RTC seems ill. could use all the help i could get

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

fetto

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 7, 2011
83
0
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Northern NJ
upgraded him to a 75 recrntly. tanks fully cycled. fluval fx5 filtration. recently noticed skittish behavior. i saw for the past 2 days his eyes have been cloudy. came home from work today to notice his whiskers are starting to curl at the ends and turn a reddish brown, like how a plant wilts. water is hard due to location. we have hard water here. he sharws tank with an oscar and common pleco and they both seem fine. ive also noticed some white markings appear on his head near his eyes. heres a pic. what could this be abd what can i do to treat him? sorry for speliing errors..mfk isnt very tablet friendly

5Ndwa.jpg

5Ndwa.jpg
 
Water parameters? First thing we need to know.
i only have test strips. hardness is off the chsrt which it always will be. ph for some reason is around 6.5-7. and high nitrites/trates which never posed a threat before either. i usually use seachems "prime" to remove nitrites/trates. no ammonia twst kit. waters around 80 degrees like normal.
 
High water parameters mixed with the stress of a tank move could be causing the issue. Tank is not cycled if you have an ammonia or nitrite reading over 0. Work on getting these parameters down with water changes.
 
really? in 12 yesrs ive neger had a tank that had 0 nitrites for more than a day. usually live plnts help balance but the oscsr or cstfish rip them out and destroyed them. more water changes to commense tonight . just hsve never seen him sick in the yearr ive had him..man i dont know why tablrt typing is so hard on this site.
 
I see what you're saying, but you really shouldn't ever have an ammonia reading or a nitrite reading. When you do it either means you don't have enough biological filtration or your filters are cycling. In 25 years I have neverr carried a reading on ammonia or nitrite for more than a day. Get an good liquid test kit, and test the ammonia too. Could be high. Oscars and RTC can be very messy and produce a lot of detritus.
 
Number 1 reason why your fish are sick is because they are in too small of tank. A RTC and an Oscar should never be in a 75.
Well let's not get on that subject at the moment. The guys looking for help and not a flaming, although a bigger tank should be in the very near future.
 
A pleco, an Oscar, and a RTC. (three fish that very messy and grow large) Its very obvious that this guy has parameter issues, Cloudy eye is caused by high parameters. Im sorry for flaming but its the truth, these fish wont get better unless he changes alot of water, or gets a excessively larger tank.
 
Test strips are really inaccurate for test readings, To get a better result you might need to get a master test kit. For now do atleast a wc x2 a week.
 
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