Help me to cure my red oscar's disease

[Y.C]

Hi there,
I am a beginner on this hobby. Now I encouter some problems for my
fishes. I have a 46 gal tank. I put 2 5-6" red oscar and one 5" pleco
in. I own them not more than 3 monthes. Now my oscars got sick.
One oscar has a big bubble on the mouth. The color of the bubble is
close to its body's. Another oscar gets more problems. It has a big
hole and lots scar on its head. Some spot on the body. Near the root
of front fin has white spot. Then same scar begins to appear on
another one recently. The pleco doesn't show any problem. The
appetitie of oscars are good, since I don't feed them much. Next what
I did to cure my fish, but none of them works:
(1) Change water and use air vacuum to clean tank.
(2) Use Rid-ich+ to treat ick (first, I thought it was ick and one guy
in petco suggested me use it)
(3) Use Hold-N-Head Guide to treat hole-n-head (second, I thought it
was hole-n-head diseas, but after nearly one month the problem is not
gone and getting worse)
(4) Use Formalin to treat Costia (frankly, I have no idea what that
problem is, just do blind try

Now, the problems are still there and getting worst. Please help me on
it. Someone also told me that maybe the fungus. This time I would hear
more advice before action.

BTW, could someone let me know how much I could feed my fishes each
day. They always looks hunger no matter how much I feed them. Even I
fed them 50+ each small pellets daily, they still can quickly eat them
all. But that makes tank very dirty. Now I feed them 4 medium pellets
twice each day with small amount of flakes. It is that ok?

Thanks a lot for your help.

[T]

"Y.C" > wrote in message
om...
> Hi there,
> I am a beginner on this hobby. Now I encouter some problems for my
> fishes. I have a 46 gal tank. I put 2 5-6" red oscar and one 5" pleco
> in. I own them not more than 3 monthes. Now my oscars got sick.
> One oscar has a big bubble on the mouth. The color of the bubble is
> close to its body's. Another oscar gets more problems. It has a big
> hole and lots scar on its head. Some spot on the body. Near the root
> of front fin has white spot. Then same scar begins to appear on
> another one recently. The pleco doesn't show any problem. The
> appetitie of oscars are good, since I don't feed them much. Next what
> I did to cure my fish, but none of them works:
> (1) Change water and use air vacuum to clean tank.
> (2) Use Rid-ich+ to treat ick (first, I thought it was ick and one guy
> in petco suggested me use it)
> (3) Use Hold-N-Head Guide to treat hole-n-head (second, I thought it
> was hole-n-head diseas, but after nearly one month the problem is not
> gone and getting worse)
> (4) Use Formalin to treat Costia (frankly, I have no idea what that
> problem is, just do blind try
>
> Now, the problems are still there and getting worst. Please help me on
> it. Someone also told me that maybe the fungus. This time I would hear
> more advice before action.
>
> BTW, could someone let me know how much I could feed my fishes each
> day. They always looks hunger no matter how much I feed them. Even I
> fed them 50+ each small pellets daily, they still can quickly eat them
> all. But that makes tank very dirty. Now I feed them 4 medium pellets
> twice each day with small amount of flakes. It is that ok?
>
> Thanks a lot for your help.

The one sounds like HTH.. I posted a question here earlier about the
causes of HTH...
A lack of varied diet, water qaulity poor ( Oscars appear to be
supersensitive to water quality..) and the last thing I remember, apparently
a link between the Charcol Media in the filter and HTH.

How often are you doing water changes? What are the size of the water
changes? Have you been able to feed the Oscars a varied diet? ( I used to
feed mine pellets, guppies, frozen fresh peas, frozen BS, krill and a few
other things) . Providing you change the water often, the water is not going
to smell and hench no need for the carbon.. Often people find out about the
care needs of thier Oscars when they get to deep into caring for them. I
went to Walmart and purchased Aqua Containers, in the camping section. I
fill them up with warmer water and let them sit over night to come to room
temperature ( 24 hrs of sitting ) uncovered so the chemicals can disapate
from the water as well.. It can be a tedious task, but every three days
remove about 5 gallons of water with the vacuum pump and replace it with
clean fresh water.. I think your Oscars will respond positively. Your Pl*co
is a tough fish, who seemingly has the ability to come out fine ( My larger
Pl*co I have now has moved from tank to tank to tank, often without a chance
to "adjust" to the different water conditons ). I appears you have done some
research on the problems your Oscar has been going through, and I conmend
you for this. Keep reading on the subject, as this knowledge is a wonderful
thing to share with others..

Tim...

[Y.C]

Thanks Tim.
I changed water every 2-3 weeks, since some guys told me not to change
water frequently. Each time I change 10gal out of my 46gal tank. I put
water treatment also.
I changed filter and carbon every 1-1.5 months.
I only feed pellets and flake regularly. Occasionally, feed small live
fish. Frankly, I don't have much knowledge of how to feed fishes.

>
> The one sounds like HTH.. I posted a question here earlier about the
> causes of HTH...
> A lack of varied diet, water qaulity poor ( Oscars appear to be
> supersensitive to water quality..) and the last thing I remember, apparently
> a link between the Charcol Media in the filter and HTH.
>
> How often are you doing water changes? What are the size of the water
> changes? Have you been able to feed the Oscars a varied diet? ( I used to
> feed mine pellets, guppies, frozen fresh peas, frozen BS, krill and a few
> other things) . Providing you change the water often, the water is not going
> to smell and hench no need for the carbon.. Often people find out about the
> care needs of thier Oscars when they get to deep into caring for them. I
> went to Walmart and purchased Aqua Containers, in the camping section. I
> fill them up with warmer water and let them sit over night to come to room
> temperature ( 24 hrs of sitting ) uncovered so the chemicals can disapate
> from the water as well.. It can be a tedious task, but every three days
> remove about 5 gallons of water with the vacuum pump and replace it with
> clean fresh water.. I think your Oscars will respond positively. Your Pl*co
> is a tough fish, who seemingly has the ability to come out fine ( My larger
> Pl*co I have now has moved from tank to tank to tank, often without a chance
> to "adjust" to the different water conditons ). I appears you have done some
> research on the problems your Oscar has been going through, and I conmend
> you for this. Keep reading on the subject, as this knowledge is a wonderful
> thing to share with others..
>
> Tim...

