Urgent: Oscar is sick.

Hello,

I Currently have 2 baby Oscars and a baby pleco in a 40 gallon tank (undersized only for the next 30-45 days)

About a week and a half ago I was having a ICK problem, I decided to use Super ICK cure by API and followed the directions.. i made a very rookie and terrible mistake I threw away my old carbon filter and replaced it with a new one like the directions said. This caused my tank to do a mini cycle or recycle.. My nitrites have been extremely high (5PPM) and so i have been doing 50% daily water changes for the last 3 days that have been slowly helping but today i did a 90% water change which helped bring my ammonia down to 0-.25ppm and nitrites back down to 0.

The Problem, I have an Oscar that is breathing hard, really bloated and fin and scales look terrible he is also really light in color. This is going to be day 4, he was the reason why i checked my parameters and noticed it was all out of wack after the ick treatment. (the ick was never on him it was on the other Oscar) which is doing great.

Here are my Tap water Parameters:

PH 7.8
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrites 0 ppm
Nitrates 40ppm

My tank parameters 3-4 hours after 90% water change

PH 7.8-8
Ammonia 0-.25ppm
nitrites 0 ppm
nitrates 40ppm


My tank is about 60 days old, I have not changed my pad filter or my bio filter just the carbon, I do use seachem prime and stability. I did add 3 tablespoons of salt to the tank to help


Please let me know if you guys have any questions and any help is greatly appreciated!!

Oscars don't like chemicals of any sort and they prefer to be in an acid tank. They are sensitive to water quality and don't like nitrates. These fish are not for beginners and need large tanks with very clean water. All you can do now is to try and get things back on track.

II personally think this fish isn't facing Ich.
It looks more like HLLE or a bacterial infection ( at least it has finrot).

DoubleDutch said:

II personally think this fish isn't facing Ich.
It looks more like HLLE or a bacterial infection ( at least it has finrot).

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Ich is the least of its problems right now

The oscar has passed on, water parameters are looking better. I have pothos in the tank to help with nitrates.

DoubleDutch said:

II personally think this fish isn't facing Ich.
It looks more like HLLE or a bacterial infection ( at least it has finrot).

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The other fish were facing ich and i treated it.

mikejar123 said:

The other fish were facing ich and i treated it.

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Okay Mike, but this definitely is something different.

DoubleDutch said:

Okay Mike, but this definitely is something different.

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Agreed, ive had oscars over the years and never had anything like this.. i donated them to my LFS which two of them are still alive and striving in there big 250 gallon tank .

A bit late to help the fish but the Oscar in the picture bas a bacterial infection on its tail and rear part of the dorsal (top) fin.

It also appears to have some damage to its side on the rear half of the body, possibly a physical injury.

Heavy breathing can be from poor water quality or gill parasites. White spot infects the gills and damages them and the scaring left after the parasites die, can cause the fish to have trouble breathing.

A swollen belly that appears overnight can be from an internal bacterial infection, this is usually associated with the fish doing a stringy white poop and not eating. The fish dies within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms.

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White spot can be treated with heat (30C/ 86F) for 2 weeks, or at least 1 week after all the spots have gone.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence when raising the temperature or using medications because they both reduce the oxygen levels in the water.

The following link has information on white spot, including various ways to treat it. Post #1 and #16 are worth a read.

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If you only change the carbon pad in the filter, it should not interfere with the filter cycle that much because the beneficial bacteria live on all the different types of filter media/ materials.

Carbon isn't really necessary in aquariums and most people replace it with a sponge filter. Sponges last for years and don't need to be replaced. You squeeze them out in a bucket of tank water and re-use the sponge. The bucket of dirty water can be poured on the lawn/ garden.

Don't worry about your carbon, decades of fish keeping I've never used it and my tanks are sparkling clean. Do not change the filter media. Make sure your basic water parameters are ok but regardless the parameters, do lots of water changes. Oscars are very hardy fish and they can heal with lots of fresh water.