Requesting some help and advice.

[winter]

Well hi everybody, this is my first post here in mosterfish keepers and sadly i have come here for help. (i currently have one 55 gallon tank with 1 medium oscar)
i got another 55 gallon aquarium off craigslist from an elderly lady for a good price, and the fish came with it. but sadly the tank hadn't been looked after very well at all, no water changes in the past 2 months for sure and possibly longer and zero cleaning. the fish are massve 2 ~12-13 inches oscars and a massive pleco ~16-17 inch. i know the tank is wayyyyyy overstocked and am going to try and find proper homes for them as fast as i can. i don't have a true LFS just a petsmart and a petsco and i don't want to put these fish in a tank just as big as they are. so thats part of the situation... the oscar's have not been taken good care of they have been living in a too small tank with to little filtration, (i somewhat fixed one issue and have 3 filters running in their tank.
but to the issue at hand, i know the tank is overstocked but what can i do to help them heal at the moment until they find new homes. i turned the water up and added some small amounts of salt. and am doing 20 gallons water change every day. they will also be getting proper diet and nutrition while they are with me.
what else can i do?

 

[winter]

I suppose i left some information out.
one seems to have Hith but just one and no scarring both have some scale loss and what seem like boils on their lips.

 

[Aquanero]

The best thing you can do is keep the evironment as clean as possibile until you can find them good homes. every other day 25% water changes for the next few weeks. I would also add aquarium salt at 1 tablespoon per five gallons of water. Do this for a week replacing salt with water changes to maintane that level after a week cut the salt in half and keep it like that for another 2 weeks. This should help them heal.

Are the fish eating well?

 

[Owens]

The best thing you can do is keep the evironment as clean as possibile until you can find them good homes. every other day 25% water changes for the next few weeks. I would also add aquarium salt at 1 tablespoon per five gallons of water. Do this for a week replacing salt with water changes to maintane tat level after cut the sal in half and keep it like that for another 2 weeks. This should help them heal.

Are the fish eating well?

+1, clean water and a bigger home.

 

[lp85253]

The best thing you can do is keep the evironment as clean as possibile until you can find them good homes. every other day 25% water changes for the next few weeks. I would also add aquarium salt at 1 tablespoon per five gallons of water. Do this for a week replacing salt with water changes to maintane tat level after cut the sal in half and keep it like that for another 2 weeks. This should help them heal.

Are the fish eating well?

+1 good advice

 

[winter]

The best thing you can do is keep the evironment as clean as possibile until you can find them good homes. every other day 25% water changes for the next few weeks. I would also add aquarium salt at 1 tablespoon per five gallons of water. Do this for a week replacing salt with water changes to maintane that level after a week cut the salt in half and keep it like that for another 2 weeks. This should help them heal.

Are the fish eating well?

Yes the water is as clean as i can manage 3 filters running at the moment all rated at or above 55 gallons tanks. and i was doing 20 gallon water changes per day i will cut it down to every other day and will add the proper amount of salt.

and no they are not eating well, haven't eaten in 2 days i put the pellets in there for 5 minutes then net them out.

Also to the bigger home thing, I am working on it! Hopefully after a week or two of good care they will heal up a bit and then i can find them a nice happy LARGE home to live out the rest of their lives in.

 

[Aquanero]

Oscar or known for sulking if their home is disturbed. It thaks them a while to get used to new surroundings so not eating depending on how long you had them may not be so unusual. How long have you had the fish?

 

[winter]

Oscar or known for sulking if their home is disturbed. It thaks them a while to get used to new surroundings so not eating depending on how long you had them may not be so unusual. How long have you had the fish?

I acquired the aquarium with fish 4 days ago now. they have been fed mainly on feeder goldfish for some time so im thinking this could possibly be some sort of pellet strike?? but i am not sure.

and all of the waterchanges now include aquarium salts.

and yeah O's do sulk, my little guy gets pissy every time i gravelvac around his hideout XD

 

[petspoiler]

it would help to see photos of the "boils on their lips", as that might be a bacterial infection & would require medication. and possibly lower temps instead of higher.

 

[Aquanero]

4 days they are still getting used to you, give them a few more days and they should start to perk up. The feeders have to stop as you know. Try starting pellet training them with Hikari massivore, you might have to break it up to start after they are eating that you can switch them slowly to somthing else if you want. They might take some freez dried krill too after a while. Pics would be great if you could post some. You'll need 5 posts before you can post them however.