Changed from rock to sand

[Jintoh50]

I've had this tank for ~4yrs, my oscar (Blaze) has been the sole occupant until recently. The Red Parrot has been with us for about a week. Surprisingly enough, after some chasing, my oscar has accepted him into the pack . Yes, I know it might get cramped, despite what I promised my wife I'll get a 125g if it gets to tight . I changed my substrate from rock to sand, love it but it's a lot more work to keep clean. Just added the small AquaEL Turbo Aquarium Filter 500 to get some still spots where poop was accumulating moving.

Thought I'd share, don't be intimidated if you want to do this, it was a lot of work but doable. Take care of your biological filtration b/c you're going to take a hit on the bacteria in the tank. So far testing everyday haven't seen any ammonia/nitrites. My hydroponic setup does a pretty good job on nitrates so very little in the water but some so I don't think it'll crash.

To add, the plant grows like crazy, cut off ~10ft of growth a few days ago.

 

[Jintoh50]

My Oscar died today, I have no idea why, he was fine yesterday, lathargic this morning and dead by afternoon. I'm heartbroken.

 

[DawnMichele]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[danotaylor]

Dang mate, that stinks. He looked so vibrant and healthy in the video

 

[Jexnell]

Where did you get the sand? Was it rinsed throughly before use? Did you change all the water when did the swap? Removing the rocks would have freed up anything that was trapped in the rocks into the water column. I have done this a couple times myself. Take the water down to about an inch above the substrate. Remove old substrate. Add new water while siphoning the last of the old out. Add in new substrate. Fill the tank, turn filtration back on.

 

[RyanScanner]

Did you take the Oscar out do the change then but him back in? I had 2 Oscar’s that were perfectly healthy, I added some drift wood then they both quit life a week apart. I read later that I should have removed them first then added back.

 

[Jintoh50]

Thank you for the kind words. I know he was "just a fish" but I sat in front of him for 6+yrs, Finally stopped looking over at night to see if he was looking at me . The sand has been in for 6 weeks I think; I took him out during the change; had no issues with water.

I tested the crap out of my water, liquid, strips (almost the whole supply of strips lol). Nothing wrong.

I bought some seeds, see attached. I think he may have dug one up and ate it? I feel terrible if that's the case. I couldn't stand not having anything in it so here it is now. I won't get so attached...hopefully.

 

[Jintoh50]

As the Anglefish grow I can move the platies out.

 

[Jintoh50]

While I was out spending a fortune on new fish/decor picked up this too! Never did a planted tank, we'll see how it goes.

 

[FINWIN]

My Oscar died today, I have no idea why, he was fine yesterday, lathargic this morning and dead by afternoon. I'm heartbroken.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your Oscar. They're a 'get under your skin' fish. Three of us here recently went through the same thing. Just give it time. There is no such thing as "Just a fish" any more than a dog, cat, cow, whatever. Your O was important to you, that's all that matters. Hang in there!