Emergency Sick Oscar

[PeterWest]

HI Guys I urgently need your help
One of my Oscars is very sick...some of the symptoms include
very weak, lying on the floor on the aquarium and loss of appetite
On its last limbs
Please help ASAP

PeterW

 

[WILDER]

Need tank size in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.

Need to rule out bad water quality, as it\s the first thing to look at when a fish is sick.

it could be a numbers of things from bad water quality, bacterial, etc.

 

[PeterWest]

The tank size is 136 liter
There is One Red Oscar, One Red Tiger Oscar( sick one )Two Angelfish , one Tiger Barb and one Pleco
Dont have water test kits put pH is around 7.9

will invest in a water testing kit on the weekend
Angelfish could be moved into another tank for the time being
Angelfish might be sold soon
Planning more barbs

If there is anything you would recommend to add to the tank or to install?

 

[Davo86]

Considering one Oscar needs around 280L I think you really need to move the two to an adequately sized tank.

I would hazard a guess that the tank isn't cycled and the oscars are still very young, as they don't do well in uncycled setups or in tanks with poor water conditions.

You will need to do a 30-50% precautionary water change and get a test kit ASAP, by the sounds the oscars not going to be around by the weekend

Oscars will reach 6" inside 6months and will be over a foot within 18months, they need a big tank from the start to prevent health problems occuring

 

[minxfishy]

Yes, I recommend you return or rehome BOTH Oscars asap, a single Oscar will require a minimum of a 4ft 75g tank, for two you need a 5ft 125g minimum. Even if they are only small now, they grow FAST and require pristine water conditions and great filtration.

How long has this tank been set up, was it cycled prior to adding the fish. The tiger barbs will become snacks as the Oscars grow and the angels likely stressed or beaten badly by the oscars.

For the sake of the fish, please rehome them asap or invest in a 5ft tank quickly.

 

[PeterWest]

Oh dont worry this set up is only temporary in about a month or two we will be installing a about 4500 liter freshwater tank where the oscars among others will be housed

 

[forby3]

sorry mate but the oscars wont be with you in a month or 2 you really need to either rehome or take them back to the lfs until you get your big tank

 

[PeterWest]

so you reckon it will be worth investing in a same sized tank for the time being so each oscar has his tank for the month or so?

 

[Davo86]

unless you can get a test kit and solve the issue you currently have the one Oscar won't be around in a couple of days never mind a couple of months,

Was this tank cycled?/How long has it been setup for?

 

[PeterWest]

Not so sure if it was cycled... its been up since early jan

 

[PeterWest]

Not so sure if it was cycled... its been up since early jan

actually do not think so

 

[minxfishy]

If its been set up since Jan, how did you set it up? Did you just put water in, filter on, heater etc and then put the fish in? Have you been doing water changes regularly, how often did you do them after adding the fish.

Oscars are extremely messy fish and therefore create far more waste (ammonia) than normal community fish. It is unfortunately easy to assume that they have/are suffering from ammonia/nitrIte poisoing, due to lack of cycled tank and living in the extreme ammonia and nitrIte levels the tank has/is going thru during the cycle.

Without a test kit you immediatley need to do a 50% water change, ensuring the tank water temperature is the same as the water already in the tank, remembering to dechlorinate it too. Then go get a test kit (liquid test kit, strips are useless) tomorrow, test the water, if there are any signs of ammonia or nitrIte, you need to more water changes to get the levels to 0, unfortunately if you dont do this quickly you will lose them or cause them permanent damage and the likelyhood is, even if you do, they will still die/suffer.

Be kind to the fish, return them to the LFS, explain you are unable to care for them, frankly they should be ashamed to have sold them to you in the 1st place with that size tank.

 

[Big_eyes]

Sadly it was already said two weeks ago in another emergency thread involving the same oscars that the tank was too small.

It had a peacock eel in there then too..