its all about water testing, maintaining nitrate levels, no 2 tanks are going to be the same as for nitrate creep, what you feed, how often you feed. water temp, filter maintenance, proper vacuuming of the sub-straight are all factors. There is not a set thing to do but test the water, fig what your nitrate creep is and change the water accordingly
On the topic of Oscar nitrates
- Thread starter convict360
- Start date
I agree also, but I still see the value of the thread. Even though no two tanks are the same given the variables listed and others, this is still good information to have. I have a pretty precise means of measuring nitrates, and I am thinking about STOPPING water changes and testing daily to log the nitrate rise over time. My tank is a 75, my Oscar is about the same size, and I have 4 silver dollars.
I hope you can keep this thread going long term, because I believe its the long term effects of nitrates, even as low as 5 to 10ppm that can be very damaging for oscars (and most cichlids for that matter).
Most of the time its older oscars that show the effect of nitrate, with hole in the head pits, scars, and other gill deformities, or anomalies.
Nitrates seem to be able to provide a kind of substrate/biolfilm
for opportunistic bacteria to slowly damage fish.
And because most natural waters show nitrate levels of <1ppm, to me the idea the a level of 10-20 is OK, is an obfuscation.
Most of the time its older oscars that show the effect of nitrate, with hole in the head pits, scars, and other gill deformities, or anomalies.
Nitrates seem to be able to provide a kind of substrate/biolfilm
for opportunistic bacteria to slowly damage fish.
And because most natural waters show nitrate levels of <1ppm, to me the idea the a level of 10-20 is OK, is an obfuscation.
I am sorry not meaning to offend, what you get has nothing to do with with others get. Log for own personnel consumption great stuff but can not be published as a generality of all. learn "your" tank , you will never be able to learn mine.
I feel like the point of this thread may be getting blurred here, but I'm saying nothing; what I'll be doing is recording my water changes, the nitrate test results, and publishing them here, for people to make their own conclusions.
I'll aim to keep the thread going as long as I can
I'll aim to keep the thread going as long as I can
Hi, I can show you exactly what I feed and the quantities if you'd like; I'm running a Fluval 406 and a large sponge filter.
A general summary would be a pinch of tropical pellets for my silver dollars, 7 medium cichlid gold pellets for the Oscar, and some flake. Twice a day.
Obviously there are going to be widely variable factors involved in this, but I know when I started considering getting an Oscar at the start of this, I'd have been interested in a thread like this, even if I took the information with the understanding that results will vary depending on feeding, filter maintenance etc
I think that common sense is a rare commodity these days. I also think that too many people in this hobby look for minimum standards, such as "what is the minimum size tank can I keep my fish in?", or "what are the minimum number of water changes, or minimum that I need to perform?"
........ instead of asking what is the optimum manner in which to keep my fish?
I don't personally feel that the info that you will gather is pointless, certainly not for you, and your tank and fish, but as previously stated for the most part there are too many variables involved to supply the general public with data that is going to be specific to their personal set up.
Generally speaking, the practical information that you will eventually glean is that in a tank that size, and that number, and species of fish, you will be performing large water changes on a weekly, or even biweekly basis, along with regular filter maintenance, or your water quality will decline and your Oscar will suffer from health issues over the long haul.
I guess I just thought that was kinda obvious, and as you earlier stated "simple stuff to a lot of people". You totally lost me when you stated that this was continually debated. What is continually debated?
........ instead of asking what is the optimum manner in which to keep my fish?
I don't personally feel that the info that you will gather is pointless, certainly not for you, and your tank and fish, but as previously stated for the most part there are too many variables involved to supply the general public with data that is going to be specific to their personal set up.
Generally speaking, the practical information that you will eventually glean is that in a tank that size, and that number, and species of fish, you will be performing large water changes on a weekly, or even biweekly basis, along with regular filter maintenance, or your water quality will decline and your Oscar will suffer from health issues over the long haul.
I guess I just thought that was kinda obvious, and as you earlier stated "simple stuff to a lot of people". You totally lost me when you stated that this was continually debated. What is continually debated?
