Oscar Ich Problem

[Diablofish]

My Oscar has just gotten ich from his feeder fish (i hate myself for it) .. i have taken some of the necessary precautions of treating the tank. I have used "Quick Cure" drops and i have raised the temperature to 82 degrees (Not 100% sure if a higher temp. would hurt him). I have vacumed the gravel today for the 2nd treatment and in doing so i had removed 25% of the water and replaced it with fresh water. My question is though when i remove the water and replace it with fresh clean water; should i be only treating the water i add to the tank or should i be adding a whole dose? And is it normal for a fish to be acting weak apon treatment? He is laying at the bottem of the tank and barely comes out for feeding. Really would appreciate some help; thanks.

 

[minxfishy]

Raising the temperature is the 1st step in treating Ich, 82 is fine for a short period of time during treatment. You will need to increase aeration during this time as higher temps and medication reduce the oxygen in the water.

You dont say how long you have had the tank or the fish, so I have to ask, is the tank fully cycled, ie, showing no signs of ammonia or nitrIte, what size tank, how long has it been set up and what other fish are in the tank.

What size is the Oscar? Feeder fish are not a good diet for an Oscar, because they as you have discovered not only introduce disease into the tank, but contain no nutrition for the fish you are feeding them with. Oscars need a good staple cichlid pellet, with occassional feeding of live/frozen worm, shrimp, prawn and veggies like peas to keep them healthy.

I dont know the treatment you are using, so in doing a water change mid treatment, it is normal to only re-dose the amount of med you have removed with the water change, however, follow the treatment directions.

If you have carbon in your filter, you must remove it or it will act against the medication, carbon is only necessary in a filter to remove medication after the treatment is finished.

 

[Diablofish]

Raising the temperature is the 1st step in treating Ich, 82 is fine for a short period of time during treatment. You will need to increase aeration during this time as higher temps and medication reduce the oxygen in the water.

You dont say how long you have had the tank or the fish, so I have to ask, is the tank fully cycled, ie, showing no signs of ammonia or nitrIte, what size tank, how long has it been set up and what other fish are in the tank.

What size is the Oscar? Feeder fish are not a good diet for an Oscar, because they as you have discovered not only introduce disease into the tank, but contain no nutrition for the fish you are feeding them with. Oscars need a good staple cichlid pellet, with occassional feeding of live/frozen worm, shrimp, prawn and veggies like peas to keep them healthy.

I dont know the treatment you are using, so in doing a water change mid treatment, it is normal to only re-dose the amount of med you have removed with the water change, however, follow the treatment directions.

If you have carbon in your filter, you must remove it or it will act against the medication, carbon is only necessary in a filter to remove medication after the treatment is finished.

I've had him for about a year now and the tank as well.

I normally do feed him Cichlid pelets but he stopped eating them randomly and was spitting them out and i didn't want him to starve so i bought him his favorite: feeders.

I have removed the carbon when i started treatment because that's what the directions said to do.

And he is the only one in the tank; and hes laying in the same spot as last night still and idk y

 

[lalo99]

If he stopped eating then there is a sign of a problem. Fish can last for weeks without eating. Keep treating for at least 10 days. Adding some aquarium Salt, Kosher salt or sea salt (NaCl) will also help. About 2-3 tablespoosn per 5 gallons should work. You can raise the temp more to 85-86.You should also bring the temp up slowly no more than a deg per hour However, the higher the temp the less O2 the water can hold. You should add an airstone to help with surface agitation. If you cannot add an airstone do not raise the temp any more. I would also do daily water changes between treatments

 

[Diablofish]

If he stopped eating then there is a sign of a problem. Fish can last for weeks without eating. Keep treating for at least 10 days. Adding some aquarium Salt, Kosher salt or sea salt (NaCl) will also help. About 2-3 tablespoosn per 5 gallons should work. You can raise the temp more to 85-86.You should also bring the temp up slowly no more than a deg per hour However, the higher the temp the less O2 the water can hold. You should add an airstone to help with surface agitation. If you cannot add an airstone do not raise the temp any more. I would also do daily water changes between treatments

Thanks, i have done everything you've said already but the one thing i can't do is raise my temperature above 78. I got it to 82 last night by adding warm water to the tank but its dropped back to 78 and the heater wont raise it any higher >.< Obviously i need to invest in a new heater lawl. So far i'm thinking he is doing better. He has moved around a bit more today swimming to the surface and then back down to the gravel to rest. He still seems weak but i'm glad to see he has moved at least a little. All the ich spots are gone at least. My biggest concern is him eating; i'm thinking about buying him some frozen foods; any opinions on which?

