My oscar fish is dying, he stopped eating a week ago and today is lying on his side at bottom of tank unable to move and appears to be gasping.

I bought a test kit and my levels read as follows

ammonia above 8.0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm

i have bought some prime which says it detoxifies the ammonia in the tank. i did a 50% water change yesterday but obviously todays reading of ammonia is off the chart still.

i have no idea what to do, wether to do another water change or add the prime?? should i change or clean the filter media...?

Please help

How big is the tank, are there tank mates, how long has the tank been running? What filter are you using and how long has it been since you last cleaned it? What is your tank temp? How big is your O?

My initial reaction would be to do another pwc with Prime but the experts will need more info to advise you. Good luck..shaz

My tank is about 125 litres and has been running for about 8/9 months.

I am using a fluval 3 plus filter with a polyester filter pad in at the moment. I last changed the filter pad about 4 weeks ago roughly.

The temperature is at 28.

My oscar is about 6"
I also have a plec in the tank and 2 turtles which were all put in together. Have had no new additions to the tank so the tank is quite empty and lots of room for them.

when i did the water change yesterday there was a lot of waste and uneaten food that was under the gravel. Would of been alot more to clean only i didnt want to take too much water out at one time.

The prime says to put 5ml in for my aquarium, but do i need to do another water change or shall a change the filter media for a new polyester one??

Ok, I am not one of the experts here, but this is what rings bells for me.

Get rid of all the rotting waste - do another vacuum and replace water with conditioned water - dont Prime the whole tank amount - I do it by bucket and add a few drops of prime per bucket.

Don't touch your filter unless you suspect it is choked up. If you need to rinse then use tank water, don't replace media. Whatever bio filtration you have in there is precious right now..

Your temp can go down 5 degrees easily but reset the heater and let it drop gradually, don't just introduce cold water.

Now...your tank is way too small for even just the Oscar, let alone the rest and your filter is insufficient. If you have lots of crap in there you are probably overfeeding. I'll leave the experts to guide you

I can't get my head around how you have two turtles and an Oscar in the same small tank..the landing area requirements must rob the tank of water volume...Do you have another tank?

Sharyn has given you great advice...

You need to get that tank clean, Not clean your filter, add more filtration, and get a BIGGER separate tank for your Oscar.

Keep using prime... What is your PH by the way?

Hi thanks for your advice.

iv uploaded a picture of the tank if that helps, as you can see the oscar is at the bottom.

Where is the photo Hun???

Sorry the picture didnt upload.

I will do the water change now, how much do you recommend i change? And how often should i be adding the prime. When should i re test for ammonia as the prime only detoxifies it, not removes it from showing up.

I havn't tested the PH level. i will also do that now before i water change. what should it be at? As the nitrate and nitrite levels are 0ppm does that not mean my filter is ok?

Sorry for all the questions but you are helping me big time, thankyou once again.

Also are there any filters you recommend

the ph is at 7.6

having a high pH will make the ammonia more toxic, so thats even worst...
I'd say do a 50% waterchange at least to start with, right now.
btw welcome to ofl, wish it were in better circumstances...

Ok im going to do the water change now then add the prime to the new water.

any further help with the above would be very much appreciated.