Fish Problems/Questions

[Buffy]

Hi

I'm not a fw keeper, (I'm starting SW) however, my daughter has a cichlid tank. She has 5 fish in it (2 Oscars & 3 Cichlids). Since I haven't posted here, I don't want to start a bunch of threads but I have a few more pictures with a few questions so I'd like to keep it all together if that's ok.

I'll start with the 2 Oscars. I'd like to know if anyone can tell me what is wrong with this Oscar and how to heal him. His skin is falling off (well just before I left tonite, it finally fell off), His top fins (on his back) are jagged and so are the fins under his belly. On the other side of him he has patches where his scales are falling off but the skin is still intact. Also there are a few dark spots his chin, his face looks rough (kinda wrinkled). I compared him to the other Oscar since I know nothing about them and the other oscar's color was better, smoothing "skin", face, no spots on face and all skin/scales and fins are intact. Actually a cool looking fish. They are both about 8 inches now, compared to umm I think like 2 or so when she got them months ago.

The tank is 55 gallon. I asked her bout the water parameters, she said they were good, she however did move the tank about 10 feet the other day.

Sorry for quality, my phone stinks, and for as slow as these big things were moving.......my phone really really stinks.

Thanks for any and all help.

 

[Flossie]

Have they gotten into a fight? How did she move a 55g ten feet? ( what was the moving technique?) was the skin fine b4 or after she moved the tank?

 

[Buffy]

I forgot to ask if skin was fine beforehand. She believes it may be stress. I'm not sure just because of the severity and the other fish appear fine. No fights, I did ask about that. She said when he was first like that, the other fish did pick a little at first then stopped. She used buckets. One Oscar per bucket with tank water and the 3 little ones -one bucket with tank water. She was gonna use a few of my spare 10g tanks and my pump but I couldn't get over there. Also used Stress Coat for the move. Uses tap water with water conditioner. I don't know if she did complete water change besides the water that was in the buckets or not. I'll ask her all your questions tomorrow. So please post away. Thank you for your help.

 

[LyndaB]

She's got some fish with large bioloads. What is her tank maintenance schedule for gravel vacs and what are her actual readings? Numbers, please.

 

[Fishkeeper26]

She's got some fish with large bioloads. What is her tank maintenance schedule for gravel vacs and what are her actual readings? Numbers, please.

Agreed, also what kind of cichlids?

Only a single Oscar should be kept in a 55g tank. I would suggest upgrading to a larger tank, or rehoming fish.

 

[Ibrahim]

I used to use quickcure to heal my old piranhas as they occasionally bite a chunk out of each other and it would always work but I've never tried it on a fish over 5".

 

[Buffy]

She's got some fish with large bioloads. What is her tank maintenance schedule for gravel vacs and what are her actual readings? Numbers, please.

I don't know her schedule for cleaning. She told me her numbers but I forgot, I will ask her for them again.

Agreed, also what kind of cichlids?

Only a single Oscar should be kept in a 55g tank. I would suggest upgrading to a larger tank, or rehoming fish.

I don't know. I'm not familiar with them, I will ask her again. I never remember that stuff, so she'll text the info to me.

Unfortunately she can't get a bigger tank and I know she won't rehome them. She doesn't have the "fish bug" like we do but she does like her fish and takes care of them, she is thinking stress from the move, so I think the skin thing happened after but I will still ask. She doesn't do much of the research or any of that. She did do a compatibility check but nothing indepth. No upgrades on tank, lights or otherwise, just using the stuff that came with the setup. I think she did buy a filter though. Sorry but she's not that into fish to know about what can go in what size tank. She knows their personalities and habits and watches them alot Hope that makes sense.

So when she told me about it, I said I'd try to find out what it is and what we could do. She has dosed with stress coat.

I used to use quickcure to heal my old piranhas as they occasionally bite a chunk out of each other and it would always work but I've never tried it on a fish over 5".

I'll google it and see what it says.


Thanks all, I know she will appreciate whatever I can find out. Hard to explain but her situation is...uhm stuck between a rock and a hard place. Best I can say. I'm trying to help where I can.