My Oscar is about to Die Please Help

[T1TAN23]

So here is the skinny. I just recently bought a new 90 gallon tank for my Tiger Oscar. She used to be in a 45 gallon and I thought it just wasn't big enough. So I set up my new tank and and used this new stuff called BioSphera (not sure of the spelling or name on this) and it contains active bacteria that you treat your tank with and overnight it is ready to go. I let the tank warm up and cycle for 24 hours before I put my Oscar into her new home. The 1st day everything was fine, the second day the water began to cloud and the Oscar began swimming new the top of the tank and now has not moved from the top of the tank for threee days. One of her eyes is clouded over and all of her fins are fraid and her color is looking more opaque. I was thinking she might have slime disease but i'm not sure and no-body at PetsMart or Petco seems to know what is going how or how to fix the problem. My pH is around 8.1 and my Amonia is about a 1 and I have 0 nitrite and nitrate. My pH has remained steady since I set up the tank but my amonia is on the rise and the water has begun to clear up again, but my fish is getting worse. WHAT SHOULD I DO!?!

 

[RogerMcAllen]

First off, I think Bio-Spira requires some live fish in the tank the same day you add it for maximum results, though I don't think waiting a day will affect this much.

The cloud is probably a bacterial bloom in response to the newly added food source, ammonia. I don't think that this is a terrible problem, though I may be wrong. Have you added any gravel/filter media from the established tank to help boost your cycle?

 

[Allivymar]

Are you doing water changes? Step number one is to reduce those ammonia levels; you don't want ANY in the tank, especially if a fish is ill. Bio-Spira WILL immediately cycle a tank, but as Roger said its to be added at the same time as the fish. Also, if it gets warm the bacteria may die; its a good thing you are testing your water to check those levels as the Bio-Spira you got may have not been viable (possibly due to problems in shipping; usually it works great).

Its quite possible the oscar came from the lfs with a disease. Cloudy eyes are usually due to water quality, although it also usually affects both eyes. I'm not sure what you mean by her color is looking more opaque; does she appear to be shedding her slime coat and its making her look grayer? Is she losing color? Are there any specific grey or white patches?

I'm guessing she may have Columnaris; is one of the most prevelant aquarium diseases, but obviously I cannot be sure. I would start with the water changes and see if that makes a difference; if not, Kanacyn is one of the meds of choice.

 

[T1TAN23]

My poor Oscar Died

For three days I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to save my Oscar, but I think the stress was to much to handle and she didn't make it.

I decided to let the tank cycle for a week and got new decorations and started fresh with new fish. I am still having ammonia problems, that I can't get under control. I am running two underground filters with power heads for part of the biological filtration and also an Emperor 400 over the back mechanical and biological filter. I have filled the 2 optional cartridges on the Emp 400 with zeolite and the other two are filled with the active carvbon to help get the ammonia under control but no matter what I seem to do I am continually testing about 1.0 ppm 4 days ago I added some ammonia lock and the next day it was testing about .25 ppm but then yesterday and today it was back to 1.0 ppm. I am at a complete loss as to what is causing my ammonia to be so out of control. The 90 gallon tank now has 5 fish and a snail, but they are all very small. The 2 largest are the pleco at about 3" and the Clown knife is about the same length.

Any ideas on what might be causing the problem. I would rather try and treat the cause rather than contiually pouring chems into the water thrying to manage the problem. I just don't know what ot do anymore.

Thanks,
~trent~

 

[tkos]

It takes way longer than a week to cycle a tank without fish in it. Probably closer to a month. Until the cycle does finish keep doing water changes. Everyday if need be or the fish will suffer. Since there aren't enough bacteria to handle the bioload the ammonia that isn't used is building up. The bacteria will grow in time but you must be patient and do water changes. Chemicals aren't needed except for dechlorinators.

 

[T1TAN23]

Well I think that part of my problem is that my tap water is treated with ammonia. I tested it just for fun and it was testing at 1.0 ppm. I used to use Amquel until they changed the formula and started making my water smell like swamp gas, so now I am using AquaSafe. So does it do any good to do water changes when all I'm doing is adding more ammonia to the tank? Is there something I can use to get the ammonia out of the water before I add it to the tank? The new tank has been up and running for about 25 days now and the ammonia has reamined constant except when I added the ammoniaLock.

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

Well, you're actually shooting yourself in the foot by adding ammolock.

What happens is, it converts the ammonia to a form the bacteria can't use (and that is safe for your fish), so you never establish a biological filter.

If your tap water tested positive for ammonia, i might be tempted to go buy a new test kit, it doesn't make intuitive sense that there would be that much ammonia in the water, esp since most municipal water systems are treated with chlorination.

 

[Allivymar]

Urg. Ammonia in the tap water. I would call your local water supply folks and have them check your water; you should NOT have straight ammonia in it, but it does happen. I know of a number of angelfish breeders who lost fish earlier this year due to ammonia in the water supply. I would also do as sweets said and have a lfs double check your tank water as well in case its the tests. Best to be sure overall.

I'm not sure if I agree about the Amquel/Ammolock/Aquasafe in this specific case. Normally I say avoid it, and remove the ammonia by water changes, but if there is ammonia in your tap water that obviously isn't going to work. You don't want to stress/kill the fish with the ammonia, so its necessary to get it out by any means atm.

The other thing I want to mention is what type of test are you using? Nessler tests can't tell the difference between converted ammonia (which is safe) and the deadly kind. You really need to know how much of the deadly kind is in your tank.

Lastly, sweets is absolutely correct. Do know the nitrifying bacteria do not eat the converted ammonia as readily, so the tank builds up its levels of bacteria slowly.

You're in a tough spot atm. It will work out tho, I promise. You may want to look into picking up some bottled water for now (make sure its not distilled tho) for water changes till you find out whats going on with the water supply.