turtlechick Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 I have a pair of oscars and have had them in the tank for about a month now. Earl (the male) is eating fine, and is pretty feisty. On the other hand, Edna is not doing so well. She was always a lot lighter in colour than Earl, with less orange. I purchased her full grown with HITH. It seems to have stopped progressing thanks to a little medication. She ate last night before I went home from work and looked fine. Today I tried to feed them a few pellets at around noon and she didn't seem at all interested. She is still swimming around fine, but by the end of today her colour lightened up ALOT and I tried to feed her again this evening and she wouldn't even look at it. Can someone please help? The water parameters are perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rED O Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 I still would like to know your water parameters. What is her diet? is she stressed? dose she look beat up? how big is the tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtlechick Posted December 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 She is getting NLS pellets and has no war wounds. The two are a pair. The tank is 90 gallons. The pH is 7.3 and the ammonia reading is 0. The tank was cycled before the fishies went in. She looks a lot healthier today. I had a bit of a bacteria bloom 2 days ago after adding a pleco to it. The tank is clear today, and she seems better. But, just in case it happens again, maybe some feedback? Thanks!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Ram Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 What are your nitrites reading? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtlechick Posted December 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 ???? Uh oh.....apparently there's more tests than I thought? I only have ammonia and pH tests.....what are the tests called for nitrites? Any other tests I need? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Ram Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 You definitely need to get a nitrite test. All pet or fish stores will carry them. Nitrite is the second stage of cycling a tank so even if you have no ammonia, you may have high nitrite readings which are dangerous as well. If you cannot pick up a test kit right away, I suggest doing a daily water change until you can. Your nitrites should be 0 - no exceptions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte tests are important to monitor the cycle. Ammonia and nitrIte should be 0 and nitrAtes should be <40 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtlechick Posted December 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 :boxed: I thought I had everything under control. I did soooo much research and I'm still missing stuff....please tell me I'm not the only one who's still learning :smokey: I'll go right away and pick up a test kit. I did a water change 2 days ago...I'll do another one today. Thanks for the help!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtlechick Posted December 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 How do you get rid of nitrites? Water changes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 If you have nitrites, yes you need to do water changes to try and bring them down. Any amount other then 0 are harmful to fish. A cycled tank shouldn't have nitrites though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtlechick Posted December 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Well, my tank was fully cycled before the fish went in. Finaddict had the filter I have up and running for god knows how long. I took it home with all the water still in it and put it in my tank right away. My tank was 3 weeks before adding the fish. But, maybe for some reason that wasn't enough and I do have nitrites. I'll find out soon enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Well, my tank was fully cycled before the fish went in. Finaddict had the filter I have up and running for god knows how long. I took it home with all the water still in it and put it in my tank right away. My tank was 3 weeks before adding the fish. But, maybe for some reason that wasn't enough and I do have nitrites. I'll find out soon enough. You added a cycled filter to the tank and then ran it without fish for 3 weeks? Unless you were added ammonia for those 3 weeks(like in a fishless cycle) then all the bacteria in the filter died and you'd have to start the cycle over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtlechick Posted December 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 (edited) I had the water cycled for 3 weeks prior to adding the big filter. The tank already had a filter on it. Then, I added the new water from the tank into the new big filter. well, I suppose it is possible that I have to start the cycle again. It seems that I did everything right. Should I remove the fish and then cycle the tank again? Edited December 18, 2008 by turtlechick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 The bacteria in the filter need to be fed... by fish. If you had no fish in the tank, even a cycled filter will have all/most bacteria die off. Then you have to start the cycle all over again. If you had a 'bacteria bloom' just from adding one fish, you probably had a minicycle. Keep your WCs up, probably every-other-day, see if you can get some cycled filter media on loan from a friend (squeeze a sponge into your filter intake, trade some biomedia). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtlechick Posted December 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Will do!! Thanks for the help guys. One day people will be asking me silly questions that I get to answer :smokey: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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