Please help us!

now i seem to be having a new problem......my oscar has been looking really weak. i tested the water and found it was a little high in nitrate so i fixed that but he doesnt look too well. Ive been keeping the water at about 86 degrees to kill the ich and have been using 2 tsp of salt per gallon, but i wondering now if the temp is what is hurting him. any solutions?

also.....is the salt responsible for the rise in nitrates? because i seem to be fighting high levels of nitrate constantly since i put in salt....
 
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high nitrates are usually a cause of overfeeding or not enough water changes. What is the actual number? Also, do you have a reading for nitrite or amonia?
 
NO3 - 20
NO2 - 3.0
hardness - 120
alkalinity - 80
ph - 7.6


i managed to lower the NO3, but it is still in the stressful levels according to the test. Ive been changing 50 percent of the water everyday in order to treat the ich also and vacuming so im not quite sure what the deal is. I only feed him what he will eat( and he still makes a mess eating, but even still not enough i dont think to cause such a change in levels) also, he has stopped eating his usual food. now he just spits it back out. im really worried....i dont want to lose him and im doing all i can ....
 
judgemax said:
just bleach dip everything in the tank and start over
Click to expand...

???

WOW, THATS OVERKILL

if all your inhabatants die, just put the temp in the tank the highest it can go, and wait 2 weeks. and maybe u could put in a few food flakes to feed the good bacteria in your tank. after two weeks of water temp 85 or above, the ich parasites will have completely died. and it will be safe to add more fish.
 
phoenixspade said:
NO3 - 20
NO2 - 3.0
hardness - 120
alkalinity - 80
ph - 7.6
Click to expand...

It is not your nitrates that are causing the problem, it is your nitrites. Nitrites at 3ppm is very dangerous, you should be trying to get them to at least 0.5.
Do a 50% water change as soon as possible, then again in a few hours. I would be then doing 50% water changes daily or twice daily depending on your time available. The salt will help with the nitrites so keep adding the required amout to your change water, but remmember not to put too much in only the amout that you are taking out.
 
Btw I forgot to mention that you should cut feeding back to a bare minimum, don't worry about getting him to grow, first things first you want him to survive so feed him just enough to survive.
 
2 words "quick cure" it works
 
Can you give us a tank size and total inhabitant list including fish sizes?
 
ok it seems that i got the levels under control again! he seems to be doing a lot better and almost all of the ich except for about five parasites seem to remain on the fish. my oscar is acting normal again and ill check on him bright and early in the morning. thanks for your help everyone. one last question. what usually helps to keep the balances normal in a tank besides adding chemicals all the time? it may be a vague question, but i was wondering how to keep my nitrates, nitrates and so on and so forth down normally...
 
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