oscar emergancy

[oscarfish21]

greetings everyone from canada! unfortunatly it is not all gravy up here i have a very sick young oscar fish and i need some assistance asap she has not eaten anything solid for almost a week now although will consume some brine shrimp but that is it she lays on her side all day with her tail twitching and was having trouble breathing out of one gill, today i looked at my tank and she is cockeyed but still alive should i just give up and put my oscar out of her misery bc looks very painful :ssad: and i hate seeing her suffer or does anyone know what i could do she does not show any signs of fungus but i applied melafix and pimafix anyways bc it was all i had and seemed to help a little but this morning she was cockeyed, and her feces are white. could this be a paracite i feed my oscars a bulk diet of shrimp but i don't think that was what caused it bc my other larger oscar is unaffected and the rest of the fish in the tank are fine too. Please help me she is in pain please respond to save this oscars life any suggestions would be helpful and appreciated

[kimmers318]

First step when a fish is out of sorts is to check your water parameters. What are your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates? What size tank do you have this oscar in? Is it by itself or in another tank with the larger O?
Once you determine that it is not a water issue you can move forward, but it sounds like high nitrate symptoms to me. I have seen it before with my husband's O's and it is sounding like deja vu.

[TowBoater]

Tank size? Filtration? Tank numbers? We need info on it. Sounds like ammonia poising, did you cycle the tank? Do a large water change and add extra stress coat and add the correct amount of aquarium salt. They need at least a 55g for one, 75g is ideal.

[Demjor19]

the first step is def. to answer all of the questions listed above. when my fish are acting out of the normal i will usually do a water change (no more than 50%) then re-evaluate the situation and retest the params.

[oscarfish21]

i have a 25 gal eclipse tall tank with a yellow african cichlid, a dragon golby, an albino corydora and a tiger corydora have all natural plants but i have turned my active carbon off i do have carbon in the filters, i washed out filters a little not too much and did a 50% water change last nite but still nothing and just applied some aquarium salt to the mix hopefully she will come around. dont have any levels yet but i will soon temp is 28c

[crackatinny]

Salt is not good for catfish, it should not be used in tanks with skinned fish.

[cocoa_pleco]

a 25g is too small, especially with other fish, oscars need at least a 55g.

keep up with lots of water changes

[Demjor19]

a 25g is too small, especially with other fish, oscars need at least a 55g.

keep up with lots of water changes

it does sound a bit overstocked, but w/out knowing the sizes of any of these fish you cant say for sure. they said the oscar was young so it may not need the 55g yet. in the future as the oscar grows it will def. need a 55g or better though. as stated before though...keep up w/ the water changes and hope for the best.

[Nick89]

if the oscar is in that tank longer than a few months i believe his growth could possibly be stunted. Not entirely positive on it but 25 gallons isnt nearly enough.

[Demjor19]

if the oscar is in that tank longer than a few months i believe his growth could possibly be stunted. Not entirely positive on it but 25 gallons isnt nearly enough.

i have been growing an oscar out in a 29 gallon for quite some time now. he still has more than enough room to swim.

[Nick89]

1 oscar in a 29 is also a bad idea. these fish can grow over a foot long. 29 gallon tanks are 30'' long. that only gives them 18 inches to swim. And since you've had him in there for some quite time, his growth could possibly be stunted as well.

[tropfish]

Were kinda getting off topic here guys.

We need to knows this information immediatly if you want to save your fish. If you do not have a test kit then you should buy one right away.

[Nick89]

good point trop, im with trop, get a test kit to see what could possibly be the problem. High ammonia? Either way id do a large water change and test it again. Could be wrong though.

[tropfish]

yes a w/c would be good, but instead of doing one large one, do several small ones over the course of they day, so it's less of a shock to the fish, until the levels are acceptable

[Demjor19]

1 oscar in a 29 is also a bad idea. these fish can grow over a foot long. 29 gallon tanks are 30'' long. that only gives them 18 inches to swim. And since you've had him in there for some quite time, his growth could possibly be stunted as well.

my oscar is 4" long...i highly doubt he is stunted.

w/ no further derailing i would also agree w/ doing a few water changes and retests. good clean water is the key to healthy fish.