i was looking at my oscar and my catfish the other day and noticed there fins look withered and kinda deterioratd i perfomed and water test changed 25% of the water and cleaned the filter my local marine warehouse suggested using a medication called melafix does anyone have any opinions or advice

post a few pics so we can see. i have been in shops many times and asked them about fish been injured or looking "odd" and every time they try and sell me melafix. personally i dont trust them. at the end of the day they are a shop and need to sell stuff and from my experiance only care about money not your fish. normally 9/10 oscars will just get over it by them selfs unless you have bad water conditions or alot of fighting happening...

It will depend on what is wrong with the fins. If they are suffering from fin rot/damage from fighting then yes melafix will treat it. you will need to have a good look at the fins and decide if they look like they are degenerating between the rays of the fin or frayed(roting away). this will be fin rot (most likely) and you will need to treat or it may get so bad your fish will die or the damaged fin may be damaged beyound repair.... if your fish are suffering fin rot then the most likely cause will be poor water conditions. Please test your water and post results. any treatment you add will be a total wast of time if your water conditions are poor as it will return as soon as treatment stops or may not clear up at all.the fact you done a water change gives me an idea you think the water is not at its best. for the best all round advice give us tank size/filter/fish and size and your water parameters for ammonia/nitrites/nitrates/PH/temp.

hi marcus i have a 75 gallon tank and a magnum 350 canister filter and a 3 1/2 inch albino tiger oscar and a 4 inch catfish my ph is around 6.5 to 7.0, my wter temp was 79.6, but my nitrites and nitrates when i test are a lil high and says check filter, ive cleaned the tank cleaned the filter i performed a 50% water change middle of last week, i dont understand whats wrong my filter is flowing good water flow and the fish are happy and eat well.

hi Joedodge:

It looks like you lost your cycle. Since you have fish living there, I would recommend daily partial water changes (close to but not over 50%) and add tap water treated with a product such as Seachem's Prime, that besides removing chlorine/chloramines, will keep ammonia and nitrites locked -but capable to feed bacteria- within tolerable limits for your fish, for some 24 hours.

Melafix is not really a medication, but a tonic that might help healing the skin, scales, maybe even soft tissues. If your fish have some bacterial infection that is causing this (e.g. columnaris) Melafix might aid a bit but will not suffice. Having said this, if your fish lesions look bad, consider using broad-spectrum antibiotics. You must remove activated charcoal media if it is new (say a week old).

Most bacterial infections in fish -though not all- are from gramm-negative bacteria; using Maracyn (I recommend the saltwater formulae, since it has added vitamins) should help; however, since your cycle is disrupted, you may have a catch 22 situation here: Maracyn (Erythromycine) works by gradually reaching optimal levels in the fish plasma as a function of a gradual build-up in its concentration in water. Removing water daily, may require treating your fish for more than the usual 5-7 days, keep that in mind.

Your filtration, in my opinion, is under what I consider desirable minimum (10 times tank's volume per hour) -although this "rule" is usually for HOBs not for canister or wet/dry systems. A canister filter excells HOBs in surface for biological filtration, however, having only one filter -of course, your seeded substrate is another bio-filter, but you likely cleaned it too: I divide the tank for vacuuming purposes, one half each week -expose you to situations like this one: mini-cycles. You should carefully rinse/replace its media, however, since dirty canisters can become quite efficient Nitrates factories.


If you have a seeded HOB in another tank, consider using it in your 75gal (or at list using some sponge media from it) and for the time being, raise your temp a bit, to 82F, increase dissolved oxygen (water agitation, airstones). Once this is over, consider using activated charcoal to remove loose chemicals from the water (meds).

Hope your fish heal soon. Pics, as ricky said, could be very helpful in order to do "differential diagnosis" for the experts down here. I'm just a newbie. Good luck.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

OK THANKYOU VERY MUCH HOW WOULD I LOSE MY CYCLE THO , I ONLY HAVE THAT FILTER I WAS TOLD IT WOULD BE ENOUGH BY MY LOCAL MARINE HOUSE, WHY WOULD MY FISH BE ACTING NORMAL THO

You can mess up the cycle by cleaning your filter. when cleaning the filter you only need to wash a small part of the mess away. the dirt is good. I would wash only a very small amount away at a time and NEVER NEVER wash in tap water. only clean the filter with old tank water that you remove in a water change. I am not sure how many sponges your canister has but say it has 4 then only wash 1. you do not need to clean the canister very often, say 6wks or longer should do but if someone knows this type and size filter they may be how to adivse better.you can also mess up your cycle if you add new water that has not been treated for chlorine into your tank. This is possibble at times of water change. If you remove 25% of your water and then add new tap water before your chlorine treatment, it can come into contact with your pump media(chlorine will kill your filter bactria). Always turn your pump off for a short time if you change your water in this manor. If you think your filter maybe damaged in this way please do some water tests with a test kit. Check,ammonia,nitrites,nitrates.any ammonia or nitrites please ask for more help. if nitrates are high you need to carry out more water change as the only way to lower nitrates is water changes.

ok thankyou i put two older hob i had on an old tank a while back the wheels were cycled then i hope it will help me out