Please, I need advice from someone that actaully knows what they are doing. I am going to describe my setup 1st and then describe the current problem(s) that are occuring now. I have an 8 inch Oscar in a 29 gal. tank (ya I know its small) with an aqua-tech filter. I have had him in this tank for 3 years from baby to adult with no irregularites with him or water changes (that I know of). The tap water that I add to the tank is normally between 7.2-7.8 and is neutral hardness. Anti-chlorine drops are added to all water added. OK, now the problem. I have slacked big time on tank maintenance the last cpl. months. I have changed filters regularly but have not cleaned tank. I saw ZERO evidence that he was unhappy or unhealthy unitl I dropped his usual meal of about 10 or so med. cichlid pellets and he refused to eat. The next day I noticed he was now struggling to breathe and constantly flushed his gills while resting on the bottom of tank. I tested water for ph and it tested at 6! I have never seen it drop this low before. I looked at a fish diagnosis chart and gill flukes were the only thing that caused all symptons...resting at bottom, gasping for air, not eating, lethargic, at times clamping fins. Thing is, I see no visible parasites on fish or gills. So i went to a fish store and talked to the owner and described scenario. Instead of selling me something to make a buck for treating gill flukes, after I admitted not cleaning tank she suggests ammonia poisoning. I bought a master kit and tested everything. Sure enough Ammonia was high, but Nitrates were almost non-existant. So I decided to start an onlslaught of water changes after the test. I did 50% 1st day, about 70% 2nd day, and another 50 % the 3rd day. I had also added an airstone, fresh aquarium salts, and vacuumed bottom of tank, and waited for results. Nothing. He is still resting on bottom gasping for air. It is now day 4 and I registered in this forum to seek advice from those of you who might know what caused this and how to counteract it. I've been told if its ammonia poisoning it might be too late. But how the sudden change in behavior literally overnight? As all this isn't enough to stress him out... the water ph has now spiked back up to over 7. Is this spike in ph also harmful? Please tell me what I need to do too help him BREATHE! thanks to those who respond!
Please! Diagnose my Oscar!!!
- Thread starter ghostman81
- Start date
there are several factors at play here, all to do with improper care and they've caught up with you. as you are aware, a 29 gallon tank is far too small for your oscar. fish maintained in tanks which are too almost always develop severe stress syndrome. these fish do not exhibit proper color, do not develop proper fin form, do not exhibit proper metabolic development, do not exhibit normal behaviour, do not develop proper musculature, do not develop properly functioning organ systems and as a result, slowly lose their inherant resistance to disease. this results in a significantly shortened lifespan and along the way, lots of diseases for which the poorly conditioned fish is a good target. at three years, your oscar should be about 12 inches.
slacking 'big time' on maintainance is another problem. an oscar needs at least 50 percent water changes on a weekly basis, and that's in the 75 gallon tank that this fish requires in order to thrive. your fish needs 65-70 percent water changes in such a small tank and no slacking on the weekly maintainance.
is a pH going from 6-7 a problem? you bet. fish thrive on stable water conditions and suffer severely when instability is the rule.
i doubt a fluke problem. i have no doubt that your oscar is simply exhibiting the poor care and maintainance it has been forced to live in. can you help? absolutely. get the fish into a 75 gallon tank. maintain stable water chemistry. change 50-65 percent of the water weekly and do concurrent gravel vacuums every time you do a water change. feed him a varied and quality diet and no feeders. if it's not too late, your fish should recover.
slacking 'big time' on maintainance is another problem. an oscar needs at least 50 percent water changes on a weekly basis, and that's in the 75 gallon tank that this fish requires in order to thrive. your fish needs 65-70 percent water changes in such a small tank and no slacking on the weekly maintainance.
is a pH going from 6-7 a problem? you bet. fish thrive on stable water conditions and suffer severely when instability is the rule.
i doubt a fluke problem. i have no doubt that your oscar is simply exhibiting the poor care and maintainance it has been forced to live in. can you help? absolutely. get the fish into a 75 gallon tank. maintain stable water chemistry. change 50-65 percent of the water weekly and do concurrent gravel vacuums every time you do a water change. feed him a varied and quality diet and no feeders. if it's not too late, your fish should recover.
