listless oscars ,high alcoline

[klentir]

ocar tank is about 2 weeks old ,fish are about 2 half inches long ,new tank ,fish where doing good in the beginning began to get listlees and dosile refusing to eat .water went real cloudy,changed water didnt know about cycling ,we live in the country dont have to worry about clorine or any other additavs.but has a high iron content ,thermometer wast working propery water was about 70 or a little less but that has been replaced temp is around 75now ,nearest pet store is about 3 hrs away.water is starting to get cloudy again fish are a little more active and starting to eat a little more but not like in the beggining . they still try to hide all the time and hang at the bottem .but when ther is nobody around they seam to come out and hang around abit .2 fish tank is 40 gallon i know its small but we will upgrade in time .checked ph it was very high been trying to bring it down with ph - but it wont come down it wants to stay around 8.2 . cant get to pet store or any other fish tanks for cycling water not to sure what to do 1 oscer is redish black and 1 is white with red strypes .

[Jeffbdd]

do u Have anywhere for them to hide or just an empty tank?

[klentir]

they have some plants and stuff to hide be hind

[Lady Hobbs]

Have you been changing your water to get rid of the toxins.

Read about cycling with fish in the Cycling Forum. Also, with fish stores so far away from you, you need to start buying products online to save the hassle of long drives. It's cheaper anyway.

You mention an Oscar. What size tank and what else in in the tank?

[Jeffbdd]

Sounds like tank needed to cycle longer, Others my have some ideas but just sounds like lotta stress on fish from poor water conditions. I cant help ya with the ph cuz ive never had that probly with any of my tanks.

[klentir]

changed the water in the beginning when it went really cloudy did read the cycliny after we got the fish we wood have bought all the suppling that we need when we wher in the city but we diddnt know that we needed extas and the people at the pet store didnt mention any thing about starting a tank from new , we alwasys had gold fish and it never seamed to make a diference , 2 oscars 2 and half inches long in a 45 gallon tank

[Jeffbdd]

What filter r you using.

[bushwhacker]

klentir get a API freshwater test kit, and let us know what your water parameters are until then just do lots of water changes to keep the toxins down

[Algenco]

Do a 50% water change twice per week to keep the toxins down
45g won't hold 1 baby Oscar for a year, 1 has to go

[fraggle]

Your tank is still cycling, they will be stressed out at the ammonia and nitrite in the water. Keep up your water changes. And you'll need to get a test kit to keep track of what you ammonia and nitrite levels are and to see when you start producing nitrates.

Um what filter are you using? Do you know anyone that has a fish tank already set up and running and has been for a while? If you ask them you may be able to use some of their filter media that already has the bacteria in it.

Do you know what the pH of the water is straight out of the tap? You can use driftwood to lower you pH a bit, and if you search for lowering your pH in the forum there will be other ideas there too.

I know they are little at the moment, but they do grow very quickly, you'll have to get a much bigger tank for them if you want to keep them both, they get to over a foot long!!!!

Good luck with them and have a good read of this site there's some great advice here.