55gal Hand-Me-Down Journal

Lithomunky

Lithomunky

AC Members
Mar 18, 2008
59
0
0
Charlotte, NC
OK, fer starters, everything I have right now was $70 plus a $60 trip to the the pet store. Had it for about 2 days now.

Ammonia: 1
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0

No Hood

HOB Filter - tank started to smell, so I cleaned one of the filters and replaced the carbon.

One 9 inch Tiger Oscar
One 5 inch Albino Tiger Oscar
One 10 inch Common Plecostomus


Food: Hikari Chichlid Food for the Oscars with a minnow every now and then. Top Fin Algae Thins for the Pleco and the minnows.


The previous owner did not take care of them enough. When I did a 90% water change when I transfered the tank, ammonia was still really high. Which leads me to believe they were living in a very stressed environment.

I'm gonna do a big water change tomorrow morning before I go out of town for 2 days. Is it alright to put the dechlorinator in the tank, and then add the water? or should I do it by the bucket?

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Nice fish.
They will need a bigger tank soon though As you oscars will grow to 14" and your pleco will grow to 18" he also needs a peice of bogwood.
 
I would keep doing water tests to monitor the ammonia and the cycle. You did not say if you cycled the tank. If you added a full if not over full bio load you may have alot more problems to come cloudy, smelly, fish health. Is there an open sore on the pleco or that just a werid angle of the gill cover? Keep doing water changes to try and stablize the water to allow it to cylce properly. Good luck with your Tank!
 
If I understand you, you've had this tank for 2 days and now you're going out of town? You added the fish to the tank, but was it cycled?

Given the level of ammonia you have now I'm not sure it's a good idea to go out of town.

Yes, ok yo put dechlor in first then water. Use a full dose for the gallonage you have.

Nice tank though.....
 
i did a 50% water change today, and i wont be back home until sunday. i'm more than certain that they have been through worst.

the pleco does not look good, a lot of dull spots on him. he did eat all the algea thins i gave him last night so that's a start.

GO UNC!!!!!!!!!
 
Well, it could be that the person you got that from was in the early stages of OTS. Doing a large change to day and none till Sunday should be okay.

I would test the tank with a good liquid test kit as soon as you get home sunday and post results here. Do a small 25% water change while waiting for some input. The high ammonia could be from stirring up all the substrate do to the move, especially if he didn't maintain the tank well and you didn't rinse it. They may not be thru the worse of it, if they are just now being rapidly brought back to clean water conditions.

You need more filtration, basically from a good canister with that high bio-load in that small tank. I would also consider getting a much larger tank.

Maybe a more reliable stand vice the furniture the tank appears to be on.
 
Update *__*

Yeh, I'd say it's about time for an update. Just entered the Nitrite stage of the cycle. Did my first Nitrite water change today. Had to do a double water change to get it down to .25 . I'll check it tomorrow and maybe do another one. Probably gonna get a new filter. I have two filters soaking in my tank, I think the bacteria built up behind them and that's what kicked it into the Nitrite stage. I also got it on something other than my dresser, it was getting hard to close the drawers. I'll upload some pics.
 
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