Oscar with white patches and scales falling off

[lawdad]

I'm new to this forum and I just want to thank anyone in advance for any help the may be able to offer me. I have a 1.5 year old tiger Oscar that is very sick. He is usually kept in a 75 gallon tank with one other Tiger and a Pleco. The Oscars in the tank always fought a bit, but one day I noticed that one of them had some white spots on it's side where it looked as if the scales had fallen off. I watched it to see if it would heal on its own, but over time I became concerned as it worsened. The first picture is from when I started to become worried...

A little bit later I noticed that he had some fungus growing on his eye, it was at this point that I removed him from the main tank and put him into a 10 gallon hospital tank. I treated him with Melafix and Pimafix and neither seemed to have any effect. I also added salt and increased the temp of the water to 82 degrees. It has been nearly a month now that I have had him int the hospital tank and he just slowly but surely getting worse. Is there something I am missing here? Am I not medicating him properly? I'm really at a loss right now and any help would be greatly appreciated. The second attached photo is of his current state.

His skin just seems to be rotting off and his fins are somewhat shredded. He has some cloudiness around his eye that just won't go away. I've brought this little bugger back from a near death leap from the tank and I don't want to lose him. If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Adam

[callen]

Welcome to the site...I'm replying from my phone so this will be fast answer. Sorry.

You need to get your O on an antibiotic ... Gel tek has some good ones. Is he still eating? Also how often do you do water changes? Keep the water as pristine as possible and follow the directions of the antibiotic. Fingers crossed.

[Paul, The Engineer]

how i wish you had seek help earlier..... the first picture
shows your fish had ammonia/nitrite burn or some toxin
that eat up the slimy coating of the fish skin.

the present condition shows the fish had complicated damage;
burn out skin, rotting fin, and fungi infection. pristine water
and varied food could help. increasing the temp needs aeration
to augment oxygen, while salt could help comforting the fish.

[Gerry]

What filtration do you have on both tanks?
how often and how much water do you change?
what do you feed them?
what size is the Oscar that's ill?
What are your water readings in numbers for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Ph would be good to know too

we need this kind of info to work out what might be wrong

[JohnL]

I'm just going to say welcome and good luck. If you can answer the questions Gerry asked it will help us help you and your fish.

[amyabe2001]

Hi
Welcome to the site.. Sorry to see your fish is sick. You will get some good advice from the site.

[lawdad]

What filtration do you have on both tanks?

On both tanks I am using Penguin Bio Wheel fileters. The 75 gallon has one has two cartridges and two separate charcoal inserts....On the ten gallon I have another bio wheel that is supposed to be for a 50 gallon tank.

how often and how much water do you change?

On the large tank, I try and do a 25% water change every two weeks. On the hospital tank it seems like I am having to change the water every 2-3 days to keep it clear.

what do you feed them?

I feed them Hikari Cichlid Gold floating pellets...but since I moved the one to the hospital tank neither of the fish are interested in eating. It's like they are both having separation anxiety.

what size is the Oscar that's ill?

I would say the oscar is about 8 inches.

What are your water readings in numbers for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Ph would be good to know too

I will get you this info asap...I have to go get the testing kit from work later today. I'm almost positive that the ammonia is high though.


I am currently using high temp and salt to treat the problem. I also have a bubble wall in the tank that I am using to add oxygen to the water.


Should I stop trying any medication and just focus on the water quality as the problem?

[lawdad]

The ammonia and ph are both high. The pH is about 7.5 and the ammonia is 6-8ppm. I am changing the water daily at this point...is the 10 gallon too small to treat him? Would I be better off putting him back in the 75 gallon with his buddy and treating him that way? The pH in the 75 gal. is 6.0 and the ammonia is at 6ppm too. Is this simply an issue of not changing the water enough? Or am I disrupting the cycle by changing it too much?

[callen]

Water quality is key here so up the water changes to everyday and do large ones. You still need the antibiotics so start with them. I'm concerned of internal infection too so this where the antibiotics will help.

[lawdad]

Any idea on the specific antibiotics to buy? I was using API Melafix and Pimafix, but they don't seem to be working.

[Gerry]

Your Ph is fine and stable ph is better than messing about with it.
an ammonia reading like yours is highly toxic to fish and you need to do a massive water change asap

Your fish is stunted due to poor water conditions as an Oscar 18 months old should be a lot bigger than 8", in fact should be near 12".

you are under filtered on the big tank I would say, you want a flow rate of 750 gallons an hour for a 75 gallon tank with HOB filtration.

with the Oscar in the ten gallon you need to change 80% of the water daily as an 8" fish will be producing a lot of waste, with the 75 gallon you need to do about the same weekly, 25% fortnightly is no where near enough.

This article will help you viewtopic.php?f=26&t=13651

Do you change the carbon and if so how often?

sorry for all the questions but we need it to help

[Katt]

Not anything more that I can add to Gerry`s and Callen`s advice.
But to say your in the best of hand`s with theses two.

And a warm Welcome.

[callen]

Melafix is not an antibiotic. You need penicillin ... Try and get the Gek Tek if you can. Your LFS should carry that brand or similar.

[lawdad]

Ok, looking into getting another filter for the large tank. Found Gel Tek penecillin online, but I'm not sure how I'm gonna get him to eat it since he has stopped eating all together. I do change the carbon on the filters according to the manufacturers directions, so about once every 3-4 weeks. I am going to buy a Python Syphon so that I can change the water more often with less hassle. Is there anything else I should do in the meantime? Should I still be using salt and heat, or is that going to make it worse?

[JohnL]

I would eliminate the carbon altogether and add more bio media. The carbon really isn't needed and there is a theory that it contributes to HITH. Also it will remove the medication from the tank so don't use it if your medicating.