Baby Oscar Hardships

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elting44

elting44

Piranha
MFK Member
Oct 8, 2007
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Salina, KS
I ventured out this morning to buy an Oscar for my recently emptied 55 gal. I went to a LFS, And saw this poor little guy. He was being kept with medium sized convicts and a Severum in a 10 gal. I noticed he had a touch of ich on his tail and a spot of it on his forehead, the lady working said "they just got done treating him for it" and "he has had a rough time". That was all needed to hear and I bought the little bugger. He seemed to be stressed out to the breaking point, and was nearly jet black. I started Ich treatment, IchAttack by Kordon, but having never dealt with ich I don't fully know what to expect. He is in a 55 gal by his lonesome, except for a as of yet un IDed pleco. I turned the temp up a couple of degrees to 80 as I have heard it accelerates ich treatment. I added some stresscoat and stresszyme and crossed my fingers. He has been in his new digs for about 4 hours now. He is kind of just sunk on the gravel and not moving his fins any more than he needs. I hope he makes it! Any advice would be great

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Wow poor little bugger, Sound like its gone to a good home. As for the ick it should clear up with the actions you are taking, keep the water quality good . Turning off the lights for a couple of days should help with the stress.

Steve
 
add some aquarium salt, turn the temp up to about 84 degrees and do small water changes a little more frequently...should be fine....Salt supposedly helps reduce stress as well.
 
The lights have been off for an hour now and he is just laying on the bottom, but thankfully he is still upright and occasionally moving his fins.

How much aquarium salt do I need to add for a 55 gal? Thanks for all the nice comments guys, Hopefully he pulls through and grows up to be a hearty little monster. I plan on feeding him HBH Oscar Bites Micro pellets in the mornings and Frozen Blood Worms in the evenings until he is big enough to eat Hikari Gold and Frozen Krill with the occasional Glass Shrimp. I will be doing 30-40% WC weekly. Any other suggestions?

Also, I picked up what I assume is a fairly common pleco variation but I am uncertain on what type he is, here is a link to my thread in the pleco section if you want to try and identify him: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122310
 
Update: He was off the bottom and swimming behind one of the two the HOB overflows, now he is sitting tight underneath the heater. Still appears to be mighty stressed. Only time will tell, I have tried feeding a tiny amount of blood worms, but he doesn't seem to be aware. hopefully he makes it through the night and wants to eat tommorrow! :drool:
 
Sounds like a good feeding plan...bump up the temp and just wait. Its normal for oscars to "sulk" for a few days after being moved to a new tank. Give him time.
 
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