[quote=ginapina,Sep 19 2005, 05:02 PM][Hi I hope you can help. My poor oranda looks like he is dying.I have a 160 litres tank and it is fairly new,3 weeks old. I have been adding bio booster .I have been doing water changes every 3 days. My ph is always high about 7.6, I treat this. my ammonia levels are 0.2 usually.I have a out side canister filter that was recomended as the best for my tank.
oscar(my oranda) is very sick when I got him he had been attacked by yabbies and had white cotton wool growths on his head. I put salt in the tank at a rate of 3 tablespoon of rock salt and 3 tablespoon of epson salt complete. atfirst he seemed to get a bit better but then he started rushing uptop of tank and swoopin down while doing somersalts. at first I thought this was very preety and did not think this was a problem. Then he was gasping a the top of the tank and eating bubbles. Then he started sitting on the bottom of the tank for short periods but swam around normally in between.NOW HE IS SITTING AT THE BOTTOM NEALLY ALL THE TIME his fin is down nearly flat ,he is not eating.he has 3 white spots around his eye that look just like pimples but can only be seen through a magnifing glass,he has 2 red streaks under his chin (looks a bit like stitches or traintracks),The top of 2 pimples has fallen off and it looks like a red sore now. I have been replacing the salt as I do water changes.My water is very soft here that is why I am adding epson salts. I add water conditioner,I don,t know what to do first. please help

Hi ginapina and

Firstly, if you can, do some massive waterchanges. It's bad to mix epsom salt and salt. In fact, epsom salt is not needed in your situation - I don't believe it does anything for water hardness. Let your ph guide you and as it is your ph is perfect.

Have you removed the yabbies? I hope so

The only thing that may help him is perfect water ie. ammonia 0, nitrites 0 and a stable ph.

Salting at 1 teaspoon per gallon (your tank would need 40 teaspoons) would be ideal although don't add this until you change the water as you want to get rid of the epsom salt first. The 2 together may well be adding to his stress - so hopefully waterchanges will help him

Hopefully this will help some and I hope he improves soon

How many fish are in the tank? Just the oranda?

Your troubles sound like water quality to me. The red streaks are usually a sign of high levels of ammonia in the tank. Do a large water change asap. I would change about 50% of the water to give it a good clean out.

I would also stop using all the salt. Your tank is probably over dosed with salt as well. Epsom salt should only be used when treating dropsy.

Hope all of this helps and good luck with your fish! Make sure to check back if you have more questions.