Sick Oscar

[TAbruzzi]

so my oscar has been acting very ill the past 2 days. hes been sleeping on the bottom of the tank alot with clamped fins and alot of gill movement. he also has an excessive slime coating. to me he has all the signs of a parasite. now the obvisiois thing would be to go and get him some medications however i am in thia hurricane and wont me able to get out for a dew days. i have looked up several natural sures such as feeding garlic, carrots, tyme and other things. i also rea about giving him a salt bath. i was wondering how legitimate any of these ideas sound. please help!! i want to see him get through this storm!!!

 

[rotorhead22]

Your Oscar may be suffering from ammonia or nitrite poisoning. Have you checked your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels? Your ammonia and nitrite levels should be zero in a cycled tank. Is your tank cycled? Cycling alone can take over a month.

 

[Leviathan64]

I would do a large water change. Half the tank. I would continue to do 20% changes daily for a few more days. Then keep on a schedule of water changes. The smaller the tank the more frequent changes you'll have to do. Good luck.

 

[TAbruzzi]

Your Oscar may be suffering from ammonia or nitrite poisoning. Have you checked your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels? Your ammonia and nitrite levels should be zero in a cycled tank. Is your tank cycled? Cycling alone can take over a month.

yes my tank was fully cycled. i cant check my levels because i get it tested at a store and the hurricane is prohibiting anyone from driving

 

[TAbruzzi]

I would do a large water change. Half the tank. I would continue to do 20% changes daily for a few more days. Then keep on a schedule of water changes. The smaller the tank the more frequent changes you'll have to do. Good luck.

i normally do 1-2 gallons every tuesday. i did 3 gallons on sunday and was planning on doing the same today but will take your advice with a 50% change. also are you saying that i should stray from these "natural healing" methods?

 

[rocksor]

OK, so how big is your tank, and how big is this oscar? The amount of water you are changing is pretty small, too small.

 

[TAbruzzi]

its only a ten gallon. my oscar is about 3.5-4 inches. ik that a ten is too small but it was for a short time. as i said were still under the hurricane and shortly after it we will be recieving a 55 gallon which he will move into asap

 

[rocksor]

Well, a 3.5-4" oscar in a ten gallon should be getting 50 % water changes everyday, minimum. That's the problem. There is too much waste in too small of aquarium. I would gather the filter is unable to keep up with the bioload as well.

 

[TAbruzzi]

wow. thank you for telling me this. i had no idea. i really cant wait for this 55 gallon tank. also i wasjust thinking and realized that this only happens at night. is there a chance that what i am observing is just him sleeping? when i got him he was able to fit in his cave and slept there but he has since outgrown it.

 

[rocksor]

Excessive slime coat does not occur because of sleeping. It happens because of bad water conditions.

 

[TAbruzzi]

the excessive slime coat has nearly gone away. i just fed him his pellets with a bit of minced garlic because i heard this kills off parasites. he gobbled it right up. within a few minutes ( when hes done eating i will do a 50% water change. what is you opinion about giving him a salt bath?

 

[TAbruzzi]

andalso are u saying that the fin clamping and lying on the bottom are just signs of sleeping?

 

[rocksor]

To help a sick fish, water changes are the first line of defense. A salt bath won't help if you are treating for something that is not cured by a salt bath.

Fin clamping can be a sign of sleeping because the fish is relaxed. But fin clamping is also a sign of distress.

 

[TAbruzzi]

thank you very much. i really appreciate this help. how should i know if a salt bath will help? as i said to me it sounds like a parasite and from my understanding a salt bath will kill these correct?

 

[Leviathan64]

Garlic helps entice the fish to eat. I do not believe it kills parasites. In my opinion a salt bath ( the whole process) is stressful to the fish. If Oscar is eating and you keep up on the water changes you should be fine.

 

[TAbruzzi]

ok. thanks. i did a very intense gravel vacuuming while changing the water and found some pretty messy spots i must have missed. he is already looking healthier to me ! he isnt very active though but ifeel like this could be due to the fact he has basically outgrown this tank. he will be moving soon! as you can probly tell i am new at this amd just want to do everything right !!

 

[rocksor]

If you want to make clean up easier, I would reduce the gravel bed to less than 1" or completely remove it.

 

[TAbruzzi]

wont completely removing it remove beneficial bacteria?

 

[Crawdaddy]

Some, but the majority of your BB is in your filter. Oscars can be very messy, and cichlids as a whole are waste producing machines. Going with out the substrate is a good option to deal with the tank size you have for now. I guarantee that when you remove your substrate, even after vacuuming, it's still nasty underneath it.

 

[TAbruzzi]

so youd recomend totally removing my gravel? could i put the same gravel back in after i move him to his new tank?