swelling behind the pectoral fins

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My 7 year old, 15.5 inch oscar "Jake" has become swollen just in back
of the pectoral fins. "He" has been off of his food, but in the past
he has gone through these little bouts, of I'm going to worry you to
death and not eat. He has always given it up and started eating. I
had put new peat in my filter about 6 weeks ago and I've suffered an
outbreak - of snails....The refusing to eat started after the snail
population started to get rather large. The tank is 75 gallon and the
parameters are the same as they have always been. My pH has always
been a little on the alkaline side - about 8.5 I have no nitrogen or
ammonia. The tank temp is maintained at around 71 degrees and Jake
has thrived in this environment. I am just completeing a course of
Marasyn two. The swelling is still there. He won't let me touch him
to feel if they are hard or soft. If anyone has any suggestions
please offer them. He is in a 75 gallon tank. I have some live
plants in it which he uses to hide from me from time to time, but
otherwise doesn't bother them.

[swarvegorilla]

> wrote in message
ups.com...
> My 7 year old, 15.5 inch oscar "Jake" has become swollen just in back
> of the pectoral fins. "He" has been off of his food, but in the past
> he has gone through these little bouts, of I'm going to worry you to
> death and not eat. He has always given it up and started eating. I
> had put new peat in my filter about 6 weeks ago and I've suffered an
> outbreak - of snails....The refusing to eat started after the snail
> population started to get rather large. The tank is 75 gallon and the
> parameters are the same as they have always been. My pH has always
> been a little on the alkaline side - about 8.5 I have no nitrogen or
> ammonia. The tank temp is maintained at around 71 degrees and Jake
> has thrived in this environment. I am just completeing a course of
> Marasyn two. The swelling is still there. He won't let me touch him
> to feel if they are hard or soft. If anyone has any suggestions
> please offer them. He is in a 75 gallon tank. I have some live
> plants in it which he uses to hide from me from time to time, but
> otherwise doesn't bother them.
>

Your snail explosion is a good sign there is left over food.
Oscars are chew and spew fish so thats not unusual.
I am not familiar with Marasyn, however you may be on the right track if
it's an antibiotic.
I have some bad news however
not eating and belly swelling are both signs of an advanced internal
bacterial infection.
In the past I have had success adding metrodonazole flagyl to the fishes
food
however by the time it reaches the non-eating stage that is useless
I really don't want to be doom and gloom on ya mate
have lost a few fish this way meself, some were as yours is, quite old and
treasured companions.
A lot of the time I have have nodules in the fishes flesh during necropsy
this has led me to believe it was an advanced stage of fish tb.
I wish you the best of luck, and hope that it is just your fish having a
sook
which as an oscar owner you would know is nothing strange.
The best advice I can give is to setup a tank of feeder fish.
feed your feeders the best spirulina flake ya can get
and then while their guts are full try feed them on to the oscar
it ain't cheap and it ain't a med per say
I only say it as I really have nothing else to offer.
Maybe the fish is just egg bound, or constipated or has a slight swim
bladder problem.
But these daze
so many fish in the trade carry the mykobacterium marina (fish tb) bug that
its usually a safe bet.
Can take years and years to become life threatening to a healthy fish
and some live as carriers the whole time

anyway good luck
do some reasearch, don't take me word as gospel
and DON'T PLAY WITH THE TANK IF YOU HAVE OPEN WOUNDS ON YOUR HANDS!!!
serious this ******* can jump to humans
give you your own angry purple nodule to play with :)

If ya wanted a scapegoat.... perhaps the new peat dropped the pH nice and
quick and stressed ya fish
would almost be a first but yea
I like a scapegoat I does
helps me go on

Swarvegorilla

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Thanks for the reply. I am reallly stumped. Today he went after food
very aggressively then spit it out whole. The lumps haven't changed
one iota. I did check my ph and it is still fine. My water is
extremely alkaline (greater than 9) So I do bump it up on each water
change. The Marasyn two is an antibiotic for dropsy or other internal
infections. I really am leaning towards impaction of some sort
because it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I would think if it
were internal infection he would be going down the tubes by now. But
nothing seems to have changed. I am going to change some water again
tomorrow night, and hit the fish store after work to see if there is
something else to try..

[swarvegorilla]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Thanks for the reply. I am reallly stumped. Today he went after food
> very aggressively then spit it out whole. The lumps haven't changed
> one iota. I did check my ph and it is still fine. My water is
> extremely alkaline (greater than 9) So I do bump it up on each water
> change. The Marasyn two is an antibiotic for dropsy or other internal
> infections. I really am leaning towards impaction of some sort
> because it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I would think if it
> were internal infection he would be going down the tubes by now. But
> nothing seems to have changed. I am going to change some water again
> tomorrow night, and hit the fish store after work to see if there is
> something else to try..
>

ok you want an antibiotic that works in very low oxygen conditions
the flagyll is my choice as it's cheap and easy to get
the internal infection usually takes lots longer to kill a fish than an
impaction
constipation can be a fast track to heaven!
in that case the old frozen shelled pea can work wonders altho prob not
appropriate for oscars.
As to the fish shop.....
can't really see much on offer
if they want to make a sale maybe clout could be worth a shot
if ya wanna try internet lore epsom salts maybe but don't reccomend myself
I think focus on good foods
feeders gutloaded with spirulina flake or fresh live earthworms would be my
advice there
take them water to check your ammonia/nitrite levels
as thats a potential you want to be able to rule out!!!
they should both be 0.

Signs that you are about to lose a fish to a gut infection
can be as heavy as a discoloured belly
sort of bluey and green
which points to organs starting to go bad from sitting in body cavity fluid.
fish are tough

You could always starve it for another week
and then try to tempt
but your on right track with water changes
try keep it as stable as possible
rotting food will not help the situation

anyway good luck with this
one of the less enjoyable sides to the hobby
be prepared for some angry denials if you mention fish tb to any shops
it's the biggest embarassing secret in the fish trade
so hard to spot and treat
and almost impossible to contain without aggressive culling and very full on
treatments
any feeders from dirt ponds have a very large chance of carrieing tb
and this places large fish like oscars at risk of picking it up by eating
them.
then once they carry the disease
it quietly waits
until the fish health gets stressed
and then BAM!!
it outbreaks and kills them.

aint no one ever going to admit to having ANY fish with tb
but its a worldwide problem

Your fish is old.
And it getting run down at this ripe old age
Is no reason to believe you did anything wrong.
He already beat the odds surviving that long.
Once again sorry to be doom and gloom on ya.
hope any of that helps
and once more
good luck
:)