http://s810.photobucket.com/albums/zz22/tankbuster_bucket/?action=view&current=TB-1.jpg&newest=1

I have had this fish for at least 7 years - in this tank for 6.

She has had hole in the head before, but cleared up with medication.

She exhibited cloudy eyes, gasping for air, and small white "bugs" (about 1 mm - 1 cm - so I thought they were flukes) crawling on her and swimming through the tank about 2 months ago. On the pet store's rec, I treated her with General Cure and turned up the heat to 86. The white "bugs" went away but she continued to gasp for air. I thought that they had just damaged her gills and she would recover.

About a week ago she started getting popeye, her fins were showing rot, and her scales were coming off (a little), I also thought she may have HILH. On a different pet stores recommendation I brought some water in for testing and she had nitrates at 80 PPM, so I did a 50% water change (4 days ago) and added aquarium salt.

She started to get worse - and the "bugs" came back! On PetSmart's suggestion, I dosed her with QuICK Cure - what they give their fish that are exhibiting parasitic symptoms.

Now she has large spots all over her - and although I have one more dosing, she is not any better.

I do not know how to include pictures but I have them.


Water parameters

PH: 7.6
Nitrate: 20 PPM
Nitrite: 0 PPM
Ammonia: 0 PPM

-Oscar behavior

Not Eating
Floating at the surface near filter outlet
Gasping for air
Sometimes sits with head on gravel and tail straight up

-Tank-mates

None

-Tank size

70 gallons

-Equipment

Running bio wheel
underground filter
treating with 50% water change and QuICK Curehttp://s810.photobucket.com/albums/zz22/tankbuster_bucket/?action=view&current=TB-1.jpg&newest=1

Hi and Welcome...

It sounds to me like she has had long exposure to bad water.

You will need to do several things, make sure your water readings stay exactly where they are or better. Don't let your Nitrates get any higher.

You need to look into adding more filtration, and add an air bar. The gasping at the surface is her lacking oxygen.

Feed VERY sparingly... Any uneaten foods get removed immediately.

You will have to upload pics to an image hosting site, like Photobucket, and then copy and paste the IMG code here.

though you do not have data on pH during the time you had 80ppm nitrate,
i agree with Nickie it might be due to bad water exposure.

adding salt had also guidelines...too much salt is dangerous to fresh
water fish, thus it must be used with caution. increasing temp requires
aeration to augment oxygen dissolve in water since warm water depletes
oxygen in the tank.

please use photobucket or image shack to post pictures

Thank you. What do you think the "bugs" are? they are very small and white - and move around on her.

the picture shows your fish had suffered from toxic burn (probably ammonia)
or from high nitrate compounded with high pH. immediate water change and some
prime could give comfort to your fish. regarding crawling bugs? are you sure
they are crawling bugs or worms? or just dead flesh tissues hanging in the body
or the slime coating that are detaching?

What is prime?

It isn't the slime - I can see that too, and they are crawling on that.

The ammonia wasn't high before I started treating with the QuICK Cure - it is Malachite Green and Formalin - and I can't test it acuratly right now because the water's blue.

When the Nitrate was at 80 PPM, the PH was at 6.4. After I did the water change, the Nitrates dropped to 20 PPM and the PH skyrocketed to 7.6! How do I get Nitrates down without raising the PH?

Thank you for all the info so far - you guys have been the best help!

You can keep your PH from rising that much by doing small frequent water changes... I would do about 25% twice a week.

The bugs may be fish lice, but without an exact description or a very clear pic it is hard to say.

TankBuster wrote:


Prime is a waterconditioner we use to dechorinate the water and turn the water into a fish friendly environment.
The water that is suitable for us to drink, can be harmfull to your fishes health.
Plus the chlorine in the tapwater will usually kill your beneficial bacteria.

Prime is the best conditioner on the market. And from reading your post, I noticed you said you had an undergravel filter. Not really a good idea with Oscars. They are super messy fish and these kinds of filters are not good for them. Especially when you have to clean it and remove it, it can release some bad stuff in the tank.. It is suitable for smaller fish but Oscar waste is huge as you have seen and they dig and it could just be a big headache. Very very bad idea. If thats your only filtration, that could be a big problem to be honest with you. You have had so many illnesses that your filtration could be a huge part in this.

You would need to run 5 times the tank volume in GPH with a canister filter (or 10 times with HOB) so a 70 gallon tank would need a minimum of 350 GPH and one Rena XP3 could do that. And canisters have a great amount of room for lots of good bio media and mechanical filtration. Undergravel filters are strictly biological filtration but can become impacted from the large waste and cause major problems.

You need mechanical filtration badly. I personally think your under-filtered.

If you see little white worms, maybe swimming free in the tank thats from over feeding and its called planaria. You could of had that and a case of ick maybe? But popeye, fin rot, parasites, strange behavior, gasping, all that is going to kill your fish. You really need to get a good filter, treat her as gently as possible and try not to give so many meds. I mean, with certain things like popeye, you need to use epsom salts to draw out the fluid. For ick, if thats what it is you can use kosher salt and raise temp to 85 degrees and treat that way. Too many meds will stress her!


SO get some Prime and a a good filter. Keep water parameters perfect, vacuum that gravel and get nitrates down to 10ppm.

The problems your fish has are mainly from poor water quality. HITH occurs when fish have weakened immune systems and poor water gives fish a weakened immune system. Popeye is a bacterial infection that sets in when the water is poor.

The cure for HITH is get your water the best it can be. I suggest a 50% water change twice a week- be warned it can take a long time to cure HITH. To cure the popeye buy an antibacterial. As for the bugs i would get an anti parasite BUT only use one treatment at a time, if you use both you may kill your fish. When you have finished one treatment add some carbon to your filter and leave it for 2 or 3 days, then reomve the carbon and start the second treatment

Under gravel filters (UGF) are not the best filters for oscars due to the waste oscars produce, also oscars dig and if they dig down to the filter plate the UGF wont work so if you are going to use an UGF then use a gravel tidy. My advise would be to but a big external cannister filter- a fluval 405 would be good for your tank

Once everything has settled down buy yourself a test kit for ammonia, nitrtie, nitrate and Ph. Every week test your water - ammonia and nitrite should be zero, nitrate below 40. If nitrate is 40 or above then you will need to do bigger or more frequent water changes. Only feed what your fish will eat in 2 mins and remove any uneaten food

i agree with delboy and the others. prolonged poor water has really affected your fish and this is why you have so many symptoms. its not one illness but many at the same time. your problem is treating for one would mean the other goes untreated. these a good chance your fish has lice, possible HITH and even swim bladder infection as you say the fish sites tail up the only thing i would change to delboys post is possibly use met blue. it will treat the lice,plus the infections. the down side is met blue is very hard on your filter/tank/fish. its a very strong med and it stains the tank silicon. it will also leave your tank cycle damaged for a number of wks. if you have a hospital tank to move the fish to i would consider met blue. and speak to the guy at the shop about using it too.

She is has just sat in the same spot with her head on the gravel and her tail in the air since mid day yesterday, breathing very softly. When she goes to swim off (she doesn't try this often) she can't lift her head off the ground and she scrapes against the gravel. It's really heartbreaking.

I did a 25% water change last night and the PH is 7.2, ammonia is still 0 PPM, and nitrates are 10 PPM.

I am afraid to use any more medications on her - I think that anymore stress will kill her (if she isn't gone by the time I get home from work today ).