CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Hey there I have a few questions reguarding my friends oscars. Number one question, how can you tell if they are sick or diying? I am not sure but think something is wrong with his fish. We put new live feeder fish in the tank and they are not eating them. They are also seem to be sleeping a lot. Can some one help me with these problems? Please respond. Thanks a bunch.


[This message has been edited by Mayfly24 (edited 02-07-2001).]

Gday

Could you please give a bit more info
Like
1. Apart from being sleepy and off their food do they look their normal colour and how long have they been off their food?
2. How often would you feed them and do you give them a varity?
3. What size is the tank and what is your ph?
4. How often do you do water changes?
5. They havent got any pin holes in their heads or elswhere that you havent noticed before or white spots etc?
6. Are they good quality feeders?
7. Are they beathing fast,what temp do you have the tank and do you have lots of air getting in to the water and a good filtration system?

Sorry for all the questions but the more info you provide the better the good people here can help you.

In the mean time I would be doing frequent water changes or one big one if you dont have the time to do one every few days then 30% every fortnight and maybe treat with a broad spectrum treatment or salt.


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TONY S

Originally posted by Mayfly24:
Hey there I have a few questions reguarding my friends oscars. Number one question, how can you tell if they are sick or diying? I am not sure but think something is wrong with his fish. We put new live feeder fish in the tank and they are not eating them. They are also seem to be sleeping a lot. Can some one help me with these problems? Please respond. Thanks a bunch.

To add more to this:
1: The color of the fish, they seem to be changing to a tan and blck instead of staying their normal black color.
2: I dont know the ph level.
3: They dont get a variety of food, because they are my friends fish.
4: We have just raised the water level a little to make it warmer.
5: The water is changed at least every two weeks.
6: They are breathing kind of slower. They havent eaten in about two weeks. I dont know what else to tell you but hopefully this will help a little.

Originally posted by Mayfly24:
To add more to this:
1: The color of the fish, they seem to be changing to a tan and blck instead of staying their normal black color.
2: I dont know the ph level.
3: They dont get a variety of food, because they are my friends fish.
4: We have just raised the water level a little to make it warmer.
5: The water is changed at least every two weeks.
6: They are breathing kind of slower. They havent eaten in about two weeks. I dont know what else to tell you but hopefully this will help a little.

Hmm no food in 2 weeks, thats not a good sign.
Is there a heater in the tank? Do you age the water before changing it or use a good quality conditioner?
Maybe if you put them in a hospital tank and treat them and do a 100% water change along with disinfecting the tank. Then once the main tank is ready do small water changes every day or 2 to keep the water quality high and keep the carbon out for a while. Also dont put in any gravel so its easier to do the above.(oscars are realy messy)
If you do this there will be no need to keep an eye on the ph just the temp, maybe keep that at about 29 deg celsius (you will have to convert this to farenheight, we only use metric in australia)
Anyway sounds like they are in bad shape maybe one of the over members who have more experience than me can make some suggestions.
Hope I have helped

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TONY S

Hi Mayfly,

If the fish look ok on the outside it can still mean they may have some kind of internal parasite. One way of treating fish is adding salt, about 1 tablespoon for every 5gallons of water. This helps kill bacteria etc... and/or treatment with other medicine like even the popular generic antibiotic , tetracycline or other antibiotics etc..antiparasite and anti-fungal meds. Usually i put my sick fish in a 10gallon tank where i add the medicine. Well it is cheaper to get the needed medicine concentration in a 10gallon than in a 70 gallon.

Now what exactly is the water temperature in the tank? I keep my oscars at around 80F.
(somewhere between 78-82 is good) What were the oscars usually fed? Is there enough OXYgen in the water?(ie got a good air pump oxygenating the water?)

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Joe
www.cichlidfish.com