Hi guys,
I've had my Oscar for ~5yrs, and until now he has had a pretty trouble-free existence. That is of course until I renovated my apartment over the Xmas period. During the renovation my tank was almost entirely inaccessible other than a little bit of room to drop his food in through the top. As a result, his water didn't get changed for probably 5 weeks (thereabouts). I would usually perform a 50% water change every couple of weeks (and have done for years), so in an effort to reduce the amount of waste build-up in his tank I reduced his feeding to one small serving of pellets every couple of days.
Everything seemed to be going fine until I gained proper access to the tank again. It was at this time I noticed some strange stripy white lines of fuzz over his tail and dorsal fin, and the very beginnings of what appeared to be hole in the head disease. In my rush to correct the tank I didn't take preliminary water parameter readings. I did an ~80% water change, used a water de-chlorinator, dosed the tank with Melafix and crossed my fingers. I gave it a few days and noticed that there was only minimal improvement, and that I had foolishly forgotten to remove the activated charcoal from the filter (face palm) which had probably neutralized any medication in the water.
That weekend I performed another large water change, removed the charcoal in the filter and dosed the tank with Melafix, Pimafix and the water de-chlorinator. The water parameters before I did this water change were as follows:
Ammonia - 0MG/L
PH - 7.6
Nitrite - 0MG/L
Nitrate - 10MG/L
The furry tiger stripes seemed to get a fair bit better over the next couple of days, but the HITH seemed to be getting worse!? To make things worse, the furry stripes came back with a vengeance a day or two after that too!? So, I did the only thing I knew to do: I performed another large water change, and dosed the tank with Melafix, Pimafix and the water de-chlorinator. water parameters before I did this water change were as follows:
Ammonia - 0MG/L
PH - 7.8
Nitrite - 0MG/L
Nitrate - ~20MG/L (the colour in the tube was somewhere between the 10MG/L and 20MG/L markers on the test card)
Since then the white stripes seem to be getting better, then getting worse in a weird cycle, and the HITH seems to be slowly getting worse. I seriously have no idea what to do? I read that adding some aquarium salt to the water may help, but I'm not sure how much difference it will make?
Tank details are as follows:
Dimensions: 120(W)x50(H)x42(D)
Water Capacity - ~250L
Filtration - built in biological wet/dry filter with power head
Water change schedule - normally 50% every couple of weeks
Tank mates - two goldfish (the one and only time I tried using goldfish as feeders, and he ended up keeping them as friends!?)
I am truly at a loss for what I should do now??
Here are some pics of the damage from a of weeks ago when I started treatment:
drive.google.com/file/d/1GCUoag2hNTLyRfc...VUA/view?usp=sharing
drive.google.com/file/d/18XqNcuidRflYqe3...VbA/view?usp=sharing
And some pics from yesterday:
drive.google.com/file/d/19fbSRlqs0RPTUT_...DPA/view?usp=sharing
drive.google.com/file/d/189oVVTCBf7uMCaA...F9w/view?usp=sharing
EDIT: I should probably mention that I've been running this tank and filter set up since I upgraded from a 90cm tank over 18 months ago without an issue.
I've had my Oscar for ~5yrs, and until now he has had a pretty trouble-free existence. That is of course until I renovated my apartment over the Xmas period. During the renovation my tank was almost entirely inaccessible other than a little bit of room to drop his food in through the top. As a result, his water didn't get changed for probably 5 weeks (thereabouts). I would usually perform a 50% water change every couple of weeks (and have done for years), so in an effort to reduce the amount of waste build-up in his tank I reduced his feeding to one small serving of pellets every couple of days.
Everything seemed to be going fine until I gained proper access to the tank again. It was at this time I noticed some strange stripy white lines of fuzz over his tail and dorsal fin, and the very beginnings of what appeared to be hole in the head disease. In my rush to correct the tank I didn't take preliminary water parameter readings. I did an ~80% water change, used a water de-chlorinator, dosed the tank with Melafix and crossed my fingers. I gave it a few days and noticed that there was only minimal improvement, and that I had foolishly forgotten to remove the activated charcoal from the filter (face palm) which had probably neutralized any medication in the water.
That weekend I performed another large water change, removed the charcoal in the filter and dosed the tank with Melafix, Pimafix and the water de-chlorinator. The water parameters before I did this water change were as follows:
Ammonia - 0MG/L
PH - 7.6
Nitrite - 0MG/L
Nitrate - 10MG/L
The furry tiger stripes seemed to get a fair bit better over the next couple of days, but the HITH seemed to be getting worse!? To make things worse, the furry stripes came back with a vengeance a day or two after that too!? So, I did the only thing I knew to do: I performed another large water change, and dosed the tank with Melafix, Pimafix and the water de-chlorinator. water parameters before I did this water change were as follows:
Ammonia - 0MG/L
PH - 7.8
Nitrite - 0MG/L
Nitrate - ~20MG/L (the colour in the tube was somewhere between the 10MG/L and 20MG/L markers on the test card)
Since then the white stripes seem to be getting better, then getting worse in a weird cycle, and the HITH seems to be slowly getting worse. I seriously have no idea what to do? I read that adding some aquarium salt to the water may help, but I'm not sure how much difference it will make?
Tank details are as follows:
Dimensions: 120(W)x50(H)x42(D)
Water Capacity - ~250L
Filtration - built in biological wet/dry filter with power head
Water change schedule - normally 50% every couple of weeks
Tank mates - two goldfish (the one and only time I tried using goldfish as feeders, and he ended up keeping them as friends!?)
I am truly at a loss for what I should do now??
Here are some pics of the damage from a of weeks ago when I started treatment:
drive.google.com/file/d/1GCUoag2hNTLyRfc...VUA/view?usp=sharing
drive.google.com/file/d/18XqNcuidRflYqe3...VbA/view?usp=sharing
And some pics from yesterday:
drive.google.com/file/d/19fbSRlqs0RPTUT_...DPA/view?usp=sharing
drive.google.com/file/d/189oVVTCBf7uMCaA...F9w/view?usp=sharing
EDIT: I should probably mention that I've been running this tank and filter set up since I upgraded from a 90cm tank over 18 months ago without an issue.