Getting started and learning lessons

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
I would highly suggest not adding any bottled bacteria, as it can cause crashes in bacteria later on, along with other problems
 
Fishman4u said:
First off, you did not cycle the tank first, you could expidite cycling by adding stress zyme to a new tank, its not really for stress, its bacteria that helps establish a healthy aqurium with the healthy bacteria a new tank needs to be safe for fish keeping. We all must remember, a fish tank of any size is not a lake of water, in a tank, it is comes complete with its challenges. Water needs to be replaced 1/3 every week, i do mine every weekend. Oscars get large and your going to require a 29 gallon for those guys, they get huge, like up to 12 complete inches at maturity.
You must keep the ph at 7.0. a water temp of no lower then 78. to keep ammonia at bay I use aqurium salt, one tablespoon for every ten gallons of water, this keeps your fishes gills lubricated when subjected to high levels of ammonia. I fed my oscars frozen krill, blood worms not freeze dried anything, takes all the nutients away. Buy a gravel vac, and do not ever strip clean a filtration device where you have grown healthy bacteria or you will have to wait all over again for it to regrow and this is not a good thing.

Stress zyme (and most all the bacteria products) don't contain the correct bacteria or the bacteria is dead from temperature fluctuations.
IMO one adult Oscar need a minimum 75g tank to allow the fish adequate room to swim and turn around. A full grown, healthy Oscar will easily exceed 12 inches.
Adding chemicals to alter a pH can be dangerous. They can alter the pH quickly leaving the fish in shock which can lead to death. Just about any fish can adapt to any pH (within reason - mid 6s to high 8s). The key is stability.
 
Fishman4u said:
First off, you did not cycle the tank first, you could expidite cycling by adding stress zyme to a new tank, its not really for stress, its bacteria that helps establish a healthy aqurium with the healthy bacteria a new tank needs to be safe for fish keeping. We all must remember, a fish tank of any size is not a lake of water, in a tank, it is comes complete with its challenges. Water needs to be replaced 1/3 every week, i do mine every weekend. Oscars get large and your going to require a 29 gallon for those guys, they get huge, like up to 12 complete inches at maturity.
You must keep the ph at 7.0. a water temp of no lower then 78. to keep ammonia at bay I use aqurium salt, one tablespoon for every ten gallons of water, this keeps your fishes gills lubricated when subjected to high levels of ammonia. I fed my oscars frozen krill, blood worms not freeze dried anything, takes all the nutients away. Buy a gravel vac, and do not ever strip clean a filtration device where you have grown healthy bacteria or you will have to wait all over again for it to regrow and this is not a good thing.

I sold my Oscar & Pleco so that's not an issue. I have all of the neccisary cleaning tools and have stayed on top of water changes. Even if it was required 2-3x a day. I used established gravel and other things I had read about to help promote bacteria growth and have 2 java ferns to add that little bit of natural health. I know I may have a call 15 gal tank but I'm in an apartment and didn't care for a huge tank.

Yes I didn't cycle for a month as suggested but I have followed all of the info on fish in cycle.
 
The only toxin jumping or spiking is the ammonia. But 2 days in a row it's reading between .0-.25 once it was above and I (we) stayed on top of the tank and changed the water. I'm honestly surprised my fish have survived this long, just because it's really new to me.
 
xigtc said:
The only toxin jumping or spiking is the ammonia. But 2 days in a row it's reading between .0-.25 once it was above and I (we) stayed on top of the tank and changed the water. I'm honestly surprised my fish have survived this long, just because it's really new to me.

Your doing well. :) just keep checking and changing water as needed.
 
Well I was just getting in bed, said goodnight to the fish and didn't see the Bristle nose. Looked around found it on its back behind the fern.

Checked the water levels and all checked out within reason. So I'm bummed. It was a pretty active fish loved sitting on the rock.
Ah man that really sucks! I am so sorry :(
 
Well a small update. I have 4 tetras and 2 ghost shrimp for now until I get some more shrimp tomorrow. I checked my levels today. PH 6.0, ammonia was a 1.0, nitrite & nitrate were 0. So for the ammonia I did a small water change.
Also added some blue LEDs I wired up for an hr or 2 at night before bed.
 

Attachments

  • image-4197711686.jpg
    image-4197711686.jpg
    180.9 KB · Views: 67
  • image-3830510673.jpg
    image-3830510673.jpg
    104.1 KB · Views: 79
Well tank has been running flawless and all of the fish are still alive. A couple of weeks ago a discovered some yellow in color cord floating around. Today my tank looked dirty and this is my filter box. Not exactly sure what it is but I've started doing water changes daily to combat it.
 

Attachments

  • image-3415497449.jpg
    image-3415497449.jpg
    109.8 KB · Views: 85
xigtc said:
Well a small update. I have 4 tetras and 2 ghost shrimp for now until I get some more shrimp tomorrow. I checked my levels today. PH 6.0, ammonia was a 1.0, nitrite & nitrate were 0. So for the ammonia I did a small water change.
Also added some blue LEDs I wired up for an hr or 2 at night before bed.

If your ammonia was 1ppm a 50% pwc would bring it down to .5ppm. I'm not sure how big of a water changer you done since you said a small water change. Just some food for thought
 
aaronjohn20 said:
If your ammonia was 1ppm a 50% pwc would bring it down to .5ppm. I'm not sure how big of a water changer you done since you said a small water change. Just some food for thought

That's not my issue. My issue is the fungus that took over my filter box and starting in my tank.
 
xigtc said:
That's not my issue. My issue is the fungus that took over my filter box and starting in my tank.

Opps sorry. Didn't realize that post was from 5 months ago lol. I'm sorry I have no idea about the fungus. I hope you get it figured out
 
Well I figured it out and now have a healthy tank. I've been so busy with stuff I forgot to reply.
 
Need some friendly advice. But first ill tell you where the tank is now.

I had a moving mishap and this is what got it all kick started again!
Now I have a 20 gal high housing 4 Neon Tetras, Clown Pleco, & a African Dwarf Frog....he maybe going soon. I sold they original 15 because it was tiring holding jugs and standing in chairs to clean that tall tank sufficiently and I wanted a better tank layout. All of my fish are the originals since I got the Neon Tetras and Clown Pleco. I've changed to Eco- Complete as a substrate and really started to appreciate planted tanks for they're upkeep and appearance. I've order a bundle of plant from aquarium plants.com and now looking to add more fish. Plan is to get one more Neon tetra to have a total of 5 and 8 more shrimp to make 12. I know with the RCS to worry about something that could eat them or if they breed the fry. Is there another fish we could add to the tank?

Thanks for all of the original help. If I hadn't found this forum I'd probably given up.
 
Back
Top Bottom