CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

ive had my 2 oscars for 1 & half years. my big boy is 25 cm and the other is 20 cm,there live in separate tanks. my 20 cm is very sick as i said in the other thread.

my question is....i only have ever done ph test and always make sure the ph is spot on,but ive never done a nitrate or amonia test....could this be why my fish is sick?....

It's certainly possible.  What size tanks are your Oscars in.  The ammonia and nitrite test kits are really important to keep around.  What are your fish's symptoms?

How often do you do water changes, what size tank, what kind of filtration, do you know if your beneficial bacteria (nitrogen cycle) is developed, and, in your opinion, do you tend to lean more to over feeding?

It is easy to not know much about these lovely fish because usually the LFS/LPS is more concerned with a sale than informing the customer for the better quality of life for the fish.  This is why you see goldfish in little bowls when they are -I think- messier/dirtier than Oscars per inch.

I will give you some basics that are general rules just to give you a hint, as I am completely supportive and my heart goes out to you for the pain of watching a sick friend.

The general rule is, 55gal/208L tank per Oscar minimum (they would like bigger, especially wider than the average 55), and a filtration rate for hang on back of 550+ gph (10x flow), canister 250+ gph (5x flow).  This is because Oscars are messy eaters as I am sure you have witnessed.  Excreting food through gills, sometimes it seems more goes to the gravel than their stomach.  They also are big fish, so, they produce a lot of urine.  This is where the cycle/bacteria come into play, which is also part of your filtration.  There are two bacteria that live in the filter media (filter floss, ceramic) ...  one consumes the ammonia from the urine and converts it to nitrite, the other consumes the nitrite and converts it to nitrate.  This is why it is called the nitrogen cycle.  Also, uneaten food will begin to decay, producing more nitrate.  This is why you need to do frequent water changes --- make sure you always use dechlorinated water for your fish and also for your good bacteria, there are several good products out there that accomplish this.

Now the general rule for nitrate saturation is as follows:  Under 20 ppm your fish will be healthy and happy.  Under 10 ppm your fish will THRIVE.  Under 40 ppm your fish will live; above that, they will have shortened lives and be prone to illness including HITH/lateral line disease.  In the wild, they live in water that remains under 3 ppm for reference.  If your tap water contains nitrates, you can try using a nitrate eliminator such as nitraban, etc. with your dechlorinator to bring it down some, the effectiveness I am not sure of, but, the product I speak of also has a pH and KH stabilizers, it also knocks out phosphates.

As far as testing.  For nitrate use a liquid test kit API sells a good one, if you have a PetSmart, go online and print the coupon for the Freshwater Master Test Kit, you will get the liquid test for pH, high pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate for a good savings.  The ammonia and nitrite you will use less often, to verify your bacteria is still working well/you have adequate room for them to live in (media).  The nitrate will be the one you regularly test for as stated above and will have to replace the testing agents much more frequently, but it does last quite a while even with regular testing.  It is a good idea to do a water change as you are approaching 20 ppm.  If you do a 25% change at 20 ppm and you have 0 ppm in your tap, you will bring it down to 15 ppm, so, depending on your tap water you may want to do a 50%, or more frequent smaller changes to keep it lower.

I have also heard that Hikari Cichlid Bio-Gold helps keep the nitrates down by being digested better by the fish, in turn them producing less waste.

20-25 cm is the same as 8-9 in.  Does that include the tail?  That sounds a little small/stunted for 1.5 years, but I am not sure.  These fish full size, when in proper size tank with good water and food will grow easily to 30 cm/12 in and usally can get bigger than that, and that doesn't include the tail!!!  35-40 cm/17 in with tail (or the full width of a 75 gallon) is well in the realm of this fish (I can provide a link from another forum for proof if asked).

Also, like DanRad said, could you describe in as detailed as you can the symptoms of your fish and why you preceive him/her to be sick?  It would help the informed people here to better diagnose and give you treatment measures to help heal your friend.  I wrote all of that because even if it is something else, water quality is a main ingredient in any treatment of nursing a sick Oscar back to good health.

Whew!  That was a lot, hope I didn't overwhelm you and I didn't miss anything important.  I am sure you have cared for your fish to the best of your knowledge, and I just hope to provide you with information for better husbandry techniques for your aquatic family members as well as the others here at this forum.

I also forgot to add that carbon filters may also be associated with HITH.  If you do frequent water changes you don't need carbon, and you can save money on replacing cartridges every couple weeks.  Save some for removing medication after a treatment is complete.

As far as filtration, my friend is small (about 1.5 in/4 cm) so I am using an Emperor 400 with Bio-Wheel.  When he gets bigger, I am going to supplement with a Penguin 330 that is currently on another tank with an AquaClear 70 that was overstocked with feeders that never got fed until I found them new homes (now it just has 5 small mollies and 2 cory cats).  This is why I said that goldfish are messy, the feeders I had to get rid of turned out to be comets and grew fast and started making the 30 gal tank NASTY.  I had to change the water 50% everyday and it still wasn't pretty.  Now that they are gone the tank stay clear.  Which is why you need a minimum of 55 gal/208L for the O, anything small puts you in that overstocked situation where you can never really catch up to the waste they produce when they are full size and healthy.

A variety of food is also healthy.  I supplement my Hikari pellets with HBH Oscar Grow pellets, and Hikari frozen and freeze-dried foods (most of them have vitamin added into the animal itself so it gets into your fishes system and not float away in the water).  Hikari is my personal choice, but there are a few quality brands out there, experiment, ask around, and find out what is best for you.

One last thing.  The closer you are to the minimum tank requirement, the less stuff you should have in your tank (plants, decor, gravel) to give room for more water and swimming area.  Oscars are swimmers and a bit clumsy at times.  So nothing with sharp edges and they don't necessarily need a cave, though I had ones before that did like having a shelter.  More gravel is also harder to clean, but does look nice.  A very thin layer when cleaned regulary will be quick and painless, a lot of gravel will be a chore.

Best wishes to you and your fish, I hope for a quick recovery and a happy life you all of you.

thanx for all that info,it must of taken you a while to type all that,so thanx again i really appreciate it

... i have 3 oscars in a 75 gal tank... and i was wondering... two of the oscars never leave each other, and are about 2-1 1/2 in, have very nice markings and are very energetic, when i brought the 3 home ( an in ago) the two bigger ones searched for about 10 min and then they took freeze dried krill right out of my hand. but i was thinking is there any way that i could get my little one to get bigger???

redsun71857 wrote:... i have 3 oscars in a 75 gal tank... and i was wondering... two of the oscars never leave each other, and are about 2-1 1/2 in, have very nice markings and are very energetic, when i brought the 3 home ( an in ago) the two bigger ones searched for about 10 min and then they took freeze dried krill right out of my hand. but i was thinking is there any way that i could get my little one to get bigger???

yeah... turn the temp up to 30 degrees celcius....fish grow quicker in warm waters