should i flush the little guy?!?

[parrotfish53102]

I am experiencing some problems with one of my Oscars. For the last few days it hasn't been eating much of anything and just sits on the bottom between two rocks. His head is sunken in just a little, the abdomen is smaller from no food, turning white and starting to peel a little bit. The bottom fins look like that are begining to shred. There are very small red dots (look like blood) on his abdomen and I think it is from the other Oscar and 2 Parrots taking little bites at him. The Parrot fish have always been a little mean to the oscars doing feeding time but its not like they bite them, they just swim up and bang into their sides. Could the Oscar picked up a fungus from being scratched by the parrot fish? The other Oscar and the 2 parrots fish are acting normal....hungry all the time About 2 days before this started, I did put in 6 feeder guppies for them to play with. We did start a cycle of melafix in hopes of curing him. What should I do?

Ammonia is .25ppm
Nitrate is almsot 5.0ppm
Ph is 7.2.
55 Gal
2 months running, all 4 fish in for 6 weeks
size of fish in sig

 

[cichlidmaster]

Sounds like it picked up a bacterial infection.

From your description of it's actions and behaviors sounds to me like it may be beyond help. You could try adding salt. One tablespoon to every 5 gallons of tank water.

Do you see any signs of red at the base of the fins? If you do it's time to put it out of it's misery.

Wish I had better news for you..

Let us know what you decide to do, or how the fish is doing.

Good Luck....

 

[parrotfish53102]

we are going to do a partial water change tonight. I looked on this site here : http/www.klsnet.com/files/fishchart.htm for help on what the problem could be. It resembles Fish Tuberculosis but the other fish are fine and the color loss in only on the bottom half of the fish. Its not Septicemia either since his eyes are not bulging and color is white not red. Maybe True Fungus (Saprolegnia) or Chilodonella but there is not blue tint. Any have suggestions on what else to do or am I doing the right thing with the melafix treatment with partial water change? I don't think there is red at the base of the fins.


I really hate to flush him... but if i have to

 

[parrotfish53102]

We decided to put the fish out of his/her misery. Where the skin was peeling, it was turning red and it looked like the muscle under the skin was showing. It was starting to lay on its side too. When I put the net in the water, the fish didn't even make an attempt to get away. It was really sad. The other 3 are still doing ok.

We want to get 2 more Oscars about 3 inches long. How long should we wait to do this?

 

[cichlidmaster]

First let me say "sorry to hear about your loss. I know this doesn't help, but you probably did the right thing by putting it out of it's misery.

Now let me pose this question to you.....

You have one remaining oscar and two bloodparrots left correct?

And you wish to add two more oscars correct?

If these are correct do you plan on buying at least a 180 gallon tank in the future?

The reason I ask is oscars can attain a size of 16" (and yes I have seem them at this size in peoples tanks) and need plenty of room. On top of this they are messy fish and require massive amounts of filtration.

Unless the answer to the larger tank question is "YES", then I really can't advise you to purchase even one more oscar for your 55 gallon.

When your bloodparrots and single oscar start to put on size (and they should do this quickly if given the right water conditions and diet) your 55 will be more than maxed out IMO!!!

So in answer to your question I would not get any more oscars unless you plan on upgrading their tank when necessary.

Please, try not to let anyone tell you they (the 3 oscars and 2 parrots) will be ok for the time being. They may very well be, but as usually happens time goes by, the fish grow and grow, but the tank remains the same size. Then people are asking once again why are my fish dying.

This happens 99% of the time whenever I see an answer stating "they will do ok for now, while their small"

I hope this post wasn't to harsh, especially so soon after the loss of you oscar, but I am really just trying to help you avoid this from happening again, possibly on a larger scale the next time.

HTH

 

[cichlidmaster]

hello parrotfish

at the moment your fish are ok in that tank,but a 55g is really only good for one adult oscar-2 blood parrots are ok it's just that the oscars are really greedy sloppy eaters.
anyway what kind of filtration do you have on the tank?
are any of the other fish sick?oops you said they are eating and seem ok

well this is what i'd do,first do a few water changes to dilute the meds you started to use then i'd get some aquarium salt and add it to the tank as directed(less may be better coz you may only have about 45gallons after decor was added)
salt has always worked for me(meds never)raise the temp to about 80 degs-this should reduce the stress and help him heal,if he/she is getting picked on then you should remove him and then treat his tank.

Note: The above reply was made by Mostanks. This topic was also posted in Cichlid Heaven which I closed due to it being better suited here in Tropical Fish Emergencies.

I have decided to delete it entirely from Cichlid Heaven and did not want Mostanks reply to be lost as it is good advice!!!

 

[ostrow]

Hey Cichlid! I'm sure oscars get as big as you say they do

I dunno a thing about 'em!