If your pH was at 6.0, then you most likely suffered a pH crash and lost your biofilter.
This means that you hadn't been doing *any* waterchanges at all in a tank that is way way way too small for the bioload of the fish that is in it.
What are you using to treat the water for chlorine? Are you treating for chloramine at all? Get some Prime or Amquel+ if you do not have them.
What are the nitrite readings? Nitrites are far more deadly than ammonia. I find it highly unlikely that you registered 0 nitrates. There is no way that can happen if you have not been doing regular water changes. No way.
Please post *numbers* for ALL your readings: pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. Not strip test readings, use a test tube test kit. If you are getting your tests done at the LFS, get the numbers from them. Better yet, buy your own Master Test Kit. Aquarium Pharmaceuticals makes the best affordable one. Get a KH/GH test kit as well. Test the tank and post the KH.
Important: test your tap water directly from the tap. ALL the numbers: pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, KH and GH.
I'll be brutally honest with you: I sincerely doubt you will be able to save this oscar. He is in a tank that is far too small and it cannot support the type of waste he produces. You've indicated that you've done massive waterchanges already and unless you are using the wrong water conditioner, then the second best course of treatment is the one you are already doing and it's not working.
The best course of action would be to get him in a 60-75g tank where he belongs, but I doubt that will happen.
However, we really can't help you unless we have the numbers I've asked for.
Roan
This means that you hadn't been doing *any* waterchanges at all in a tank that is way way way too small for the bioload of the fish that is in it.
What are you using to treat the water for chlorine? Are you treating for chloramine at all? Get some Prime or Amquel+ if you do not have them.
What are the nitrite readings? Nitrites are far more deadly than ammonia. I find it highly unlikely that you registered 0 nitrates. There is no way that can happen if you have not been doing regular water changes. No way.
Please post *numbers* for ALL your readings: pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. Not strip test readings, use a test tube test kit. If you are getting your tests done at the LFS, get the numbers from them. Better yet, buy your own Master Test Kit. Aquarium Pharmaceuticals makes the best affordable one. Get a KH/GH test kit as well. Test the tank and post the KH.
Important: test your tap water directly from the tap. ALL the numbers: pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, KH and GH.
I'll be brutally honest with you: I sincerely doubt you will be able to save this oscar. He is in a tank that is far too small and it cannot support the type of waste he produces. You've indicated that you've done massive waterchanges already and unless you are using the wrong water conditioner, then the second best course of treatment is the one you are already doing and it's not working.
The best course of action would be to get him in a 60-75g tank where he belongs, but I doubt that will happen.
However, we really can't help you unless we have the numbers I've asked for.
Roan
I've moved this over from the other thread you started.ghostman81 said:
Look, I realize you are upset and worried about your fish, but if you do not answer the questions I asked WE CANNOT HELP YOU.
STOP USING PH DOWN! You could be making things worse.
What is the exact pH of your tap water? You did not post that and it is important.
As I said in my previous post, your tank had a pH crash. That means that your biofilter died off because there was no bicarbonate -- KH -- available for it to use to survive and therefore the tank is recycling. The high ammonia is most likely because your bioload -- your oscar -- is too big for that tank. You do not have enough water to dilute the ammonia that is being produced by that oscar's presence in that tank. Period.
You will get a VERY high nitrite spike next that will correspond to the amount of ammonia that is in there. Adding products to "detox" the ammonia is not going to help in the long run. It will still be processed into nitrites. Add 1 tsp of table salt per gallon to the tank to help detoxify the nitrites that are coming. Make sure you dissolve it well in tank water.
I strongly suggest that you get that Oscar out of that tank and into a 60-75g tank or you will lose him.
Roan
Don't bother with a 75g. Get a 55 if you can, this fish, if it survives, won't get over a foot imo.
