sick oscar...

[powellmacaque]

Hi all,

I have my Oscar alone in a 55 gallon tank, and I've noticed that he is beginning to have a whitish growth on him, but not in patches like I've seen on animals with ick. The best way I can describe it is it looks like he's a molting reptile, everything on him is cloudy, and some areas have pieces of thick "cloud" on him.

Is this in fact ick, or some other fungus/parasite? I've done a 25% water change, and I made the water extremely cold (dropped it down to about 55º, with the Oscar in another tank of course. I waited till the water went back to room temp. before I put the oscar back.) and I've also added the correct amount of a product called Quick Cure that is supposed to treat Ick and other parasites.

Should I take any other steps?

[dreadboy113]

Can i ask why i you dropped the temp so low.

[powellmacaque]

I stumbled upon a website that said if it were parasites, they would die if the water temperature was low.

[dreadboy113]

Ok sorry if i sounded rude. Didn't mean it to sound like that. How are you water parameters? Have you tried posting in the cichlid forum? I've never kept oscars.
But i don't think it sounds like it. If it is a parasite do you think you could of infected the other tank you put the oscar in?

[powellmacaque]

well i put the oscar in a tank that was around just for the purpose of water changes... i just emptied the water after i was done.

i have to go out and buy a kit for water tests tonight.
but i totally forgot about the cichlid forum (it's been a while)
but i do understand you were just asking a question though, so no harm done :)

[FishJunki]

Sounds like tail rot to me... any pics?

[silentskream]

sorry ignore this one.

[silentskream]

put the oscar back in his tank, with the temp back up to normal, treat the whole tank, and the oscar, with "Lifeguard" by jungle (take any carbon out of the filter beforehand).. the box directions tell you do treat for 5 days in a row, every 24 hours. once you have completed these directions, do a water change, and put some carbon in your filter if you wish then continue with the weely water changes as normal. keep an eye on your nitrate levels try to keep them as low as possible, and dont let them get above 20 before you do a water change.

[gavsjules]

hi i had a similar prob with my comunity tank i lost alot of fish but in the end i had to take out what fish i had left into a new tank that had been set up for a while with all new water then before i transfered the remaining fish into the tank i had to give them a salt bath,in a 9 litre bucket with just tap water and few tea spoons of salt i put the fish in the water one by one few say a few mins or until they looked too stressed then into the new tank.i managed to save my remaining fish.i then had to strip the old tank down and wash it out with salt water wait for the rock,sand etc to dry then set it back up since then my fish are back in good health and tank is up and running again with no trouble

[wataugachicken]

that mess and cloudiness all over your fish is slime coat. something in the water is irritating the fish's skin, causing a huge overproduction of nasty whitish slime. a couple more 50% water changes would be a start - get test kits and find out what your ammonia and nitrite readings are. stop adding the Quick cure, it will only make the situation worse. once the slime coat returns to normal, THEN see if there are any lingering problems.