[D. J]

Stop using carbon.and change 50% of water every week.

"Y.C" > wrote in message
om...
> Thanks Tim.
> I changed water every 2-3 weeks, since some guys told me not to change
> water frequently. Each time I change 10gal out of my 46gal tank. I put
> water treatment also.
> I changed filter and carbon every 1-1.5 months.
> I only feed pellets and flake regularly. Occasionally, feed small live
> fish. Frankly, I don't have much knowledge of how to feed fishes.
>
> >
> > The one sounds like HTH.. I posted a question here earlier about the
> > causes of HTH...
> > A lack of varied diet, water qaulity poor ( Oscars appear to be
> > supersensitive to water quality..) and the last thing I remember,
apparently
> > a link between the Charcol Media in the filter and HTH.
> >
> > How often are you doing water changes? What are the size of the
water
> > changes? Have you been able to feed the Oscars a varied diet? ( I used
to
> > feed mine pellets, guppies, frozen fresh peas, frozen BS, krill and a
few
> > other things) . Providing you change the water often, the water is not
going
> > to smell and hench no need for the carbon.. Often people find out about
the
> > care needs of thier Oscars when they get to deep into caring for them. I
> > went to Walmart and purchased Aqua Containers, in the camping section. I
> > fill them up with warmer water and let them sit over night to come to
room
> > temperature ( 24 hrs of sitting ) uncovered so the chemicals can
disapate
> > from the water as well.. It can be a tedious task, but every three days
> > remove about 5 gallons of water with the vacuum pump and replace it with
> > clean fresh water.. I think your Oscars will respond positively. Your
Pl*co
> > is a tough fish, who seemingly has the ability to come out fine ( My
larger
> > Pl*co I have now has moved from tank to tank to tank, often without a
chance
> > to "adjust" to the different water conditons ). I appears you have done
some
> > research on the problems your Oscar has been going through, and I
conmend
> > you for this. Keep reading on the subject, as this knowledge is a
wonderful
> > thing to share with others..
> >
> > Tim...

[T]

If it was myself ( this is typically what I do ) I do many small water
changes instead a hugh one ( eithier way they are effective ). In my case I
do smaller changes, but I do it twice weekly.. Usually I do a 10 to 15%
change twice weekly (sometimes I get lazy and do it once a week ). I don't
have the liberty of space to set that much water aside to do a big change
like that..As mentioned I only use a pair of 5 gallon aquatainiers (Tm
registered, I am sure, Canadian company from Winnipeg ) to age the water for
24hrs.. Depending on your area, there might very be heavy
chlorine/chloromine in the water where the neatrualizing chemicals might
help ( I am lead to believe most of the chlorien/chloromine will disapate
over night from a container left uncovered ). If you can get into the habit
of doing frequant water changes, there may never be a need for carbon filter
media ( which seems to cause problems with Oscars and HTH ).. Do some
reading, and most of all enjoy the fish ( Oscars are more pets than fish,
IMO )

Tim..


"D. J" > wrote in message
le.rogers.com...
> Stop using carbon.and change 50% of water every week.
>
> "Y.C" > wrote in message
> om...
> > Thanks Tim.
> > I changed water every 2-3 weeks, since some guys told me not to change
> > water frequently. Each time I change 10gal out of my 46gal tank. I put
> > water treatment also.
> > I changed filter and carbon every 1-1.5 months.
> > I only feed pellets and flake regularly. Occasionally, feed small live
> > fish. Frankly, I don't have much knowledge of how to feed fishes.
> >
> > >
> > > The one sounds like HTH.. I posted a question here earlier about the
> > > causes of HTH...
> > > A lack of varied diet, water qaulity poor ( Oscars appear to be
> > > supersensitive to water quality..) and the last thing I remember,
> apparently
> > > a link between the Charcol Media in the filter and HTH.
> > >
> > > How often are you doing water changes? What are the size of the
> water
> > > changes? Have you been able to feed the Oscars a varied diet? ( I used
> to
> > > feed mine pellets, guppies, frozen fresh peas, frozen BS, krill and a
> few
> > > other things) . Providing you change the water often, the water is not
> going
> > > to smell and hench no need for the carbon.. Often people find out
about
> the
> > > care needs of thier Oscars when they get to deep into caring for them.
I
> > > went to Walmart and purchased Aqua Containers, in the camping section.
I
> > > fill them up with warmer water and let them sit over night to come to
> room
> > > temperature ( 24 hrs of sitting ) uncovered so the chemicals can
> disapate
> > > from the water as well.. It can be a tedious task, but every three
days
> > > remove about 5 gallons of water with the vacuum pump and replace it
with
> > > clean fresh water.. I think your Oscars will respond positively. Your
> Pl*co
> > > is a tough fish, who seemingly has the ability to come out fine ( My
> larger
> > > Pl*co I have now has moved from tank to tank to tank, often without a
> chance
> > > to "adjust" to the different water conditons ). I appears you have
done
> some
> > > research on the problems your Oscar has been going through, and I
> conmend
> > > you for this. Keep reading on the subject, as this knowledge is a
> wonderful
> > > thing to share with others..
> > >
> > > Tim...
>
>