Oscar's dying. Please Help.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Sarah88;4170183; said:
no i dont think its nitrates either, as their behavior isnt really how a fish would act with high nitrates but its always good to know what your water parameters are. and you said that your ammonia was 0? does your de-chlorinator also take care of chloramines? im not sure if greensboro uses chloramines or not but its always good to use a product that takes care of both chlorine and chloramines like prime. if its not ammonia or chlorine/chloramines then it was probably gaseous build-up from your gravel, when was the last time you had thoroughly vacuumed it before this? gravel beds you should always stir up and vacuum thoroughly to prevent gaseous pockets from forming (same with sand about keeping it stirred up)
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Just tested the trates, and they came back <20ppm, so no surprise there.

The only thing that throws me on the gravel is the fact that the two reg Oscars died one right after the other, before I ever touched the gravel. The Albino finally passed today. He exhibited the same symptoms for about two days longer than the others, before dying, but obviously lived symptom free for about a month.

One other thing I forgot to mention, was that I had been moving things about in the aquarium quite a bit. I was trying to get things in the right places, and get rid of a little brown algae in some spaces I never fully removed from the original cycle, so my hands and cleaning tools were in the tank alot during this time. You think this could have been caused by good ol' fashioned stress?

My filtration btw, is an AquaTech 30-60, but I'm prolly gonna pick up a Ehiem 2234 soon.
 
This is a pretty weird situation here, Something has to be wrong with either the Oscars or something you're doing is stressing them out. I don't trust Petsmart anymore, Too much has happened to the fish I bought there.
 
hmmm did you maybe have lotion or anything on your hands? lotions can get in the water and block their gills from receiving oxygen which would cause them to gulp like they were... its possible it was just stress related but since the other O lasted for a month and then succumbed to the same symptoms then i dont really think that would be it but its always possible i guess....
 
Sarah88;4170745; said:
hmmm did you maybe have lotion or anything on your hands? lotions can get in the water and block their gills from receiving oxygen which would cause them to gulp like they were... its possible it was just stress related but since the other O lasted for a month and then succumbed to the same symptoms then i dont really think that would be it but its always possible i guess....
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this is something to think about
when i need to put my hands in the tank i wash my hands with water only to get off anything that might be there without getting soap in the tank
 
Sarah88;4170745; said:
hmmm did you maybe have lotion or anything on your hands? lotions can get in the water and block their gills from receiving oxygen which would cause them to gulp like they were... its possible it was just stress related but since the other O lasted for a month and then succumbed to the same symptoms then i dont really think that would be it but its always possible i guess....
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Wow. I really think that might be it. I wear a ton of srpay-on sunblock when I mow the lawn. I always wash my hands after I have them in the tank, but never thought to wash them before. And especially never thought to not use soap if I did. I'll give the tank a couple days, try again, and post back with results.

Thanks everyone! :grinno:
 
I am by no means an expert but I did have a very similar experience. Except mine would stay still at the top of the water behind filter. mine were slightly larger though, but other than that i even had on reg tiger and one albino. after my one dies did the same, took it back to PETSMART (alot of similarities here). Got another one. He was fine for first day all day, turned tank on next day to see him on bottom barely moving, but slowly stared moving through-out the day. Next night I get up in the middle of the night and turn the light on in my room to find my albino pinning the reg tiger to the bottom. It shocked me because I had never seem any aggresion in my tank before. I seperated them and sure enough he was fine by the next day, there was no physical damage to either of the bullied fish so If I would not have seen it I would have had no idea. I think it made them die of stress or they just gave up on life, but with the similarities here it may be worth a shot.

Edit: just saw your post about your albino, disregard my comment.
 
yeah im thinking that sunblock may be the cause here, definitely do a large water change and run some carbon for a couple days and then see if the new fish are having the same problems. but yeah you have to be careful what chemicals are on your skin when you put them into the tank, especially oily things like the spray-sunblock it can block them from getting oxygen. i definitely think that this is our cause but let us know if the problem continues
 
Vinegar is said to remove soap residue from hands. I keep a spray bottle of it next to my sink and always spray my arms and hands down before messing with my tanks. Also, wait a few hours after a shower to give any chemicals on the skin time to erode a bit. Seems like paranoia but since it doesn't hurt anything, I do it. GL in the future.
 
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