Nitrate won’t go down, Oscar with Popeye(?)

[Bruce1975]

Ok thats all great news in terms of the water and set up well done for putting the work in to get the nitrates down. It does not happen by accident so its really great that you have put that commitment in!

My guess would be that this could be caused by fighting and clashing rather than the water now then. Do you have any other fish in the tank?

Wills

That relieves me a lot! I’ve been cleaning and testing the water like crazy thinking the nitrates were affecting him! I just have the one other Oscar in with him. He does sometimes bang around in the tank, but I’m not sure why.. and maybe he smacked his eyeball into the glass. Or, they were getting too rough. I did notice after his eye had begun to swell, that he then scratched it on one of the decorative plants I had in there. I’ve removed that one, but he like likes to beat up the other fake plant. I’m also going to remove that one until he heals up I think.

 

[Wills]

What sort of decor do you have? Do you have a pic of the tank?

Just wondering if it would be worth changing the layout of the tank, removing any sharp rocks or wood? Maybe changing from gravel to sand etc?

Have you ever considered adding dither fish to the tanks? Silver Dollars could make a good addition to the tank, there are some nice species available now like spotted, black bar, black berry, tiger etc? The advantage of dither fish in this tank is that it spreads the agression out between other fish but also with something big and metalic like the silver dollars if they chase each other the Oscars can get distracted by the dollars. The Oscars are also unlikely to be able to catch them as they are fast fish.

Wills

 

[Colin_T]

Dirty tanks can cause pop-eye and so does physical damage like scratching the eye. Normally they heal up quickly if you clean the tank up and add salt but if that hasn't worked, then you might need anti-biotic.

If you do use anti-biotics, try to treat the fish in a separate quarantine tank so you don't mess up the filter on the main tank.

If you have to lift the fish out of the tank to move it, make sure the damaged eye is not resting on the net.

 

[Bruce1975]

What sort of decor do you have? Do you have a pic of the tank?

Just wondering if it would be worth changing the layout of the tank, removing any sharp rocks or wood? Maybe changing from gravel to sand etc?

Have you ever considered adding dither fish to the tanks? Silver Dollars could make a good addition to the tank, there are some nice species available now like spotted, black bar, black berry, tiger etc? The advantage of dither fish in this tank is that it spreads the agression out between other fish but also with something big and metalic like the silver dollars if they chase each other the Oscars can get distracted by the dollars. The Oscars are also unlikely to be able to catch them as they are fast fish.

Wills

That’s a great idea, I’ll have to look into getting some of those fish. I don’t have much in the tank because they seem to like the open space, although I did have two fake plants in there with them. They were the softest I could find at the pet shop, but I think I have to remove them because that’s what he scratched his eye on. He tends to try and attack everything in the tank, like the plants, the water heater, filters, etc. That’s another reason why I don’t have much lol. I have sand as well. I’ll add a picture of the tank.

 

[Bruce1975]

Dirty tanks can cause pop-eye and so does physical damage like scratching the eye. Normally they heal up quickly if you clean the tank up and add salt but if that hasn't worked, then you might need anti-biotic.

If you do use anti-biotics, try to treat the fish in a separate quarantine tank so you don't mess up the filter on the main tank.

If you have to lift the fish out of the tank to move it, make sure the damaged eye is not resting on the net.

What kind of antibiotics would you recommend?

 

[Bruce1975]

I have E.M Erythromycin and MetaFix on hand. Would any of these work?

 

[Colin_T]

I can't advise on which anti-biotics to use because we don't have ready access to them in Australia. Doxycycline is the only one I have used and is one of the tetracycline group of anti-biotics.

 

[Bruce1975]

I can't advise on which anti-biotics to use because we don't have ready access to them in Australia. Doxycycline is the only one I have used and is one of the tetracycline group of anti-biotics.

Thank you!

 

[Wills]

I'd definitely look to add some decor into the tank - if you can break the line of sight it will really help. Big bits of bog wood would be a good start with one or two pieces reaching the surface if possible.

Wills

 

[Bruce1975]

So I just wanted to give an update here about Bruce! I moved him to a quarantine tank about 12 days ago and started treating him with Seachem KanaPlex. I finished his first set of doses on Oct. 1st and I’ve had pretty great results! I can’t see any veins in his eye anymore and the swelling went down a lot. I’m going to dose him one more time tomorrow as I just gave him another dose yesterday because his eye is still a bit larger than normal. Unfortunately I believe he lost sight in his eye, but I’m just glad I was able to save it. Anyways, I think I’m going to put him back in the main tank within he next few days! I’ll post a picture of his progress

 

[HoldenOn]

He looks a lot better, congrats!