In Deaperate Need of Help!

[Hoss Sauce]

Hey guys,

I'm in some serious need of your help. I've had 2 oscars in my 125G since they were about 2 1/2 inches, they both came in small and skinny as most pet store oscars do, but immediately started putting on weight and eating like crazy, up until 4 1/2 inches or so. One of them kept eating like a pig, and the other started mouthing food, but spitting it out. Obviously hungry, but unable for whatever reason to get the food down. He ultimately just stopped eating or caring about food about 3 weeks ago. The one who won't eat is the same size and the one who kept eating is around 6". So I bought some prazi pro and treated the tank as the directions said (including removing carbon...which I don't have in the tank) I even re-dosed after 3 days, as the bottle says is ok.

I did my big water change last night to clear it out after 7 days, and plan on doing another one tomorrow or weds to ensure it's all out of the system. Throughout the whole time, the little O still didn't show interest in food, and the big O kept eating. Now this morning the big O is grabbing food (massivore) but spitting it out and trying to eat it!! Everything I read online said internal parasites, but prazi pro is supposed to fix that, and now I'm seeing the same issues with my big O.

I measure my parameters every week with the API liquid kit and they are always 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and no more than 40PPM nitrates (I've only seen 40 twice in the 3 months I've had the tank established, I do 75% water changes every 7 days, both times I saw the PPM that high were after I traveled for work and couldn't do a water change for 10 days or so). My filtration is a 30 gallon sump filled with 1 cubic foot of cermedia and 2 gallons of K1 fluidized. My other tank makes include;

1 6" fox faced(horse head) catfish
1 12" centrodoras brachiatus
2 lutnio oscars
1 4" (very newly added) bleekeri polleni (who is also not eating, but he's brand new to the tank, so I'm not too worried about it yet)
I also recently rehomed a vulture cat who was about 10".

Sorry this has been so long, I just really don't want to lose any fish. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm worried the little O doesn't have much more time as he hasn't eaten for almost 3 weeks.

 

[philipraposo1982]

your very much overstocked imo. Your fish are not going well and its likely do to poor water quality. I would step up the wc schedule to twice a week. Prazi pro has never worked for me short term but over like 2-3 week dosing I have had good results.

Stop feeding, no point adding fish food waste to the tank. Focus on simply doing alot of water changes then get prazi back in for an extended treatment.

 

[Hoss Sauce]

your very much overstocked imo. Your fish are not going well and its likely do to poor water quality. I would step up the wc schedule to twice a week. Prazi pro has never worked for me short term but over like 2-3 week dosing I have had good results.

Stop feeding, no point adding fish food waste to the tank. Focus on simply doing alot of water changes then get prazi back in for an extended treatment.

Wouldn't I see that on my weekly testing of the water? I totally understand that I will be overstocked when everything grows up, but these are 4-6" fish and with 150G of water volume I have a really hard time thinking I'm overstocked at the moment, and my water perimeters would show if I was right?

I'll redose prazi, thanks for the advice!

 

[philipraposo1982]

While its not in a dire state it does appear like your fish are struggling. even 20ppm of nitrates could be enough to cause fish distress. My tank is always 0-10.

I had a fish do the same thing as yours a while back and it took months before he started eating. It was stress related but I never really did nail down the cause. at that time I changed the stocking (removed some fast moving fish), dimmed the lighting, upped the water changes, fed less, added more plants / coverage.

oh and when you do feed try and introduce more veggie type foods instead of heavy proteins. Helps with digestion and possible constipation.

Is there clear poop? or weird poops?

 

[Hoss Sauce]

While its not in a dire state it does appear like your fish are struggling. even 20ppm of nitrates could be enough to cause fish distress. My tank is always 0-10.

I had a fish do the same thing as yours a while back and it took months before he started eating. It was stress related but I never really did nail down the cause. at that time I changed the stocking (removed some fast moving fish), dimmed the lighting, upped the water changes, fed less, added more plants / coverage.

oh and when you do feed try and introduce more veggie type foods instead of heavy proteins. Helps with digestion and possible constipation.

Is there clear poop? or weird poops?

That makes a lot of sense. I got rid of the vulture (as was planning on doing so once it got a little bigger) because he was obviously causing a lot of stress to his tank mates. I'll up my water changes. What do you suggest for more veggie type foods?


I can never see poop, so I'm not sure, I have pretty good water flow in the tank, so there's not dead spots for poop to collect. It's not a torrent in there by any means though. I'm turning around 700gph.

Thanks for your help/advice!

 

[philipraposo1982]

Spirulina flakes or food thats contain it. Algae wafers, peas with the sheell removed, boil brocolli tops, boiled spinach. all of these will be good. You can also mov some food in with garlic juice to help boost immune system and most fish seem to like it.

 

[skjl47]

0 nitrites and no more than 40PPM nitrates (I've only seen 40 twice in the 3 months I've had the tank established,

Hello; At three months and with the numbers you posted the tank seems well cycled. A question; When were the Oscars added to the tank? More to the point I am getting at is possible the were the Oscars added a while back when the tank was not yet cycled? If so the ammonia they were exposed to may be showing as issues at this later date.

I do 75% water changes every 7 days,

hello; I have read of problems with large percentage water changes in some threads. One mechanism seems to be that the pH may change during the 7 days and a 75% WC may cause a sudden change of pH in the other direction.
Not sure that it will help but perhaps 35% WC twice a week or a 25% three times a week may be worth a try??

Wouldn't I see that on my weekly testing of the water?

Hello; While modern water test kits are good for what they do, it is my consideration there can be and likely are other things in water we do not test for with these kits.
Have you had a look at the water company quality report. Lets hope you do not have poor water but there is a lot of places with poor water.

One additional thought. While the mass of your fish may not in itself be enough to be what is called "overstocked" there are other factors. It is very common for fish keepers to overfeed which results in rotting excess food. That rotting food may is a way be producing decay products (and ammonia) at a level similar to a large fish.

I overfed for a few decades with all the associated problems. I now have fasting days (no food at all) once of twice a week for my adult fish. Things are generally better now.