 

[indigoj]

Frozen food will be far far better than feeders (which are completely unnecessary for Oscars)

Few questions:

What size tank?

Water stats for ammonia and nitrIte?

How big is the Oscar?

What filtration do you have?

 

[Diablofish]

Update: Oscar is swimming around and hasn't rested on the gravel at all today
Ich has cleared up quite a bit; but I'm still continuing ich treatment.

He still isn't eating though. I've been told he can go weeks without eating
and i read on the internet that he could have indigestion? So im hopeing he'll
snap out of this soon enough and start eating his pellets again. If not i'll
be heading down to buy some frozen foods for him.

__________________________________________________________________________

As far as the ammonia and nitrate goes..i have no idea how to test for that. Unless thats PH because i know to keep my ph at a constant 7.0 and that's what i've always done. Filtration is good. It's a 50 gallon filter for a 30 gallon tank. And dont worry, it's not that he's in a tank to small or anything, cuz hes only about 4 inches. I plan on putting him in a larger home when he grows large enough to fit in with the other fish in my other aquarium.

 

[lazermule]

Update: Oscar is swimming around and hasn't rested on the gravel at all today
Ich has cleared up quite a bit; but I'm still continuing ich treatment.

He still isn't eating though. I've been told he can go weeks without eating
and i read on the internet that he could have indigestion? So im hopeing he'll
snap out of this soon enough and start eating his pellets again. If not i'll
be heading down to buy some frozen foods for him.

__________________________________________________________________________

As far as the ammonia and nitrate goes..i have no idea how to test for that. Unless thats PH because i know to keep my ph at a constant 7.0 and that's what i've always done. Filtration is good. It's a 50 gallon filter for a 30 gallon tank. And dont worry, it's not that he's in a tank to small or anything, cuz hes only about 4 inches. I plan on putting him in a larger home when he grows large enough to fit in with the other fish in my other aquarium.

I had an Oscar when I was a kid and I'm amazed at how much I didn't know about him that I was supposed to. I always fed him bait minnows (crappie minnows) and trout pellets, he always broke heaters (he was big) so eventually he didn't have one, when I vacuum cleaned his tank (usually once a month) I dumped water straight out of the bath tub into the tank (well water)....he finally out grew the 30 gal tank he was in and I sold him (very healthy) to a local pet store....Did I get lucky? Or are they just tough fish?

LM

 

[Diablofish]

**Update** Oscar still has ich... its been a week and half i think since he has actually eaten. I'm getting worried at this point. He wont eat anything still and i don't know what to do. Today i put him in a quartantine tank that has warmer water and ich treatment and i took him out of his old parasite infested home which i am bleach cleaning. Any ideas on how to get him eating? Thanks.

 

[england]

Oscars are sulker's esp when being moved, a month not eating is quite common, good luck with the treatment,

It is always reccomended not to feed feeder fish for this reason, most fish used like goldfish dont carry enough nutrients to actually feed the fish healthily, guppies can sometimes be used as a treat but that is it really and then only feed if you have to ones which you have bred at home yourself, oscars do not need feeders,pellets have all the nutrition needed to substain a healthy life and can easily be weened onto pellets, some fish are very dificult if not impossible to ween onto pellets but usually it is possible,i only have one fish to date which will not take anything except live bloodworm,even if there are dead in amoungst them he will only take live leaving the dead for the others...had him two years and tried everything,

 

[indigoj]

I think you need to get a proper liquid test kit - API or similar so that you can get readings for ammonia and nitrIte as illness in fish usually indicates a water problem.

Keep the temp up around 30deg C and don't worry too much about food yet.

 

[bae1994]

also you said hes in a 30 gallon at 4 inches if youve had him for a year i would think he should be alot bigger