white clearish slime taking over taks bact? algea? help

I have no idea what your slime problem is but you are WAY overstocked first off. Second I suggest that you spend the money to get some more strips. If you are going to undertake the responsibility of keeping large cichlids You should make sure that you have the $$$ to take care of them properly. I also don't understand why you would request that we not lecture you on what you are doing wrong. It seems to me that what you are asking not to be lectured about verywell could be a large contributing factor to the cause of your problem.

here is the only thing I found on the net that matched your problem

I bought a new 10 gal tank set it up. I added fish and the water formed a white slime across the top film of the water after a couple of days. I cleaned the tank again, set it up and again white stringy slime occured and the water is dingy. What can I do?

Sure sounds like ammonia is building up in the tank rather quickly. We would say you either:

A) Did not equip the tank with enough filtration (for a 10 Gal that would be an undergravel filter and a hang-on power filter).

B) Are over-feeding.

C) You started with too many fish.

Bottom line....

You need to get rid of some of your fish. To keep a 7" oscar in a 30 gallon is abusive. You should find him a new home. A 55 gallon is sufficient for 1 oscar and nothing else. I would suggest buying a new larger aquarium, maybe a 150 gallon or so. With proper aquascaping you should be able to keep your inhabitants in there then move the labs to the 30 or the 55.

I don't know what the slime is exactly, but you did mention that your filters get clogged up? I wonder if you are overfeeding? Also, do not replace your filters, you will lose all (or most) of your bacteria and probably need to recycle the tanks, which will be a tremendous pain. Do you rinse out your media in your filters with every water change? also do you gravel vac. with every water change? Before replacing the filters (unless you know they are broken/not working properly), try taking them apart and cleaning everything (let your carbon/sponges, whatever is in your filters sit in some tank water while you do this). Clean out the intake tubes, around the propeller, etc. See if that helps .

Almost forgot, do the fish show any signs of disease/problems?

"I would bet that well over 80% of fish enthusiast dont have adequate space or in transition to a bigger tank."

"I know My fish could use some more space please do not lecture me on how they need more space"

Possibly if you had stated that you had intended on upgrading instead of asking to not be scolded I might have had a better idea of your intentions. When you say things like "please dont lecture me" It exudes well I know I am doing this the wrong way and I dont care. I think what you said about transitioning is right. But I think there are a lot more people who say I can keep an oscar in a 30" gallon, it doesnt matter what they say it will work. Then when the fish dies two or three years later from HITH. They think nothing of it and go get another fish.

"I am aware of my faults as far as fishkeeping. Anymore it seems like everyone who responds to posts on this site anymore focuses on tank size and really does your condescending attitude really help the fish?"

Are you really surprised to get such a vauge answer after you asked such a vague question? Maybe if you have included more pertinant information I might have been able to help you more. And if my "attitude" makes you consider either of my suggestions just a little bit more ie take the poor oscar back or put him in a bigger tank then yes it might have helped the fish.

"Does anyone ever have enough money for their children to attend college before the give birth to them."

IMO this is apples and oranges. I don't think sending your kids to college and not being able to pay for it has such consequenses as say taking 80% of your childs lifespan off. No they just come home and stay with you longer.
Personally I think that your DONT LECTURE ME attitude is what is what brought on my "condiscending attitude". All I said what that you were way overstocked and I also attempted to help you on what limited information you actually gave. I wish you luck in figuring out your problem. It really sounds like some kind of water quality issue. Maybe a fungus. It would be really difficult to tell without more information. I really hope you are planning on upgrading. I see so many oscars that are 10"-12" dump off's in LFS. Its so sad. If you dont have enough money to buy a new tank please try to find another home for the poor guy in the 30. also that Ammo crap never did anything but cloud my water. I dont really use carbon that much either. I hope someone on here can help you. I really dont wish you ill. But maybe next time you could leave the DONT LECTURE ME part out. I apologize if I came off condecending. That was not my intention. message boards dont always conviegh emotion. I dont have anything against you personally especially if you intend to get your buddy the home he needs. My Oscar is one of my favorite fish. He loves to jump up out of the water and take food from my hands. Good Luck.

Are you down playing this site in anyway? Because if you are....you can meet Kas1.Na joking.

But Dave is 100% right about everything. With 2 posts how do we know what you know?

Hey oscar, also still post your parameters if possible. take a water sample to the lfs if you have to (have them give you exact numbers) I just read your first post again, and I'm wondering if your tank is cycling again if you replaced all your filter media recently.

Il take my shoot at this question...

Those test strips you got arnt good. They are know to give mis reads and can give you a fake result. Try to retourn them for a liquid test kit. I highly reccoment the on made my AP, as seen here: http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19383;category_id=3111;pcid1=3233;pcid2=

This is not really your second time around. Its kinda your first because you are starting the whole cycling process over again. So that means daily water changes to keep the ammoina and nitrites below 0.25, for the next 1-2 months or untill you see some nitrates.

you might still have some bacteria somewhere so it might not take as long, just keep testing every day/every other day and doing water changes as needed. In the future, change your filter in staggers, like one component one week, one the next. Don't be afraid to gravel vac. b/c that is not what caused the problem. Most of the bacteria is in/on filter media