Boston Aquarium Society Message Board

Hello,

My Oscar has been sick for about a week now. I have removed all of the carbon and the amonia filter, have done over a 50% water change and have tried:

Fungus Clear Tank Buddies by Jungle
Antibacterial Remedy by MELAFIX

I have been treating the tank with the Antibacterial Remedy by MELAFIX for about 4 days now. Says to do it for seven days so I will continue till i reach seven days.

His eyes do not seem to have improved and he has not had anything to eat for seven days. Any ideas?

Thank you,
Fletcher

Hi Fletcher,

How big is the Oscar ?
How big is the tank ?

What are your water quality parameters ?
pH
Ammonnia
nitrIte
nitrAte


Are you performing water changes as part of the treatment ? How big and How Often ?

usually cloudy eyes are a sign that something is wrong in the tank, and the first step to healing the eyes is finding and fixing the other problem - then lots of clean water (ie daily water changes) and possibly antibacterial meds.

Please share as much info as possible as the Oscar aquarium - size, filtration, water change schedule, tankmates, etc.

_________________
Rich
-- ---------------------------------------
Its new, its improved (its still a work-in-progress)
its http://redpaulhus.com !

125 Gallon tank
Oscar is about 12 inches long

Doing a 25% Water change a week
Nitrate and PH levels are normall

Someone suggested adding salt...

Have not had my carbon and amonia pads in for a week now due to directions on meds. I have just put them back in today. Hoping that if i keep changing the water and adding some salt he will get better.

Ok
I'd up the water changes big time - try about 90g daily for about a week

I change about 90-100g in my 125g Oscar tank every week or two - basically all but 5-6" of water.
I suspect that the 25% weekly hasn't been enough, especially if this is the tank with the big redtail cat (two big messy fish).

That should help get his appetite going. Then I would recommend feeding him freeze-dried krill that has been soaked in one of the new "edible" medications from Gel-tek :

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 004+113021

I think local Petco's carry these now, although I've had luck with Gel-tek's original anti-bacterial food, which I think I got at Petsmart - http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 004+113021
(a triple sulfa and nitrofurazone blend)

I don't feed using the Gel-tec directions of feeding the food directly to the fish - I use the Gel-tec food to soak either floating pellets or (preferably) freeze-dried krill, and then feed those to the oscar - I found that otherwise, a big oscar will ignore the gel-tec food (its too small).

Of course, since feeder fish are a primary vector for infections like this, keep any feeders out of the tank for at least a few weeks.

A big advantage of using medicated foods is that you're targeting the fish, not the tank water - so you don't need to treat 125g of water - and you don't destroy your biofilter.

_________________
Rich
-- ---------------------------------------
Its new, its improved (its still a work-in-progress)
its http://redpaulhus.com !

Thank you!

Also I currently feed my Oscar Hikari Cichlid Gold. Nothing else, I don't do the feeder's. I know they are not treated well at fish stores and can carry disease.

Do you think I need to change his diet as well?

And yes this is the same tank with the Red Tail. Still no takers on him .

No - the Hikari gold is good stuff (although if it's the red variety it tends to dye the filters red )

I used it for years, although now I buy my food in bulk at www.kensfish.com

It wouldn't hurt to mix things up occasionally - fresh earthworms (rinsed please ), crickets, shrimp (I buy the raw shrimp when its on sale at the seafood counter at shaws, stop'n'shop, etc and feed bite sized pieces while freezing the rest for later) -- but that's almost certainly not the problem.

_________________
Rich
-- ---------------------------------------
Its new, its improved (its still a work-in-progress)
its http://redpaulhus.com !

They can be tough fish to adopt out.

Many many years ago I was offered a free RTC (it had lost a pectoral fin to a FW moray tankmate in the store) - and quickly decided I couldn't afford it... and it was only 6" or less (fuzzy memory).

My biggest tank is only 125g... and most of my friends think its a huge tank... Someday I'd love to build an indoor pond for an RTC

_________________
Rich
-- ---------------------------------------
Its new, its improved (its still a work-in-progress)
its http://redpaulhus.com !