I am going to guess that my albino oscar has fin rot as his fins are looking worse every day, i have completely removed all gravel from the tank as im sue i had too much in there and it is not helping water quality. I have also done a 50% water change and added stress coat and stress zyme and am treating with melafix daily for 7 days then will change water 25% and probably start melafix again. If anyone has any other suggestions i will be pleased to hear them. I have attached a pic, but he has got worse since this was taken. Not sure if pic attached but is on page 3 of members gallery.

Okay, you have tried myxazin and you say that didn't work? You are now trying melafix. If this doesn't make any difference to your fish at the end of the treatment, I would suggest that you have a word with the vet. What we have got to remember is that just because it's a fish, doesn't mean that every treatment we buy off the shelf is going to work. If we were treating pet dog, we would have probably taken it to the back by now. If your treatment doesn't work, there may be a high possibility that the fish needs antibiotics. Now I can't speak for any other country apart from the United Kingdom but you cannot buy antibiotics, you have to get them on prescription. However, I will have a word with the guy at the fish shop tomorrow, there is a product available that he reckons is quite good. I can't remember the name of it but I will find out tomorrow. It is close to antibiotics as you will get apparently. I had another look at the photo. It certainly does look like it could be fin rot.

ok thanks for your help, the thing i find really annoying is that i do everything i can to take care of this fish and yet my friend has 2 red oscars that are like 8 - 10 inches and he does nothing with them , never changes water or cleans his filter and they are so healthy looking.

That's the way the cookie crumbles I'm afraid. You may find that your Oscar as some kind of generic problem. My Tiger Oscar that I had to put down the other week had problems from the word go, I tried everything and I couldn't cure him. Like I said, some illnesses can only be cured by antibiotics.

i see what ya saying but annoying isnt it, i went to my friends today cos the fish that i was saying about are actually mine but he is looking after them till i can afford a big enough tank and the state of the tank is a joke you cant even see in it and there is just thick green algae every where, but like you say thats the way the cookie crumbles! but atleast the fish look healthy.

Make sure that he is doing water changes, algae can sometimes indicate high nitrate levels

his tank has been like that for about 6 months and to my knowledge he has never done a water change.

Try your hardest to get nitrate reading done. Even though high nitrates aren't as toxic as other elements such as ammonia and nitrite, exposing fish to high nitrates for long periods of time could cause them to have health problems in the future, such as hole in the head disease

i think i just need to get some money sorted and get bigger tank so i can get them back from him.

As long as they are being looked after, they will be okay.

Just change the subject slightly. What browser are you using? The reason I ask is because I recently found out that this particular forum doesn't render properly on Internet Explorer 6. It's all to do with CSS and Internet Explorer 6 being a load of shite. If you view this forum using IE6, the forum is actually much further down the page leaving a big space at the top. I'm worried that people using Internet Explorer six will not realise what the problem is and miss out

i think i just need to get some money sorted and get bigger tank so i can get them back from him.

i use IE7.