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PLEASE HELP OUR 2 YEAR OLD OSCARS HAVE DEVELOPED A FUNGAL INFECTION CENTERING PRIMARILY ON EYE AND FINS. ONE IS STARTING TO QUITE ILL, ITS EYE IS VERY CLOUDED. pET STORE CHECKED OUR TANK WATER AND NITRATES ARE AT NORMAL LEVELS, AMMONIA AT 0, BUT pH IS VERY LOW. RELATED? THE STORE RECOMMENDED A COMMERCIAL FUNGICIDE WHICH WE HAVE ADMINISTERED TODAY AND TO SLOWLY ADD BAKING SODA TO TANK TO CORRECT pH. iS THIS THE CORRECT COURSE OF ACTION OR IS THERE MORE WE SHOULD BE DOING. HELP!! WE DON'T WANT TO LOSE OUR LITTLE BUDDIES!!

What exactly is the ph level?
Sounds like your on the right track with the fungicide.

There are other methods you can use but lets see what this one the lfs has sold you goe first. I just hope its not too late for the sicker one.
Make sure your water circulation is good and there is plenty of aeration in the tank. The addition of aquarium salt at 1 table spoon per 5 gallens wilkl aid in recovery and stress..



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TONY
Australian and proud of it!!
Duboisi.com



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Well how "low" is the pH? Correcting for it is fine but problem is you don't want it to fluctuate up and down too much. You may want to get a "buffer solution". I think the "buffer solutions" raise the Kh of the water. Adding baking soda will also raise the Kh as well as the pH. If your pH is at 6 though that is not considered "low" for oscars. Let me know what it reads at for you,


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Joe
www.cichlidfish.com

If you dont have sufficient aeration in the water you could easily have a build up of CO2, which lowers PH as it builds... I would add an air pump/stone and see if that raises your PH any. Also decaying matter can also lower PH so you might want to do some slow (everyday/every other day)15% water changes until you have changed about 75% of the water. The stress brought on by either of the above situations could easily have been the cause of the outbreak of disease.

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Save the animals, eat a PETA member!

Adam

THE pH INITIALLY WAS BELOW 6 AND CAUSED PROBABLY BY THE NEED FOR A PARTIAL WATER CHANGE. THE DAY AFTER ADMINISTERING THE FUNGICIDE WE DID A ~20% WATER CHANGE (WITH SIMULTANEOUS CLEANING) AND REPLACED ANY LOST MEDICATION. THE TURN AROUND HAS BEEN REALLY INCREDIBLE. THE pH IS UP IN THE 6-7 RANGE AGAIN. THE FUNGUS HAS COMPLETELY CLEARED UP EVEN IN THE MOST AFFECTED FISH AND THEY ARE BACK TO THEIR OLD SELVES. LESSON LEARNED.....REGULAR PARTIAL WATER CHANGES....REGULAR PARTIAL WATER CHANGES.

Best to do changes in an oscar tank at least once a week and vaccum once a fortnight.

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TONY
Australian and proud of it!!
Duboisi.com



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