cloudy water

Question
  I have a 55 gal tank.I have 2 Oscars and a sucker fish thats HUGE. They have all been in the same tank for almost a year. About a month ago i started having cloudy water. I have used clear water, stress coat, ph balance 7.5, cleaning my filters daily, amonia clorine elimanator,easy balance,chemi-pure it promotes aerobic bacterial growth and nitrification removes disoved organics. my test strips say nitrate (no3)  80,nitrate(no2) 3.0, total hardness 120,total alklinity 120, PH 7.6. I have been doing small water changes every 3 days. What else can I do? Please help.

Answer
Dear Tommy,
I think your problem here is too many chemicals and not enough water changes. Don't worry about your pH. Even though petstores may try to tell you to change your pH, it is not neccesary. The fortunate thing about most captive raised fish like Oscars and Sucker fish like you have are fine at a wide range of pH levels. And constantly trying to adjust your pH can cause swings in the chemistry and cause terrible stress for your fish.

You really need to get your nitrate down. And the cloudy water means the water is very polluted. Fish like Oscars and sucker fish or plecos are very dirty fish. And I'm sorry to say your aquarium is overstocked. It is hard to keep even one full-grown oscar in a 55gal alone. I feel it would be best if you could update to an aquarium of at least 80gallons and preferably a 100gal or larger.

The best thing you can do now, is daily 80% water changes and gravel vacumming. Clean your filter frequently as it gets dirty but only in old tank water--not fresh tap water which can destroy bacterial colonies which are so important.
Small water changes are not sufficient enough for such large fish who put out such enormous amounts of bioload (waste).

{Also make sure the pH and water chemistry is the same as your tap water when doing water changes}

Daily massive water changes are the key here. Always remember to make the replacement water equal in temperature to that of your aquarium and insure it is dechlorinated everytime with a good water conditioner like amquelplus or prime. Don't worry about any of the other chemicals you have been using as they are entirely uneccesary. Water changes are far more effective and better for the fish and water quality in the long run.

I guarantee that water changes will help. Feel free to write if you have anymore concerns!

Best wishes,
Karen~