so. I've determined that my water quality is far less than optimal. I've got a greenish tint, my ammonia level is once again high (tests showing 4.0 ppm, but i believe something is giving me a false reading or causing it to read higher than it actually is, i.e. maybe the prime i put in the tap water when i do water changes, or maybe the algae fix stuff i put in the tank to try to get a handle on the obvious algae problem.) i had the ammonia level down to 0 at one point but it went back up, or so it looks.

my post isn't really about the ammonia level, it's more or less the fact that i have 2 Oscars that are sulking at the bottom of the tank for no apparent reason. they are laid over at times completely side ways. they are both still breathing, but it worries me that they are acting this way. one actually jumped out about 10 minutes ago onto the floor. I'm sure that part is kinda normal, but still, he acted ridiculous when i put him back in the tank, darting to and from each side of the tank and acting like he was gonna do it again.

i did do a water change today when i got up because i saw the parrot cichlid laying sideways on the bottom looking completely dead. it wasn't noticeably breathing until i tried to net it to take it out as i thought it was dead. when i realized it was alive i immediately did a water change of 20 gal (it's a 72 gal tank). i also have 2 pictus catfish in the tank which have always acted normal and have never attempted suicide or anything else unusual. so I've got a total of 5 fish, 2- 5.5 inch Oscars, 1- 4 inch parrot cichlid, and 2- 4 inch catfish.

sometime in the last week the water went to hell, and i hadn't done an ammonia test until today, since last Saturday. i guess I'll go back to daily water changes until the ammonia is once again under control. until then, any suggestions? i know it's a lot to read, but i figured why not explain it all and then have fewer questions to answer in the thread.

almost forgot, for some reason, the 2 Oscars only have some sort of white film covering them. they had this this morning when i flipped the lights on, which is another reason i did a water change, I'd say that 40-50% of this film went away almost immediately after i did the water change, so I'd assume it will go away completely tomorrow when i do the next scheduled water change.

indeed 4.0 ammonia is not good and I actually would expect your fish to be dead if they spent any period of time in water of this condition. You also need to check your nitrites and ammonia, and also nitrate, the latter will determine whether you have a biological filter working in the first place. The pH will determine the toxicity of the ammonia.

Okay, your tank is not big enough for all the fish you have got. However, they are still fairly small so I wouldn't expect you to be running into water conditions because the fish are too big.

Have you been cleaning your filtration system out at all? We need to try and determine why you have this ammonia reading, something is obviously wrong somewhere, either you have a blockage, or you are killing the bacteria off somehow. The prime will actually change the ammonia into ammonium which is much much less toxic. So it could possibly be that this is the one single factor that is actually keeping your fish alive at the moment.

Please get back to us with some answers.

i would only add you need to do more, larger water changes to lower the ammonia, it won't be the prime, in fact with ammonia that high and without a PH reading i would say use a double dose of prime when you do water changes.
you need to lower that ammonia and test your PH/nitrite/nitrate

are you running a filter?
what is it?
did you cycle the filter?
either your filters not working/to small/lost its cycle.

OFL: as you may recall in my last post i had a reading of 8 on ammonia chart. i'll have to go get a nitrITE test kit today, as the kit i have doesn't include one, only the nitrATE part. i would definately have expected to see some dead fish by now, but they're all happily swimming around, except for the suicide attempt.

i would agree that the tank may be too small for the future when the fish are massive and all, but for now, it seems like it would be understocked with a little room to grow.

I have only changed the filter element that would filter the water before the bio balls, the balls have only been in there a little over 2 months so i don't think they need to be washed. I'd definitely agree that SOMEHOW the bacteria is dying or not growing in the way it should.

Marcus: i did as much as i could with the time i had yesterday. i usually do a 25 gal change, as recommended by this website on my last post. as for the filter, it's a sump, roughly 5-7 gal, some ridiculous flow rate on the pump, which appears to be 3420 liters/hour. that's the only number that makes any sense when you look at the pump. as far as cycling, id assume the tank would be cycled by now, but i may be clueless on this one.

I'll post in a couple hours as to the results of the updated ammonia/nitrITE/nitrATE/Ph tests. my ph last time was about 7.5, so maybe a little high, but nothing I'd really worry about...

I can agree with you about the green tinge in ur tank. I am cycling my little 2x1x15"s and I have a tinge myself. My Ammonia is high and my Nitrites too but I dont have
any fish in my tank since I set it up. This is what I believe u need at first when the tank is cycling. My Nitrates are low 5-10ppm. I tested them for Nitrates the other day and it is the same maybe just a tad higher. Or it could be just wishful thinking.
I installed a power head as Paul or Marcus suggested with a reverse flow but the dam thing wont work it just slowly pushes out waterso there must be a fault on the tihng Grrrrrr.......

Water changes, water changes, water changes. It's seriously the only thing that's going to help right now. And doing like Marcus suggested and doubling the dose of Prime you put in the tank.

I just went through a similar situation. Went away for 10 days on vacation, and the person I had taking care of my tanks F***ED them up. The Oscar tank thankfully, only took about 2 weeks to get back in order. The 10gl on the other hand, was a total wreck. It's taken the last month to get it back in order. I just had to do daily 50% water changes. I lost 5 fish and thought I was going to lose 2 more. Somehow they survived. The only thing that I never worry about is the Gourami in the tank. That fish is a beast. LOL