Hi everyone,

I've got 2 oscars (one about 6" & the other about 8") in a 55 gal aquarium. First off, I KNOW this is too small & I have plans to upgrade them to a 125 gal hopefully by the end of next month.

I've had them for about 4 months now & they've been eating & growing like crazy. Up until this week, even with the small tank, the water levels have been fine. Suddenly, on Monday I wake up to a dead pleco & my two oscars lying on the bottom. of the tank. The ammonia & nitrate levels are THROUGH THE ROOF...so high I don't even think they are on the charts I have with the kit I own.

I immediately did a 50% water change & they came up off the bottom and started swimming & looking for food (& eating). I also did another change later in the day & 2 water changes yesterday. Up until this point I had been doing an approx. 20% water change every other day. I thought maybe I could change this to every day until I can get them into a bigger tank. Well, today the water levels are still sky high and I don't know what to do. They're still acting fine & eating well, but the water values are all screwed up.

What can I do?? I see products in the store for lowering levels, but I always thought the best thing to do was water changes & that doesn't seem to do the trick. I even went out last night & bought another filter for the back of the tank (there are now 3).

Does anyone have any advice on how I can get this water back in check (or, at least better than it is now) until I can get them into a bigger place next month??

Help!

What are you using tocheck your water? 5-1 dip sticks.. if so throw them away and get your self a real test kit, they are more money but worth it.. I was getting false ammonia & nitartae readings from the sticks.. Hope that helps if not im sure some one else will chime in..

It's the API Master Test Kit: www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?produ...amp;mr:referralID=NA

There are products on the market that will either neutralize, or remove toxins like ammonia or nitrite. One such product is prime, this also doubles up as a water conditioner, I like and use a regular basis. I would certainly recommend this product if you can get hold of it, use it until your water conditions settle down.

In many cases, you know when something's wrong by the way your fish behave. From what you describe, this happened in your situation. The fish were very lethargic but when you did a water change, they improved. This is probably because they was suffering from toxic poisoning. When you reduced the toxins, they felt better. So as far as false readings, I think this is not the case.

I would also advise you to start feeding your fish every other day so that we can limit the amount of waste going into the water. You got to remember that the more you feed your fish, the more waste they produce, waste = ammonia. I shouldn't worry, fish can go without food for many weeks, even months in some cases.

Now there must be some reason why this has happened to your tank. Ask yourself a few questions? Have you washed any of your filter media in tap water recently? This is a common mistake many people make, doing this can result in serious bacteria fatality which will obviously have a detrimental effect on your water quality. Have you inadvertently left your filters off for any period of time? Have you been overfeeding your fish? Has something died in your tank and you haven't realized? Have you been using any medications recently? Some additives/medications can seriously harm your biological filter.

Okay, you're going to have to be regular water changes until your ammonia returns to zero. Test the water every day and carry out a water change. If your biological filter is still functioning, it shouldn't take very long before things return to normal. Without knowing your situation, that's the best advice I can give you for the moment.

joeyoey wrote:


In my opinion, these are the best kits on the market, I always use them

water change is the right thing to do whenever you are not sure what is happening to your tank. "better safe than sorry". since you do not know what happen, keep doing the water change until you are equip with the test kit to check the parameters. sorry for the loss of your pleco.

btw, welcome to the site.

btw you dont have the same test kit as in your link do you? cause thats the saltwater test kit. This is the freshwater one www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754034

uselessmidget wrote:
if you are directing this question to me, i had one set of bioresearch test kit (an API license) distributor in my place) but i seldom use them in my tank. i'd been hook in this hobby for 7 years and only use it recently. people here force me to have one to contest myself about my water parameters. i am practicing heavy hydroponics.
now, i am using it to all my clients.

sorry paul I shoulda mentioned it was for the OP. He posted a link to the water testing kit he has and it was the reef version so I was wondering if those tests are for the wrong kind of water.

okey then....don't worry.... you can look for American Pharmaceutical Inc (API)
test kit. they have for both type, salt and fresh water