Oscar Problems

[Christina717]

Ok so my friend has a 36g bow with one Oscar that's about 7-8in long. He just bought a 70g Aqua clear filter for it but his tank is always cloudy. He was unaware about the whole cycling process so I gave him one of my old filter medias but his tank is still cloudy days later. I really don't know what else to try. I told him to get a 55g tank but where he lives at now will be to big. Any Advice?

 

[Fishanatic]

Ok so my friend has a 36g bow with one Oscar that's about 7-8in long. He just bought a 70g Aqua clear filter for it but his tank is always cloudy. He was unaware about the whole cycling process so I gave him one of my old filter medias but his tank is still cloudy days later. I really don't know what else to try. I told him to get a 55g tank but where he lives at now will be to big. Any Advice?

Cloudy tank means bacterial bloom. Tell him to keep the water changes up, it should clear by itself. Imo, ac70 is not enough for the tank as it has an oscar in it. He will have to change sooner or later or he will be dealing with a lot of waste and they do need space to swim. Back to the topic, as I said, this should clear up alone

 

[Christina717]

How much water should he be changing at a time and how often? And this is great news by the way, cant wait to tell him.

 

[Fishanatic]

How much water should he be changing at a time and how often? And this is great news by the way, cant wait to tell him.

I would say 50 percent. It should leave within a week usually.

 

[Cichlid-dude]

In that size tank with an 8" oscar i would be doing 50% water changes every day to 2 days. Also he really needs to upgrade to a larger tank if he wants that oscar to live a long and good life.

 

[Andy Sager]

Ok so my friend has a 36g bow with one Oscar that's about 7-8in long. He just bought a 70g Aqua clear filter for it but his tank is always cloudy. He was unaware about the whole cycling process so I gave him one of my old filter medias but his tank is still cloudy days later. I really don't know what else to try. I told him to get a 55g tank but where he lives at now will be to big. Any Advice?

Oscars are notoriously dirty fish so there needs to be some "overfiltration" in an Oscar tank. The theory was : a filter that will turn over the water volume 6-8 times per hour for these fish. Have your friend check his filters gallons per hour flow rate and upgrade if necessary. With such a small tank and large dirty fish, I'd suggest multipe weekly water changes of smaller percentages instead of 1 or 2 major changes less often. Have him keep a close eye on the ammonia level in the tank as Oscars can produce a lot of it

As for cloudiness, bacteria bloom is first suspect. Normal new tank situation that will go away with time and water changes.

Hope this helps