My Oscars are flaking away!!! HELP!?

Question

I think i have parasites...my oscars are flaking away and i see the little white worm like creatures swimming around. this is an ongoing issue and i have bought the copper whatever stuff that is supposed to last a full month, but i am still waiting for it to work!! I have moved the fish from one 55 gal to the next and I know i have to now treat both tanks, but i couldn't stand to let them stay in the worm riddled tank! Oh and one more thing is that i think these worms are turning into these annoying gnats that i have been seeing around the house the past few days!! HELP how do i get rid of them once and for all??!!

more details...well yes flaking, not slimy. it is the skin flaking off. also..i did take out the carbon filter eventhough the instructions that i read stated i didn't need to. my fish are quite big...the biggest is about 3 lbs..the smaller is half the size. I have gone through the entire cleaning process twice and thought the problem had resolved, but I was wrong.

Answer 1

First, I would get your water parameters tested, see if any of those have an opportunitiy for improvement. Correcting water quality issues help get fish back to their optimal level of health, so they can battle issues only present when their environment gets bad. Of course, if badly enough affected, they will still need more intervention. Varying their diet with more kinds of foods (limit as this can actually lower water quality if overdone) will also pep up their situation.

With the basics out of the way, if this "on-going issue" has passed the complete treatment time for the copper and is still as grossly infested as you described. Yuck. Then, I would do a large water change to take out much of the prior meds (not good to mix meds usually) to prep for a new treatment.

The worms are most likely from the flies you described and may or may not have a direct correlation to your afflicted fish. Yet the topic here is your worm problem so I will focus on getting rid of them once and for all. With the water change, hopefully you are using a gravel cleaner to do that. This will stir up a lot of the larval cysts and hiding worms. If possible, get powerheads in the tank to increase water flow, this will give the worms a difficult time to hide and also get meds distributed throughout the tank better.

I've had great success with the product called Fluke Tabs to get rid of stubborn parasites in the tank like anchor worm, fish lice, and EVERY invertabrate in the tank that just should not be there, whether fully aquatic or not! Follow the directions carefully as it is extremely potent and designed to eliminate the nasties that just don't want to leave. Remember to take out the carbon from your filters, as it will only absorb and render any medications useless.

Do take note, that most fish meds will only treat the creatures within the water, so flies hanging out on the lights, hood, or rim should be wiped away as much as possible. Otherwise, they will only reinfest the tank with their young and your cycle will restart. When doing the prescribed water changes, try to get every little bugger out of there, persistence is the key.

If possible, try to seal off the remaining entrances to the aquarium, like the space between the filter and hood or an old hole cut out not in use anymore. These are just opportunities for reinfestations. You can do this with untreated plastic from your local aquarium store or if you don't mind saving money and scrubbing old plastic milk jugs really well with hot water you can retro that for use (done it many times myself). Make sure water is still freshly flowing into your tank for proper oxygen exchange.

Most buggies like stagnant or slow moving water. So keeping the powerheads will be beneficial--even if closer to the surface, so the fish don't get bothered much. I would refrain from spraying pesticides around the tank, as any residuals could ironically kill your fish. There are sticky fly baits that you can safely use in proximitiy to your tank. Always helps to look around the home and see if you can find the source of the bugs. Possibly a bucket of water near a screen door...etc...just ideas.

If the actual flaking of scales don't stop, it is possible they have contracted a bacterial infection, most likely septicemia. This can be treated with, again improved water quality, and a tetracycline based fish antibiotic.

Hope that helps and good luck!

Answer 2

I have done a lot of research on this and it is difficult to find anything that matches what you have described. You can't have something so rare that it isn't in any disease list, so there must be more that you haven't described or aren't seeing. I have found a couple of things that are close, but basically, it sounds like it could be a bacterial infection. The "flaking" scales could be dropsy, but there is more involved to dropsy and it depends on what you consider "flaking" to mean. The diseases that include sloughing skin involve a "slimey" look, but your concept of slime may not be what the disease calls slimey. Some diseases are not treatable by some medications. If you treat the wrong disease with the wrong medication, it won't do any good. And, as you have been treating for a month with no luck, I would suggest that you are treating with the wrong medication. Since we don't have enough specifics to make a diagnosis, I would suggest you take a closer look at your fish, try to more closely analyze what is going on and what everything looks like and find something that matches your fish's symptoms and then treat accordingly. Salt is a good all-round treatment when you aren't sure of the specific disease. Use aquarium salt. Do not use table salt. Do not add directly to the water, pre-mix it first. Add it according to directions. The swimming creatures that turn into flying gnats are nothing that is going to hurt the fish. Poor water quality is almost always the culprit of diseases. You probably should read up on the nitrogen cycle and how to do proper water changes and tank cleaning and get a test kit and test your water so you can get your water healthy again.

Answer 3

If the little worms look like threads wiggling in the warter then they are turning into gnats. Those are totally harmless to your fish and in fact most smaller fish will eat them. The copper will kill them though. A big water change and cleaning the gravel will help get rid of them too.

You say your oscars are flaking... I don't think I really understand. Does it look like pieces of flesh coming off or are they really slimy and the slime is coming off? Anything you can think of to help describe what you are seeing will help alot.

When youtreated with the copper did you take the carbon out of your filter? If not the carbon will take the copper right out of the water and it won't work at all, not even for the little worms.

Please add any additional info you can think of or post a new question. No doubt someone will be able to help.

Feel free to drop me a line if I can help

MM

Answer 4

shop up the daily water transformations for the forseeable destiny. Now, there is drugs you are able to upload besides, regardless of the undeniable fact that it relies upon on precisely how the white stuff seems. If the fish has what seems to be "tufts of cotton" white stuff caught on him, then you definitely are coping with a real fungus (the comparable stuff that replaced into on the food). you will then % an anti fungal drugs, ideally methylene blue. If the white stuff appears like a slimy coating on the fish, perhaps coming off in strands, then you definitely've a bacterial an infection. Bacterial an infection are taken care of with anti biotics. Erythromycin is an spectacular large spectrum anti biotic that Oscars respond nicely to. sturdy luck. additionally, do not pay attention to Karen above, Coppersafe is for parasites inclusive of ick, you do not have a parasite infestation.

Answer 5

It spounds like you have Anchor Worm, they are tough to get rid of, check out the website below.