Plz hlp why is my tank so messy?!?!

[tcarswell]

Oh I almost forgot. Your overstocked. Id recommend amquel and frequent water changes. Frequent testing of the water. If you can't keep the parameters decent then you need to donate some fish, Thats the right thing to do.

 

[K626]

no i didnt mean old exactly. sorry what i ment was that it might be old(used) and not cleaned and so it has fish waist and other things stuck to it from last time you used it. i used my dads tank gravel and he didnt have a working filter on the tank so it all collectedin the gravel and then he put it in tubs and left it in the basement and didnt clean them after taking all the water out. so it had old grime on it. and that can ruin your water. so you run water on the gravel and lightly run your hands through it to move the grime around and let it runn through a drain. but i didnt know that it was dirty at first so now i got new gravel and im gonna clean the rest.

Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't you want to 'not' overclean your gravel because of the beneficial bacteria that live in there? I can see cleaning the debris off, but as for just getting new gravel? I think that would hinder the cycling of a tank rather than help it.

 

[snyder810]

emily, DO NOT give advice on stuff you dont know. This tank is way to big for snails to make a dent in the problem, besides snails dont eat fish crap.
if its algae and uneated food, get a few Plecos. (unless you already have)
not the best algae eaters but i wouldnt put Goldfish, Ottocinclus, or Chinese Algae Eaters in that tank.
But yeah, youre overstocked

maybe heed your own advice there, w/ oscars i highly doubt their is excess food, algae can actually be your friend in this situation, and adding another high waste producers in plecos would just add to the problem

 

[snyder810]

WOW... There is WAY too much bad advice around here... So many members on MFK and so many with alot of knowledge but none of them came to read this thread... The best option if the fish are still alive is to keep doing waterchanges everyday. Feed sparingly only 1 time a day. DO NOT add pleco's or pictus or snails or ANY other fish as some people suggested. DO NOT add chemicals to the tank as some people suggested!.

good advice