possible.

checking your water quality by testing is never a bad thing. It gives you an early warning that things are going wrong. Ammonia and nitrite should always be zero in a cycled tank. How long has your tank been set up for, how often do you clean the filter and how often and how much water do you change when doing a water change

Long term a 29g is not enough for one oscar as they get massive, you should be thinking about getting a bigger tank soon as oscars grow fast

Try adding some ammo lock to help with your ammonia reading. It changes ammonia into a safe form (it will still show up on a test)