Hello all, I was hoping to get some help on the best way to handle a situation that is occurring in my set up. Their are a few possible culprits so hopefully someone can tell me the best course of action. I have a 150 gallon freshwater set up and had a fire eel, an oscar and a severum in the tank. I was given a few extra fish to put in so what was added was a chocolate cichlid, 3 convict cichlids, synodontis catfish and 3 additional oscars. They are all pretty small and I know that I can't keep all the oscars and will most likely be rehoming them shortly but for now I do not think the tank is overstocked considering the size of the fish. Since I added the fish I wanted to give the tank a good cleaning and cleaned out the eheim 2260 canister, I replaced the foam and cleaned out the other media with aquarium water. The canister itself was quite dirty so I hosed it down with tap water.
I also cleaned the interior of the tank and it had been a while since I cleaned the ornaments thoroughly so when I picked them up they were filled with some nasty stuff but they are now clean. I have been doing 50% water changes every other day and use prime when replacing the water. The tests came a little high in nitrites but after the first water change they were back down to zero. I am getting a positive reading for ammonia but I'm not sure if that is from the prime.
The fish seem healthy, they swim to the top for food whoever I come near the tank and show no signs of any stress. The tank looks a little milky though. I guess I just want to know how I should proceed to get everything back to normal as quickly as possible. Thanks in advance!
I also cleaned the interior of the tank and it had been a while since I cleaned the ornaments thoroughly so when I picked them up they were filled with some nasty stuff but they are now clean. I have been doing 50% water changes every other day and use prime when replacing the water. The tests came a little high in nitrites but after the first water change they were back down to zero. I am getting a positive reading for ammonia but I'm not sure if that is from the prime.
The fish seem healthy, they swim to the top for food whoever I come near the tank and show no signs of any stress. The tank looks a little milky though. I guess I just want to know how I should proceed to get everything back to normal as quickly as possible. Thanks in advance!