CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

by **Sal** on Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:27 pm

Okey, My fish Athena is a Tiger Oscar with exotic long fins. I think shes a sickly fish, you have sickly people so why not fish?
Her fins always have problems, and everytime we treat them they go away for a bit but come back full blown! She gets what look like tares in them, outlined with white. So we talked to some people and assumed its a fin fungi.(or rot)
Now its the worse its ever been, first off the tank is in our basement and the heaters out of wack. So the temp is about 69. Which is way cold, so I plug the heater in, until it gets to about 76 and then un-plug it. (It wont turn down, it heats the water to about 82) I think all these temp. changes have gotten her out of wack as well, and I figure the hot water has not been good for her fins either.
Shes laying at the bottum of our tank and her breathing is really shallow. I just did a water change and she normally chases my around, but didn't bother to move this time. :sad5:

Were getting medication, but what Else could be wrong with her, I mean is she really just not swimming because her fins hurt?

PS- Keep in mind I have another fish in this tank, Sal and hes 98% okay, just on little fin spot, but it comes and goes.

Not recent, but you get the idea..

by **Sal** on Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:35 pm

Up-date
My Father just bought some medication, and put it in! O_O
It's called Aquari-Sol and says it treats:
Ick
Gasping for air [ Thats a medical condition? ._.]
Protozoan Parasites
Slugishness [What]
Velvet Disease
I think we should have gotten something that was ment for whatever she has, and that we should have wated to add anything. But he added it while I was putting away the hose. ._.

by **DanRad** on Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:01 pm

Hi, Sal! Hard to exactly tell what's going on from the pic, but here are a few suggestions you can follow up on:

1. 69 and bouncing is not a good temp for Oscars. I bought a couple of heaters like that last year, and could never make them work. Take them back to the shop, and exchange them for a different brand. Visi-therm is a good make, and there are others. I'd say yours is not one of them.

2. A lot of times, fraying fins is a sign of poor water conditions. If you don't already own one, pick up a test kit. You NEED to know the levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate for sure, and it's good to be aware of your pH as well.

3. How big a tank are your Oscars in? How long has the tank been up and running, and how long have you had the Oscars?

4. What kind of filters are you using, and what is your cleaning schedule? Also, what is your water change routine (how much do you change, and how often)?

If you can give us this info, we have a better chance of helping you out.

5. Welcome to the forum! :icon_cheers:

by **Sal** on Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:12 pm

Thank you for the help. Athena past away at about 8:47. :sad5:

But I know now how to prevent these kinda things.
I had my oscars for about 3-4 years, the tank is 65 gallon and I do
about a 25% water change once a week. We also just got a new heater, its nice, I cant re-call the brand at the moment though.

I feel so bad. = ( were going to talk to some people this weekend and try to find out how to better prevent this from happining again, poor Sal though I can tell he already misses her, hes looking around the tank for her. :sad5:

by **lisafosc** on Sat Dec 09, 2006 6:46 am

Sorry to hear that hun, but you have come to the right place for help and your doing the right thing to seek advice, to prevent this from happening again if poss! Only thing is who are the people you are going to speak to for advice? Just want to make sure they are experianced enough to advise you correctly, if in doubt tlk to people here, they know what thier doin and will do right by you tmbsup

xxx

by **Barb Okla** on Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:53 pm

AquaSol is a copper based med and Should NEVER be used IN any south American tank with a LOW pH under 7.2.. This brings your pH down fast if it is not at 8.0 or up.. IT is mainly for an African tank for this reason.... YOU need to run FRESH charcoal in the filter to remove this med out FAST.. Shame your dad was told wrong and this may have killed the Oscar.. YOU needed to do a good vacuuming of the gravel, clean the filter BOX and add in NEW media pads.. AND you need to do this WEEKLY.. Fin rot OR fin deteriation, as your oscar had, is very treatable just by really cleaning the tank better and more water out/in..

How much is 25% on a water change?? This is how I calculate the % of a water change:

65 x .25%= 16. gal out/in As this is close to 15 gal, then do 15 gal out/in
65 x .30%= 19.5 gal out/in As this is close to 20, then do 20 gal out/In so you can measure water conditioner/salt
With Oscars, I would do the 20 gal each week.. this may be needed to keep your tank cleaner...

GET a good heater ASAP and even if it stops at 82F that is better than the 69F it is showing.. 76F OR 78F is a ideal temp..
BUT be warned that LOTS OF AIR IS NEEDED IN HIGER TEMPERATURES!! So have lots of airstones running in this tank..
A double OUT PUT air pump can run two large/long/other air stones..

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