just bought; 55g and 30g tanks with hoods, stands, filters, gravel, decor, any extras they find to go with it, and some fish, all i know about the fish is goldfish and a betta. got all that for $50

iv only been to one LFS and that was like 5 years ago.  only thing is i have no idea where any are located.  Iv only seen a few at superpetz that looked to be high school kids, only 1 knew something about fish, the rest are just decently friendly, but dont know much about the fish.

i hope im getting everything under control. added a Pelco in the 55gal with the big Oscar, he followed it, watched it, nudged it once and left it alone.

i only have a few questions about the big Oscar's behavior.
this is how he acts:
- sits at bottom of tank hiding
- rubs his jaw on decor
- random muscle spasms, and darting off
- also the Ammonia he was exposed caused sever HITH?, and who knows what else, as stated in the OP, he was exposed to 5.0ppm or greater of ammonia.

anything that rings a bell on a specific sickness, like a bacterial infection?

also he will not eat Wardley pellets, he only likes Hikari Gold, or feeders(which is very rare when i feed him those) but that is him just being picky.  never tried frozen foods on him yet.

havnt seen the little one eat his pellets yet, idk if he was use to something else at the store, he is hanging out with a few comet feeders for the bigger one, so far the comets are just a little smaller then him so he can only chase them around. i noticed the comets eat the food that sinks, and when i got the Pelco i also got 4 feeder guppies, those things are tiny, so if the little guy can catch one he will have a small snack. which i only count 2 of those now.

oh just wondering this, i get all my stuff from SuperPetz across from biltmore square mall.  mostly cause i have no idea where any LFS are  should i be cautious of feeders i buy there? total fish iv bought there, 3 Oscars(1 died cause my current one killed it while i was at work) 2 Pelco(yet again 1 got ate o_o by my current Oscar, same night) and feeder guppies, and feeder comets... i know they are kinda pricey on just about everything, but unless i order a load worth from foster&smith the shipping is about the difference of the jacked price at the store.

im kinda sleepy at the moment, so excuse the stuff that dont make sense or is repeated lol. never hurts to ask though is what i was always told.

well its been awhile sense i posted, My oscar is doing better, and the ammonia gone, i picked up a Mardel Live Ammonia reader cause i couldnt find the Seachem one.  Oscar has become more active, but i noticed he was rubbing his lower jaw on a rock i have in the tank, hes been doing it for past few days so i went and got a API super ick cure. it turns the water green... bought a Penguin 200 for my 30gal tank, and plan to get a ammonia reader for it tomorrow too. the only current problem is Oscar has HITH, treating with Melafix, if that doesnt work ill order or find some Metro+.  also in the 30gal is a new Oscar, who is pretty much solid black just his belly has a white/redish fade to it, hes about 2-3" long and the other is about 8-9" long i would guess.  maybe when they are the same size i might try and put them in the same tank, but then again i might just pick up another 55gal to put the other in when its bigger.  and if that happens the 30gal will be used as a healing tank if either fish gets sick.

that pretty much covers everything i left.  oh and i think the ammonia problem was New Tank Syndrome, cause it had new: gravel, filter, decor, and water.  so it was my fault for not letting it cycle long enough.

If the tank is empty, do a 100% water change. Aggressively stir and siphon out all the debris in the substrate. Better yet, replace it.

Are you on city water? If so did you de-chlorinate/chloramine with anything?

OK, so the 55gal tank has skyrocketed in ammonia levels, my fish is extremely sick. the 55gal went from slowly coming down and was about 1.5ppm and is now 5.0<ppm... it did this basicly over the time of 1 day.  iv been doing about 40% water changes, and then it got cloudy and i did around 70-80% change, and that cleared it up but over night while at work i guess it went insane and was worse then when i changed it, my 30 gal has a few comet feeders, and i tested it and it was around 1ppm, did 30-40% water change its down to .25ppm.  so, about my fish... he has noticeable HITH and seeing the levels of ammonia he was exposed to im surprised hes not dead.  this has really worried me like crazy trying to get this under control.  my dads girlfriend gave me some Ammo Carb and she says it will help get rid of it, so i loaded my media cartages and prepped them and now its just a empty tank of ammonia


edit...

Also sense the levels went up i added a extra few filters to the 55gal,  1 emperor 400(2 media cartages w/ 2 filter packs), 1 10-20gal(1 filter pack), 1 20-30gal(1 filter pack) is all the filters and on the 30gal i have 2 20-30gal (1filter pack each) filters.

You definitely need to get that ammonia reading to zero and keep it there, or else you will do permanent damage to your oscar.

You might want to do frequent water changes and/or use a product like Amquel Plus in the mean time. I wouldn't worry about any other water parameter right now but measure ammonia daily until you can get to zero.

If it doesn't get there within 8-10 days, then your filter is inadequate or not working properly.