Hello everyone. As you can tell I'm completely new here. I haven't introduced myself or anything but I figured you were the best group to ask for advice.

I'm sort of new to keeping Oscars. I've had mine about six or seven months. He's acting very strangely, though, and I can't figure out what the problem is. I have him in a 60 gallon aquarium by himself, as he should be. He keeps breathing hard (I suppose it's stress) and he is sitting on the bottom like a tired dog. He's reluctant to eat and when he does, he throws it up. His fins are torn up and have holes in them. My guess was that it was fin rot, which began a whole two months ago when he was slightly injured on a decoration that I have since removed.



I have been adding Melafix and aquarium salt every single day since then. I turned up his heater to around 80 F with some luck at first, but his fins just ripped apart again. I thought he was having trouble breathing so I turned it down a notch to 79 F, but he's still doing it. He's been doing that for two days now. I'm very worried about him.

I've been doing 2-3 gallon water changes almost consecutively for a week along with the normal 10% change and he's no better. I can't test my water right now so I don't know exactly how high ammonia/nitrites/nitrates are (sorry). One thing that may be worth noting though is I have had a pretty bad brown algae problem and I started using an algicide on it a couple days ago, but I only decided on that when he began behaving abnormally. I always attributed the brown algae to low light in the aquarium, but maybe there's something else to it. He also developed these white crater-looking blemishes on the front of his body.

All of that said, what should I do? I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle here. Do I need to change more water? Am I using the wrong things to treat it?

Thanks for your help.

hi there and welcome.
Your medicating of the tank and the use of algicide can cause your O to behave strangely.
On the other hand it seems like you waterchange chedule is a bit low.
I change 50% of my water weekly just to keep parameters in check.
We are gonna need some watertest results from you.
Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and Ph.
That will help us pinpoint any problems.
Without those readings it's hard to tell whats going on.
I say start with 30% waterchange to see if that helps.
How big is your filter?
Do you have an airpump?

it sounds to me like the culprit is more than likely water quality. unfortunetly without your water readings it is very hard to more precise but i do recommend doing a water changes first around the 30% mark and get a water test kit as soon as possible.

then if you could post said results for ammonia nitrates nitrites and ph along with the size and type of filtration you are using we will be much better off in helping you with your problems



sorry noddy guess we were posting at the same time.

You post states that you added aquarium salt daily.
If that's true, the salinity of your water may be way too high...
Can you explain, please?

Yes. What I mean is that I've been slowly adding aquarium salt to his aquarium to increase the salinity. I'm too worried about hurting him to put too much of it in, and when I do water changes I just replace the salt I remove.

I guess I'll just start by doing a large water change and see if he perks up. I won't have any test kits for a couple of days at the soonest. I know it's difficult to pinpoint anything without any specifics. Thanks for your replies.

By the way, does it look like he has fin rot by the picture? I haven't ever dealt with fish diseases before and the pictures I find on the Web look a little different.

IMO the fins look a bit injured, but not bad at all.
No finrot.
On the other hand providing your o with pristine water and a varied diet should make him heal those injuries real quick, without meds.
Mine had a fin biten in half, upto a quarter of an inch from the base.
Now, one month later the fin has regrown for 2/3 allready.
Using an airpump could help some oxigen dissolve, for the hot water will have less available oxigen in it for your fish.
Do you use Prime/ dechlorinator with your waterchanges?

btw algicide made my friends KOI breath heavily and not look well for some days this summer, after he used it.Looked like they were gonna die.
I think that stuff is bad news...

If you're going to salt the tank I wouldn't exceed 1 TBS per five gallons of water.
And when you do a water change only put back what you remove. For instance if you take out 20 gallons which is 30 percent of a 60 gallon you would only add back 4 TBS.

I wonder if there is an adverse reaction to the mix of chemicals (metaflex and algae chemicals)? just a thought.

Noddy wrote:


x2

my oscars have beat the hell out of themselves at times... and with perfect water they heal up quite nicely without the need for meds.




stop salting your fish, they dont need it, imo.

Win wrote:
[quote]Noddy wrote:


x2

I agree with what has been said. You are not changing enough water and your nitrates will be too high. If i were you i would do a 50% water change and you will probably find your Oscar perks up. Do thing every day until yopu get a test kit. Then post the results and we will advise you

I agree 50% water change and get a test kit.