Ok… I had the new 55 gallon tank running for about three days with no inhabitants. I used Cycle (a super concentrated beneficial bacteria) for the setup but I had to get my two juvenile Oscars a Pacu and a Pleco in to the tank. They were all in a 10 gallon for about a week. The ammonia levels were toxic and I was doing water changes daily. As stated previously in my introduction on the intro forum none of the fish are over 3 inches ... and I plan on getting another tank or two…I need more room and more money! That will come soon with a new job I am starting in March.
Anyway…while I was at band practice my girlfriend thought she saw ich on the Pacu. her eyes are younger and better than mine so… I had already cleaned the 10 gallon thoroughly. My idea was to keep it as a hospital tank or a feeder tank.... although I never saw any signs of ich, I transferred the Pacu back in to the 10 gal. and treated the Pacu. I rather be safe than sorry! I am considering bringing the Pacu back in to the 55g in a couple of more days making his isolation at least a week. I used Jungle Ick Clear that says usually one treatment is enough.
The Pacu seems healthy but the ammonia level >=1.5… I guess I need to do another water change. The PH <= 7.6 which I think is alright but I hate adding chemicals to get that sought after 7.0… Nitrate <=1.0, nitrite=0 …It’s a ten gallon tank so it is usually a hassle to keep the levels perfect. By the way the 10 gal. is a Via Aqua 380 that uses a built in bio filter with the natural biofilter support meduia and a little bit of polyester filter fiber. The tap water levels are as follows: The PH <= 7.6 ammonia level =0 Nitrate =0, nitrite=0
When we bought the Oscars the Pacu came along as a hitchhiker…(The lady swooped him up with one of the Oscars) …We said “That’s ok we’ll keep him…” I knew Pacus got big but I didn’t think they got that big…I saw the picture on this website…Oh My God!. We have had him for about two weeks and he has doubled in size. I am thinking on bringing him back to the store before it is too late and saying he is not going to work in our tank…Although he is shy and stayed away from the Oscars when we had them together, I can see a day where he might dwarf the Oscars and rip them to shreds.
Now the Oscars are happy and swimming in synchronized fashion in the 55 gal. but there are more problems… First of all the ammonia level <=1.5… The PH <= 7.6 which once again I think is alright but I hate adding chemicals to get that sought after 7.0… Nitrate >=5.0, nitrite=0
I got a great deal on 4 Maxi -Jet 1200 submersible power heads (295 gph). Running them all in the 55 gal makes the current flow a little crazy! They will adjust air flow but not water flow. I have them hooked up to 4 individual under gravel filter plates. I actually put them in yesterday and I got up around 3am to see if the fish can find a spot to rest but they seemed to be caught in a bit of a surfer expression “gnarly and hairy rip tide” I’m originally from California! I unplugged two of them to let them sleep. They seem to love it though… catching waves and flows but I think it might be stressing them out a little. I don’t know? I am thinking on taking two power heads out and replacing them with air stones and a pump to get the water a little more calmer. I think I might have them set just high enough in the water so the current is all up top now but, I have to wait til tonight. I also thought about putting them on a timer for “off” every couple of hours but I don’t want to turn off the undergravel bio-filtration for too long and I wonder about sleeping habit duration of my particular fish. I am also running two Tetra Whisper EX 45’s that have carbon filters and a “bio scrubber”… The idea is: I want the water clean enough to drink! I realize more and more I am really a novice at this but I have had successful aquariums before. Maybe I am just lucky with just the right adjustments but I am no professional. This is my first 55 gal. My previous aquariums were a 5 gal. a 10 gal. a 29 gal. and the 10 gal that is up right now.
I have a friend who just recently told me his tank is for sale. (An 80 gallon… completely set up and running with a 5” or 6” Red Devil a foot long Pacu and a 4” or 5” Jack Dempsey… established for a couple of years or more… for $250 !!!!)…Now you tell me! I thought about taking it off his hands but it sounds like it be more problems …Anyway I need more room. They want to sell the tank but they want to get rid of the fish first…No one will take them .

