- Have you tested your water?
- Yes
- If I did not test my water...
- ...I recognize that I will likely be asked to do a test, and that water tests are critical for solving freshwater health problems.
- Do you do water changes?
- Yes
- If I do not change my water...
- ...I recognize that I will likely be recommended to do a water change, and water changes are critical for preventing future freshwater health problems.
I'm kinda new here.
I was here years ago and the wonderful people on this sight helped me enormously with my first oscar, Calcifer, and his HITH so I'm here for help again.
Please bear with me as this is long but I want to be sure no details are missed.
6 months ago I bought a baby oscar. I kept him in a 55 gallon tank as a grow out. He never went through the new home pout and was never big on pouting.
I've never had issues with him, he was always very active and happy and had a really good appetite. He gets fed hikari cichlid gold as his main food. He also gets live meal worms, live crickets, freeze dried river shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, frozen blood worms, banana, and peas. I'm also looking into ordering fluval bug bites and xtreme cichlid food to add to his main staple so he can get a good mix.
Now for the problem. 2 weeks ago, I moved him into a 75 gallon aquarium. With a new, bigger sump filter and a new pump. I transferred all of his filter media to the new system, all of his plants (java moss, parrot feather, and hornwort) and got him a second heater.
In the process of moving him, he jumped out and tore up his tail and fins flopping around on the floor. I got him into his new tank, and he went into a pout, which I expected for the first day. But his "pouting" continued way past his normal few hours. I didn't think much of it, after all he is an oscar, and is spoiled, and he might just be growing into the pouting behavior.
His tail kept getting more and more ragged and he completely stopped eating. I thought this might be from a stronger water pump, maybe it was too strong, so I shut the pump down and moved all of his filter media to the tank. He perked up for a few days, but went back to his "pout". I tested his water, and the move to his new home (or shutting down the pump) has disrupted his cycle, so I began daily monitoring of ammonia levels and everytime it gets above .25 ppm, I do a 75% water change. Basically every other day. I added bottled bacteria in an attempt to help boost the cycle, but no luck.
Over the past two weeks, he's gone from minor damage on his tail to white fuzz completely covering it.
I'm offering food, but he just won't eat. It's been nearly 2 weeks since the last time he ate. (I make sure to not leave his food in the tank for more than 5 to 10 minutes)
He currently has aquarium salt (1 rounded tablespoon per 3 gallons of water) in his tank. I drip acclimated him to this over the span of a day.
I'm also treating him with melafix and erythromycin.
I'm not sure what else to do at this point. He doesn't seem to be getting better. It's to the point where the fuzz is falling off and leaving big open sores.
I absolutely love this fish, he's my baby, I really don't want to lose him.
Is the fuzz falling of a sign that he's getting better?
Is my semi daily water changes disrupting the effectiveness of meds?
If so, should I be using an ammonia neutralizer until I can get the issue under control?
Am I using the correct treatments?
Should I get his sump back up and running? I'm afraid to so I haven't, as I'm afraid it might be too much for him to at the moment and don't want to exhaust him.
Up side, he still has a little attitude and shakes his tail at me, so he's still fighting. I won't give up on him.
Current test results using API master test kit
Ammonia: .25 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 5 ppm
I use seachem prime for water conditioner.
No substrate in the tank.
I do not use carbon in my filtration system.
If you need to know any other details, please let me know.
I was here years ago and the wonderful people on this sight helped me enormously with my first oscar, Calcifer, and his HITH so I'm here for help again.
Please bear with me as this is long but I want to be sure no details are missed.
6 months ago I bought a baby oscar. I kept him in a 55 gallon tank as a grow out. He never went through the new home pout and was never big on pouting.
I've never had issues with him, he was always very active and happy and had a really good appetite. He gets fed hikari cichlid gold as his main food. He also gets live meal worms, live crickets, freeze dried river shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, frozen blood worms, banana, and peas. I'm also looking into ordering fluval bug bites and xtreme cichlid food to add to his main staple so he can get a good mix.
Now for the problem. 2 weeks ago, I moved him into a 75 gallon aquarium. With a new, bigger sump filter and a new pump. I transferred all of his filter media to the new system, all of his plants (java moss, parrot feather, and hornwort) and got him a second heater.
In the process of moving him, he jumped out and tore up his tail and fins flopping around on the floor. I got him into his new tank, and he went into a pout, which I expected for the first day. But his "pouting" continued way past his normal few hours. I didn't think much of it, after all he is an oscar, and is spoiled, and he might just be growing into the pouting behavior.
His tail kept getting more and more ragged and he completely stopped eating. I thought this might be from a stronger water pump, maybe it was too strong, so I shut the pump down and moved all of his filter media to the tank. He perked up for a few days, but went back to his "pout". I tested his water, and the move to his new home (or shutting down the pump) has disrupted his cycle, so I began daily monitoring of ammonia levels and everytime it gets above .25 ppm, I do a 75% water change. Basically every other day. I added bottled bacteria in an attempt to help boost the cycle, but no luck.
Over the past two weeks, he's gone from minor damage on his tail to white fuzz completely covering it.
I'm offering food, but he just won't eat. It's been nearly 2 weeks since the last time he ate. (I make sure to not leave his food in the tank for more than 5 to 10 minutes)
He currently has aquarium salt (1 rounded tablespoon per 3 gallons of water) in his tank. I drip acclimated him to this over the span of a day.
I'm also treating him with melafix and erythromycin.
I'm not sure what else to do at this point. He doesn't seem to be getting better. It's to the point where the fuzz is falling off and leaving big open sores.
I absolutely love this fish, he's my baby, I really don't want to lose him.
Is the fuzz falling of a sign that he's getting better?
Is my semi daily water changes disrupting the effectiveness of meds?
If so, should I be using an ammonia neutralizer until I can get the issue under control?
Am I using the correct treatments?
Should I get his sump back up and running? I'm afraid to so I haven't, as I'm afraid it might be too much for him to at the moment and don't want to exhaust him.
Up side, he still has a little attitude and shakes his tail at me, so he's still fighting. I won't give up on him.
Current test results using API master test kit
Ammonia: .25 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 5 ppm
I use seachem prime for water conditioner.
No substrate in the tank.
I do not use carbon in my filtration system.
If you need to know any other details, please let me know.
