Please help with my Oscars

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monsterfishlove

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Aug 20, 2012
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Hello everyone! I sure could use some help with my tank.

I have 2 tanks, one 10 gallon and a 45 gallon tall. This is how my story goes.

I set up the 45 gallon, let it run for approximately 2 days. i then introduced my 3 baby Oscars to my tank. (setup and adding fish water remained clear) 2 days after my fish were in the water the water became cloudy. come to find out that my child was feeding them bologna.

I emptied the tank and put all the decorations into my 10 gallon along with the fish. Boom, my 10 gallon was infected with bologna (i unknowingly did this by transferring the decorations from one tank to another)

After rinsing out my 45 gallon (using just water) and refilling it and setting it back up. (with a new filter too not just replacing the carbon and floss) my tank was clear again. i rinsed the plants real good and put them back into my 45 gallon, (boom cloudy water again from the plants) you ask how do i know it was the plants. because i let the tank fun for 2 days (this is after i rinsed it) and then introduced my fish again, this time i did not put in the plants for almost 3 days. and i still had clear water... and when i put the plants in is when it started to get cloudy.

I know this is all side effects from my child putting bologna in the tank.

my question is this...

Is there anyway to get the side-effects of bologna out of my tanks?

or is this a never ending problem?

thanks for any and all help, monsterfishlover
 

jpappy789

Plants need meat too
Feb 18, 2007
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First off, are you familiar with the nitrogen cycle?

Letting your tank run for only a couple days will not make it fish-safe. And by breaking down your tank and replacing the filter completely your tank is not going to get cycled properly either.

Please give this a read: Freshwater cycling

Changing the water was the best step to getting rid of any bologna fouling up the water, but at this point your tank is not equipped to handle fish anyways. Not to mention a 45g is not ideal for even one full grown oscar, let alone three.

Adding the plants could have just stirred up any gunk sitting in the substrate. I doubt the cloudiness is because of the plants themselves. What's your normal maintenance routine like?
 

MissRedneck

Local drunk
Aug 3, 2012
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Your tank is not near ready for fish, nor is your tank large enough for 3 oscars. I have several oscars, 2 in a 120g..1 in a 75g( alone as he is a wicked bully) Even in the 75 I question his space as he is 17" long. You'll need to invest in more tanks or think about trading them in for something more suitable to the tank you have. Also, if your tank is low enough that your child tank feed your oscars, you eventually will want to be careful about that as my oscars have made me bleed several times by jumping up out of the water for the food before ive had a chance to drop it :)
 

ppetropulo

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Jun 14, 2012
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It may have become cloudy from a bacteria bloom! BTW, as stated above, your fine for now, but you better start saving up for more tanks for those guys!
 

GEV83

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Jun 19, 2002
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Everyone else touched base with you about the small tank size for 3 oscars so I wont go there. All I would say is you should read the post provided up above by jpappy and invest in a liquid water tester so you could keep an eye on your water parameters. Ammonia spikes are gonna happen due to the high bio load provided by the oscars causing your water to get cloudy.

The plants you have are they real or plastic? If there plastic then a good scrubbing and a bit of soap should do the trick to get them clean. Bologna has grease which water alot will not remove. You just have to make sure you rinse the plants off real good to prevent the introduction of soap into the tank.
 

monsterfishlove

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Aug 20, 2012
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Jappy. I do know i will need to get a bigger tank for my fish. i knew this when i bought the fish, but i do have some room in the tank as these fish are only about an inch big.

my normal cleaning routine for the tank is this..
once a month i change the filter floss and carbon and vacuum the bottom untill it comes clean. i replace the water that was taken out when i vacuumed. i rarely if ever have to scrape the sides for alge.

that is all i do.

GEV83 i will be investing in a water tester kit tomorrow. i was told to buy that just tonight. i had fish before and never had this problem, even when my tank first got set up my water stayed clear. and my plants in the tank are plastic. i was afraid to wash the beacuse of the soap residue. i didnt want to kill my fish. i was told my someone with like 5 tanks that the soap residue will kill my fish and i cant get rid of the soap residue no matter how much i wash the plants. if this is untrue, i will sure enough go wash my plants real careful.
 

jpappy789

Plants need meat too
Feb 18, 2007
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Keep in mind you will need a MUCH bigger tank...you have time, but you also do not want to risk stunting these oscars in the mean time.

And speaking of in the mean time, you probably should be doing more than water changes once a month. Also, as I mentioned before, replacing the filter media completely will restart the cycle at least partially. The bacteria you want live mainly in the filter media.

Make sure you get a liquid test kit. Strip tests are worthless...
 

GEV83

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Jun 19, 2002
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A weekly water change is what youll be needing to do when the tank is properly cycled right now it will be on a needed basis which youll know when that is with a test kit.

Soap residue is a worry but it can be rinse off. If it couldn't be removed then all my old tanks would be death cubes for my fish. Alot of people don't use soap cause if your not careful at rinsing everything off then yea it can harm your fish. The other reason being that it kills any benificial bateria on the object in this case your plants. This is not a major concern in your case sinse the tank isnt cycled.
 

monsterfishlove

AC Members
Aug 20, 2012
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i was thinking along the lines of maybe 120 gallons or 150. i will be getting a new tank for them in approximately 6 - 7 months, and cant wait to get it.

As for the test kit, thanks for the heads up, i was going to get the strip kind, but if they are worthless i will not spend the money on them and get the liquid test kit.

as for cleaning the tank, i was not aware i had to do more than that. even when i had tanks before, i didnt do much more than that to them and the fish seemed healthy and happy. i am more than willing to learn another way of cleaning my tanks if your willing to give me better tips for cleaning my tank. as i say there is always room for improvement.
 
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