Can someone please help me i have a albino tiger oscar and he has been floating on the top of the tank for 5 days he is not swollen nor does he have dropsy infact he has no external markings that state he is sick except for the ones starting from him floating on top of the tank. i have researched his symtoms and guessed that it was etheir an internal bacterial infection or a swim bladder problem so after treating in a salt bath then i tried epsomsalts and promethasul multicure plus some ammonia and nitrite reduction, then i dicided to take him to the vet as he didnot seem to be reacting to the meds and asked him to prescirbe me some metrnidazole which he has been bathing in for two days along with some melafix repeating daily with 25% water change, the vet didnt have a clue, he could not even tell me the dosage or treatment routine i had to find this info myself and i am running blind here only being able to rely on my own research is there anyone out there that maybe able to give me some advise as i dont wont to kill him with love please please help

Hey, sorry to hear about your patient. There are some really clever and experienced guys and gals on this forum..to save some time, they will probably want to know as much as they can about..

Your current water quality...test results please

Your tank set up

Tank mates

Is he eating anything at them moment? What does he normally eat.

Get this stuff on ASAP and I am sure they will try to help you. Best of luck and warm wishes....Sharyn

Does the fish try to swim down but has trouble and floats back up. Does the fish have any injuries and does he have any tankmates and if so any bullying?

Can you post a pic or a vid to help us. We do need those test results for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate

welcome Wugley!
get those waterresults and answers to the other questions for us, and we'll try to help you figure out what's wrong.

may be swim bladder issue. do a 50% water change asap! get the test results up also.

thankyou for your reply
okay test results are: ammonia 5.0
nitrite 0-1
ph 7.2
the meds i am using mucks up all the levels and can stop watse brake down.

okay to start with he has been living in a 4 foot tank for about three years happily with many different mates oner the years then i moved house about three months ago and put him in a 2 1 1/2 foot tank with his most recent mate a male peacock they resided here for about a month whislt i set his 4 foot tank up out side, there was a nitrite spike so i transfered into the outside tank and this is when i noticed that he was sulking and i put in the salts and the promethasul, then i watched over the next few days and noyiced that he was not swimming at all not even if i put myhand in to touch him, did a water change and the two days after that he just floated up to the top of the tank and that is where he has stayed he does not even try to submerge himself i tested the water and in this tank all levels are perfect. so i did a lot of research and talked to a lot of people and found this drug called metronidazole and took him to the vet and just asked for this med and he gave it to me but had no clue and couldnt tell me the dose or treatment routine for a fish, so i found all this my self when i got him home i transfered him to a 10 ltr hospital tank and started meds which he has been on for three days now,
the treatment consists of 6ml of metronidazole every 24 hours with 25% water change with 1.25 ml of melafix and 2.5grams of epsom salts i hope this info is useful.
also yesterday i tried some ammonia removal that my local pet shop said would be fine but it reacted with the med and has left the tank cloiudy and has left white strands floating through the water so i took it out and did my med change but the am hoping it has not effected the meds treatment in any way do you think it could have?

thankyou so much for your concern
no he is not eating he hasnt been for a week i normally feed him hikari large floating pellets mostly, plus mince,peas and corn, flake and sinking pellet made up at the local fish shop and sometimes mealworms and frozen/dried blood worms
kindess regards mel

Woooaaahhh

Ammonia of 5

normally i would say do a 50% water change and daily 25% water changes until the tank is cycled. But given your oscars condition i would do 2 50% water changes today (preferably several hours apart) and then 25% daily. Test daily!

did you cycle the tanks you put him in. If you dont know what cycling is go to the home page and find the section describing cycling

It difficult to tell what is going on in your tank as you have done so much to it but if you didnt cycle the tanks then that would seem to be the cause. If this is the case then stop all meds and concentrate on getting your water quality good.

thankyou so much for your concern,
No he has never tied to submerge himself since he first started floating he just got pushed arround by the filter(i assume this is because he is to weak)
no he was not getting bullyed he only had one other tank mate and they were quite frienldy i did not place the nitrate reading up but it was 1.5
i will try to get a pic up to help sometime today..
kindess regards

thankyou for your reply
i have also thought this,
i cannot do a 50% water change as i am in the middle of a 14 day treatment but the meds i am using mucks up all the levels kills good bacteria as well of the bad and stops watse breakdown
but the test results are ammonia- 5.0 nitrite 0-1 and nitrate and ph 7.2

lets get this right, your oscar was fine and healthy until you transferred him to another tank but was it cycled- please answer this its important!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It doesnt sound like swim bladder as he would be trying to swim down. I suspect your problems are due to poor water quality and the meds are not neccessary

hi the ammonia spikes are only from the meds all the levels are perfect in the 4 foot tank he was in as i stated in my reply so this could not be the original cause of this problem, the meds that i am using to try and fix him which is a strict 14 day routine at 6 ml of metronidazole, 1.25 of melafix, 2.5 grms of epsom salts and yes i cycled my 4 foot tank for about a month would have been longer but had a nitrie spike in other tank, as stated in the reply above and i am sure if i sested the treatment then the levels would return to normal but that is not going to help the fish this treatment is also extremely expensive and it is presription only and cannot stop just on one persons say so, i was warned when using this medicine that i would experience with spikes as it kills all bacteria including most the good and it can reduce waste breakdown which causes the spikes what a want to no is how i can get the levels down without stopping the treatment, i tried some ammonia removal rocks yesterday but i believe that reacted with the metronidazole and caused more damage then good and suggestions??