So…Anyway… There are my fish dilemmas! Sorry about such a long tangent filled e-mail but …I got myself in to this I want to keep myself afloat…
In short my questions are:
1. What should I do about the Red Bellied Pacu? Return him? Wait a couple of days and put him in with the Oscars…with more furniture to try and keep his size minimal?
2. The filtration system: See if they survive and find sleep? Try and make a better sleeping area with more furniture? Put them on timers? Pull out two of the powerheads and go with the air stones?
3. Should I try and reduce the ammonia levels more? Should I try and reduce the PH levels?
4. What should my friend do? Maybe in a couple of months I can take that project on but I rather just buy the tank with just the Red Devil and the Jack Dempsey…but what do we do with the foot long Pacu….
Thank you, 7JD’s

First, I'll give a couple of unsolicited advice, and please note that I don't mean to be harsh at all. We are all learning here. The following is just my opinion:

a) That cycle product, the last time I heard, actually has bacteria that brakes down ammonia and nitrites but just the wrong type of bacteria: one that will never be able to self-sustain in the tank, therefore the need to keep adding this product periodically. Cycling a tank properly -and I have cycled all my 12 tanks fishless with ammonia solution- will spare you a lot of hard work -e.g. daily partial water changes for weeks on, and time -4 days is my record with a fully seeded filter and substrate, 13 days the longest so far.

b) Each ick medication available will handle the problem but just not when you see ick cysts in the fish. Ick has three developmental stages: the cyst, visible as tiny grain of salts, is actually not treatable and is likely, if severe, to kill fish (I have lost some precious fish to it). In the first two stages, ick is vulnerable and here is where the meds act. Also if you have a mild infestation, raising temperature and aeration for two weeks should do the trick, even better if you do thorough substrate vacuum and almost total water changes for a few days but remember that doing this latter part, might upset your bacteria colonies.

c) The only safe levels for Ammonia (and also for Nitrites) is zero. Fish exposed to ammonia that is not lethal, and survive, may -or not- suffer some long term consequences. Since you are cycling with fish, then daily partial water changes to reduce ammonia and nitrite concentrations are a must. When it comes to Nitrates, it changes with the type of fish. -e.g. Oscar fish can take 25ppm easily (not ideal though) but even 15ppm could easily wipe out some delicate fish, as Penguin Tetras or Fire Rasboras, and then one of the most delicate of all, the Discus fish needs nitrates to stay at 5ppm or below.

d) keeping pristine water in Oscar tanks is a challenge, and something most of us aim at. Filtration that is enough for other settings -e.g. community tanks, will not suffice. You seem well informed here.

d) You might find someone trough this forum, or other, willing to adopt the fish of your friend. Getting a 80gal tank still falls short for keeping two Oscars in the same tank but could house one of them and a few tankmates as you get a 6footer tank later on.

Your questions:

1. Pacu are huge fish as you already discovered, personally I would return it unless I had a Monster tank (800-1000gal) or adequate pond. They also are schooling fish, so they do better when in company of other Pacus, which demands even more volume of water. I would go one step further and return the Pleco as well and focus on your two young Oscars.

2. I don't think any filtration system will manage to keep up with the growing bio-load you have; it may as it is now. I just don't see it. I mean, 55gal for one Oscar and not another fish is strongly suggested in this forum. Your two Tetra Whisper EX-45 should do the work. I would either reverse the UnderGravelFilter flow, or take it out entirely to have more room for water. I would consider keeping that 55gal tank bare-bottom, for ease of cleaning.

3. I would address the ammonia levels by partial water changes, even if more than one is needed daily. On the other hand, tampering with pH, specially bringing it down could be risky. As a rule of thumb although acidic/soft water might be ideal, slightly alkaline/medium-hard water is preferable if pH is stable than lower but likely unstable pH. Don't get me wrong, I do tamper with my pH in some of my tanks but I have done a lot of reading around and experimentation, even inducing a pH crash. My source water is 7.7 or even more (unpredictable mixture of City water and well) and by using Indian Almond Tree Leaves (18 large size, replaced every 2 to 3 weeks, for free year-around in my street) and by placing several driftwoods I keep my Oscars' tank at steady pH 7.2.

4. I believe you already have fish for your 55 and that 80gal tank. Hard to tell. Maybe the Jack Dempsey and one Oscar in the 80gal? I don't know if that would be asking for trouble. I would skip the Red Devil, it could get really nasty with other fish.

Remember this is just my opinion.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

top marks pepe,very well writen and covers the lot. very good advice.

marcus wrote:




X2..........

Thank you for the advice. I am going to check the levels and do some partial water changes etc... for right now...I have to work today and most of the weekend and much of next week. I am working the WAC tournament (Western Athletic Conference basketball here in Nevada...even though most of you are in other places around the world...No! I can not get you tickets! Ha Ha!) Anyway I am determined to pull this off whichever way I can. I still have the time to monitor the water and make changes appropriately. I'll let you know what's going on. Thank you