Sick Tiger Oscar... ? :/

[justonemoretank]

My oscar (5in) has hith too, but if my levels are perfect - ph 7.4, Ammonia 0 nitrate 0, do i still need to do more water changes? I do one 30-40 percent wc a week. I am about to treat it with Metronidazole. I feed homemade fish food (blended fish, carrots, multi vitamin and spinich) in the AM and Hikari gold in the pm. What else can I do? I can't take it anymore!!!!

Why is nitrate zero? This is strange. Very few cycled tanks have zero nitrate.

Have you checked the water from stray electricity which could be coming from a powerhead or heater?

 

[knicks791]

Yeah He has HITH.. My Oscar was the same way.. Give him some Meds I forgot the kind I had but it was in a small tube and was in the form of salt (started with M) Mix it with his food (Pellets) or Whatever you feed him but keep him away from feeders..

Metronidazole by seachem...

 

[knicks791]

Why is nitrate zero? This is strange. Very few cycled tanks have zero nitrate.

Have you checked the water from stray electricity which could be coming from a powerhead or heater?

I have some amazon swords in the tank the keep the nitrates down.

I will do another water test tonight to reconfirm.

How do I check for stray electricity?

 

[justonemoretank]

You would use a volt meter and stick the tip of the red wire in the water, and connect the other end to something that is grounded (the third hole on an electrical plug). Make sure it is set on 120 A/C voltage. If you see any fluctuation in the numbers or the needle, depending on what type of meter you're using, then you have stray voltage. After that, you'd just unplug everything and plug each in one at a time in order to determine which of the items is releasing the stray voltage. Once you find out, you can replace that item.

Edit: Here's a link to an article which discusses the process in detail, and also enumerates the problems fish suffer when there is stray voltage. It's for a saltwater site, but the information is also good for freshwater.

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=186420

 

[Cakilla]

Sounds alot like Hith to me , frequent water changes, stay away from feeder fish , do feed high quality food

 

[knicks791]

You would use a volt meter and stick the tip of the red wire in the water, and connect the other end to something that is grounded (the third hole on an electrical plug). Make sure it is set on 120 A/C voltage. If you see any fluctuation in the numbers or the needle, depending on what type of meter you're using, then you have stray voltage. After that, you'd just unplug everything and plug each in one at a time in order to determine which of the items is releasing the stray voltage. Once you find out, you can replace that item.

Edit: Here's a link to an article which discusses the process in detail, and also enumerates the problems fish suffer when there is stray voltage. It's for a saltwater site, but the information is also good for freshwater.

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=186420

I love how much $$$ goes into this hobby.

Thanks for the great info, you have just nominated yourself to be my aquarium advice person. haha

 

[justonemoretank]

I love how much $$$ goes into this hobby.

Thanks for the great info, you have just nominated yourself to be my aquarium advice person. haha

LOL there's always something else you need to get, right? But the volt meters are usually pretty cheap. I think we bought the cheapest one, and it broke the first day, so we took it back to ACE (gotta love ACE) and they let us exchange it, and we ended up getting one that was about 25 bucks or something. It's held out so far, and my husband uses it for other stuff, as well. Since you're only using it once or twice, maybe you could borrow one instead of buying it.

As for the position of "Aquarium Advice Person," LOL, I'm honored to accept. If I don't know the answer, I'll do my very best to get you to someone who does!

They sell grounding kits for aquariums. The kits cost about twenty bucks. The big deal is that one end is a titanium probe, so you're not going to have the problem with metals seeping into the water, like you would with copper or something. Also, depending on if you live in a new house or an old house, grounding the tank could be easy, or be a huge pain in the you-know-where. So, it's definitely worth it to buy or borrow the voltmeter before you get into actually trying to ground the tank.

 

[BooshWacka]

took water to LFS had it tested ... seen it was as close to perfect as it gets.

i do 20% water changes every 2 weeks

i dont see my JD attacking him they are like brothers in there always right next to each other

i feed them New Life Spectrum Cichlid Formula

pics coming tonight

 

[justonemoretank]

I would check for stray voltage. It's pretty much the last thing left, if I'm remembering them all, on the list of usual suspects for HITH. I would like to know what "close to perfect" is, though... 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, nitrates under 30, right? I just want to be sure. If these are the numbers, and there's no stray voltage, I'd probably start treatment.

It's up to you which way to go. There's salt, Pimafix/Melafix, and Metronidazole, and probably even more.

Keep in mind that if you use an antibiotic at any point during treatment, it is best done in a hospital tank because it will wipe out the beneficial bacteria in your display!

 

[BooshWacka]

well i got a pic of him not doing good ... moved to 20long tank for treatment

He wont move to get a better pic

like i said i have him in a 20 long now...added salt tonight...have some pimafix but a little unsure if i can use both at the same time