Oscar has died

SinaiTSi

SinaiTSi

4G63 DSM Power
Feb 28, 2006
59
0
0
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Unfortunately my Oscar has died. Problem was that I waited too long to change the water. You live and learn. My question is, there are other fish that I have in another tank that are outgrowing it. What should I do to get my previous tank with the oscar in it ready? Should I clean out the HOB filters? Or leave them since they already have the bacteria I need in them. Should I just make water changes until ammonia is at 0? What is the best route to go?
 
Have you done any water tests in the tank that lost the oscar? Not doing water changes should only leave you with high nitrates in a worst case scenario if you have adequate filtration. High nitrates would not likely kill an oscar, they're pretty bulletproof as far as tropical fish go. Sounds to me like a problem with ammonia which indicates that you have something serious going on like not enough filtration or overcrowding or overfeeding or massive die-off. I would figure out what's wrong with the tank before adding anything else. Doesn't sound like water changes were your problem.

How long was the tank set-up?

How big, what type of filtration, etc...

Other tankmates?

Need more info.
 
Thanks for the help so far.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=615298#post615298

There is a link to my previous post. It basically states everything that happened. Oscar was alone, proper filtration, had the tank setup for a good 5 months or so.
Basically I'll try to give a little more detailed rundown of the event that happened. Oscar is doing fine even though I haven't changed the water for a few weeks. Then Oscar starts eating less and less food, so there is extra food waste in the water. It starts getting bad so I finally made time to change the water. I do about a 40-50% water change and afterwards Oscar just isn't himself for the nxt week, stays near the bottom and doesn't eat a lot or move and he just keeps on taking heavy breaths (if that's what you call it). I check the water to see what is going on, ammonia is at about .5. Those are the only strips I had left so only thing I was able to check. Oscar is dead the next morning.

Like said in the link. It's a 55 gallon. My main question is, what do I do to get it setup for the other fish, the water is allready cycled so I'd like to try to keep some of that good bacteria in, yet I'm not sure if a dead fish in the water contaminates all of it and can't be used.
 
I think in your other post it was said that you most likely had Old tank Syndrome where your fish had adapted to the poorer conditions and the high level of DOCs (Dissolved Organic Compounds) in the water. By doing the large sudden water change you basically shocked him and he wasn't able to re-adjust to fresher water (osmoregulation is the process). Because that was the most likely cause of death, not bacteria or any other little critter you will probably be ok to just put clean water in and get new fish, but I will defer to other opinions as I haven't dealt with re-stocking and empty tank yet (still fairly new to the hobby).
 
If I had to correct your situation, I'd drain the tank, remove all substrate, flush and clean all debri from it. Then refill, put new media in all filters and do a complete normal fishless cycle.
 
I agree with rbishop. Drain that sucker and start fresh, otherwise you'll find yourself in some sort of trouble a month or two from now if not sooner.
 
Might as well be safe than sorry I suppose. Thanks for the help guys. I appreciate it. I really liked that oscar too. :o
 
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