My adopted tiger oscar not eating :(

[George+Sherbert]

My landlord moved out of his apartment and could not take his tiger oscar so i happily accepted the offer and adopted Sherbert..... (fiancee named lol) Any who, my land lord mentioned how he had not fed Sherbert in two weeks , which broke my heart. The tank was also filthy.... I took the fish over to my house, filled up a spare tank, added water conditioner swapped him into fresh tank, cleaned old tank, bought new water filter and put him back in his larger tank. The water temp is currently set to 76, the indoor temp is 60, live in western Massachusetts. I was so anxious to feed this fella that i ran out to walmart that night (only store open on sunday in my area at that hour) . I picked him up floating stick monster fish food pellets that help his very faded color and sun dried baby shrimp. I put some pellets in there in anticipation of a hungry fish devouring them and nothing! I then tried some shrimp nothing! Next day when pet shop opened up i bought him a dozen feeder fish and dropped them in..... Nothing! Im worried, dont want to lose my newly acquired fish friend, any ideas???

Sincerely, George

 

[convict360]

Sherbert looks in pretty bad shape, those look like open sores on his back.

Firstly, the tank he's in is really too small for an oscar; not holding it against you as I'm assuming you may be new to fishkeeping? But to keep him long term, you'll want to invest in at least a 75 gallon us tank, with a view to performing large, regular water changes.

In smaller tanks, the water parameters fluctuate quickly; compounding the second problem, which is that the tank with new filter won't have an established bacterial colony.

Have a google into the nitrogen cycle, but basically you're looking at a delicate few weeks where ideally you'd be changing water regularly, testing for ammonia and nitrites; and using water conditioner such as prime, to help detoxify these chemicals.

More people will chime in to agree/disagree, but I can't recommend enough that you try to upsize the tank asap, even if its a big rubbermaid $20 tub

 

[George+Sherbert]

I have the old filter i was going to save for minnows, i cleaned it with hot water and dish detergent though I also was planning to get him a 50 gallon tank, but if 75 is the one thats what ill grab! Thats the first thing my fiancee and i talked about, he looked too couped up. This is my first fish, i love animals, and i saw this one in need, so im looking forward into spoiling Sherbert, he is 2-3 years old.

 

[George+Sherbert]

So i wiped out all his natural bacteria ! that cant be good Couple questions, can you over dose with water conditioner? Im worried now i may have under dosed the water conditioner, also i used a small amount of API PIMAFIX (west indian bay tree extract) to hopefully help with the back sores. The back sores look like they are blending in with the rest of the scales as if they are healing. Is Sherbert going to live?

 

[kno4te]

I would agree with convict360 that u got rid of the BB by getting a new filter. Would agree get the 75g asap. Get some prime stability and add BB into the tank or ask someone with an established and stable tank for some media to help seed the tank.

The other thing would be to get an aquarium test kit and test the water daily. With the small tank u have u may need to do daily small to large wc's to keep the ammonia,nitrites, and nitrate down. Small water don't take much to get get dangerous.

Adding the pimafix may help but not sure how long the sores been there. Maybe a chronic condition than acute. I think keeping the water clean will fix that sore asap. Can ask Aquanero so what he thinks.

I think ur Oscar will live. Getting more info will help to keep him alive.

 

[George+Sherbert]

sounds good, can you overdoes with water conditioner? So sad, my land lord has had him in that small tank for three years, and said he changed the water every three months.... Can i get some good bacteria from petco?

 

[Rocksor]

With water changes for every 3 months, the total dissolved solid levels of the "old tank" could have been pretty high and they have suddenly dropped with clean water. The transition should have been made much slower. There is a good chance that the oscar is currently suffering from the effects of osmotic shock. Get some salt, and dissolve about 3 tablespoons of salt for every 5 gallons. Right now it doesn't matter if you use the salt from the pantry since time is of the essence. If you don't have enough salt, get some pickling salt or ice cream salt from Walmart. Slowly add the amount of salt needed over the next few hours. With every water change, you will need to add the salt removed back in.

What size is his tank now?

Other things to buy Seachem Prime, and API freshwater master test kit (cheaper on amazon but readily available at Petsmart or local fish store).

Until the water conditions are better he won't eat.

 

[kno4te]

sounds good, can you overdoes with water conditioner? So sad, my land lord has had him in that small tank for three years, and said he changed the water every three months.... Can i get some good bacteria from petco?

Yes you can overdose with water conditioners. But if ur keeping up with the water changes it'll get diluted out.

Yea u can get BB from Petco.

Consistent Wc's will really take care of everything as long as there's BB.

 

[Rocksor]

I wouldn't waste my money on the bacteria in a bottle from Petco. It's does not work 100% of the time. Getting media from their established filter (do not accept gravel) will help, but it does not give you an instant cycle, and you still need the test kit to watch ammonia, and nitrites. Ammonia and nitrites must stay below 0.5ppm (closer to 0.25ppm) during a fish in cycle, which is what you will have to do.

 

[George+Sherbert]

measured tank, 13 gallons