Firemouth acting strange

[5x5]

Sorry I must have missed that. I do have another tank, but it's only 5 gallon. The Problem is, I am going away for 10 days and don't think he will survive in there without it being cycled. Also it isn't equipped with a fish feeder.

 

[ozmo]

I wish you good luck.

 

[5x5]

Thanks. It looks like the convict is back to normal. Not sure if the heat made a difference or if the whole thing was in my head. Just did a pwc, set up the autofeeder and crossing my fingers.

 

[5x5]

Update: I returned from vacation and all fish survived. My 4 Inch tiger Oscar is not looking good though. He is breathing heavy and not eating. It also seems like his fins are a little torn/ripped which is strange. Tigerbarbs, convict and BN look fine and very active.

Water parameters are good. Fully cycled with less than 10 ppm nitrates. I did a 50% water change, but it doesn't appear to have made the Oscar happy.

The temperature is 80 degrees and I added a little bit of aqua salt. Ph has been stable at 7.4

I'm not sure how to read this situation. The firemouth died almost 3 weeks ago. If he had bacteria/parasite, could that be affecting the Oscar after all that time?

No external signs of problems on the fish.


What do you recommend I do at this point?

 

[Termitehunter]

Only culprit for the fins would be the convict. Maybe he abused him while you were away. Welcome back.

 

[5x5]

I think his fins may have been nipped because he is just laying around and not defending himself. Maybe it's fin rot, but I was under the impression that would take more than 1 week to develop.

I'm really hoping for some suggestions regarding this heavy breathing issue. I'm afraid he's not going to last much longer if I don't do something to intervene soon.

 

[Termitehunter]

Have you aerated the water? Any time i treat for anything in my tanks I try to bump the oxygen up as much as possible. From bubbles to lowering the water level to create a waterfall effect.