first of all, hi everyone, my name is mahn, i've been trolling your site for the last week and have found it very helpful and informative.

however i now need some help from you. my oscar is not happy. i have only had him for a week, he's around 7 inches (i got him off a mate who didn't look after him very well)..

i have sorted out the ammonia and PH levels, they are fine - as i was told when i took a water sample to the local aquarium to get tested. but unfortunately they advised me my nitrate and nitrite levels are too high.

now i'm really worried about oscar (yes he is named oscar) because he seems lethargic, inactive and won't eat anything. i know there will be long winded answers on the net but i want to fix him as soon as possible..

i don't need too much babying or my hand held but if you could fire me some quick straight forward ideas on how to fix this problem i would be extremely grateful. oscar would be too.

thank you in advance!

Buy a water test kit so you can test your water everyday! LFS often LIE! or don't know how to properly care for Oscars.

Next do a water change of about 30 % everyday until Ammonia is 0, Nitrite is 0, and Nitrate is above 0 and below 40ppm.

How big is Oscars tank? What kind of filter are you running?
And how long has this tank been running?

BTW, Welcome

you've been covered by the lady administrator LOL...

and i second to that welcome!

thank you for your help! i changed about a third of the water a few hours ago, and was careful not to make the temperature change too drastically. i can't get back to the shop till monday but will keep doing daily water changes.

you'll be pleased to know that he is already looking a lot better, swimming around more and the food i gave him is gone. he loved the bloodworms.

the tank has only been running for just less than a week.. when i got him i basically had an empty tank and oscar in a bucket dumped on my doorstep.. so i literally had to fill the tank up, get it warm enough and plonk him straight in. it is pretty cold down here in new zealand, and i could feel the water in his bucket was way too cold for an amazonian anyway. no wonder he's shitty with me haha.

tank is 128 litres/33 gallons, pump is a fluval 4plus, it's only using wool as media at the moment. his only tank buddies are my 4 faithful apple snails. i would appreciate any more advice you have time to give, as i am completely new to this. also any advise on sorting out a biological filter, preferably using the same filter i have now... (i am rather poor) would be greatfully received!

thanks again guys

good news and bad news for you really. 1st is the good news cos there isn't a lot of it )) sorry. the water changes will help for now, but your tank and filter isn't going to work with a oscar. they poo far to much and grow far to big. you need to upgrade now. and keep doing daily water changes until you do. your filter just won't cope with the waste of a oscar. the sort of equipment to look for is a minimum tank size of 55g(UK size)and a filter to cope with around 200g. yours is for a 50-60g tank but its to small. using 2 or more may work, but a better setup is the way forward. you will find it hard to maintain good water in a small tank without a good filter. daily water changes is about all you can do until you upgrade. putting some bio balls in the filter will help cycle the current filter and it will work better. don't feed to much as this will make life even harder for you.