Not sure if this needs to go in the 911 section. These are not my fish, but I couldn't stand to leave them at the pet store. I saw them last week and they looked bad at that time. I went back Thursday night and they looked worse. I talked to the girl that was on duty and told her that they were sick and could I have them to take home and fix. She said they do not give away fish. She said that if they see a sick fish in their tanks, they take out the sick fish and treat them (ha ha). She said if I saw a sick fish to please show her. So I did. She took them both out and put them in the sick tank in the back room. I went back today and another girl was on duty and I asked her aobut them. She said that they looked bad and took me back for me to see. The were in a 10 gallon tank with an oscar three times their size and several other fish. To make a long story short she gave them to me for free. She was very nice and said that I would at least give them a chance that they didn't have in the tank they were in with the large oscar. I dosed my tank with melafix, but what do you all think? Can I use salt or anything else?? I hope this link works.

http://s74.photobucket.com/albums/i243/sku...69/Sick%20Fish/

How many have you got? These are albino oscars.

Salting to .2 is ok for them, just give them lots of space, around 10 gallons each while small and lots of clean water.
Just think of baby goldfish but messier.

What exactly is wrong with them as i couldnt really tell.

Both fish have fins that are frayed and bitten off. One is a wierd shimmery apricot color and has a bite in it's side from the larger oscar that they were kept with. It was swimming with it's head down toward the bottom of the tank at the pet store. The other is pale (almost gray looking) and has red streaks under the skin on one side. I will try to get better pictures when I get them into the hospital tank. Is salt ok to use even though I have already put melafix in the tank? If you click on the pictures they will enlarge and you can get a better idea of what I am talking about. The first three pictures are of the pale fish with streaks. The last two pictures are of the one that is apricot colored and with the bite in it's side.

You are doing what I would do to treat them. They look a little on the skinny side to so make sure they get some food they should make it I have had fish that looked worse than they do good luck

I am glad that you have had worse looking fish that pulled through, These look pretty bad although you may not be able to tell very much from the photos. Yes, they are on the skinny side. The lady at the pet store that gave them to me tonight also gave me about 1/4 cup of medicated food (for free). She told me to treat them for a week with melafix and feed them just that medicated food and nothing else for two weeks. Does that sound correct?

I would feed the medacted food at least once a day but I think I would give them something else to like frozen food

If you are going to feed medicated food, you HAVE to feed that and only that for at least 2 weeks. Cutting it short could cause the parasites or bacteria to come back, possibly stronger than ever. Is the medicated food anti-bacterial or anti-parasitic? If you feel you should feed them the medicated food, there's no harm in feeding extra. More is better for beating diseases anyways

OK.... I know this is going to sound REALLY dumb, but I bought frosen food about four months ago. It is a "Freshwater Multi Pack". It has "Cichlid Delight", "Emerald Entree", Spirulina Enriched Brine Shrimp" and "Bloodworms". How in the world do you feed it to them??? And which one would you suggest that I feed them?

As Kissy said if you have started on the medicated food you can only feed that until the 2 weeks is up. You can feed a little more than they say but not too much. Good luck They are cute.

I don't know if it is anti-parasitic or anti-bacterial, but I will ask her tomorrow. She said that it was medicated food that she had been feeding the one tank of fish. She was actually very nice and she had to sneek and give me the food and fish. Judging by the pictures and my description of them, (1) what kind of food should I be feeding them? (2) If I fed them both kinds, one in the morning and the other in the evening, would it hurt? (3) How much medicated pellets should I be feeding them? (you probably can't answer that since I dont know what kind of food I actually have). They are actually looking like they feel much better and swimming around ALOT more since I put them in the hospital tank. They are eating the food that I put in and looking for more.

Yes it will hurt- because the medicated food can't be mixed with other food as its a treatment. I should wait till the 2 weeks are up before you feed different kinds of additional food. That is so great they are active and looking better

Thank you all for your help. I have one more question. I have been reading the 911 posts and I am wondering if I need to use salt along with the melafix. I was reading one post that said "use salt as a cure and melafix as a tonic". I do know how to dose salt and I do have the correct kind. Or should I just do what I am doing and use the salt after one week of melafix? Any suggestions?

Do you have a large home for these fish? That is number one. More important than anything.They may simply be suffering from stress brought on by cramped conditions.They need to be able to swim and if they don't have plenty of space to do so they will get sick and die. I hope you have a much bigger tank for them than in the pics. I think you'll be okay with medicated food and salting (remember the 12 hour interval ruleprovided you can get these fish into a bigger home fast.

Stay with the medicated food for now.Feed them a couple times a day.Let them eat as much as they can in two minutes.Fish need a certain percent of meds for their body weight, to work correctly.

Just a side note-for feeding the frozen blocks of food,you can either throw the whole cube into the tank(if your fish aren't pig's and won't eat the whole cube in one bite) ---or you can dissolve it first in a little tank water and add to the tank.

Have you given any thoughts to what you'll be doing with them once they gain their health back?

I do know they need a bigger home. I only had them in the small betta containers to slowly add my water to be able to transfer them in to the hospital tank and so I could try and get a good picture of them. The ph in their water was about 6 and my ph is around 7.8 so I had to get them use to my water params. (I lost a group of fish by floating their bag in my water to ease the temp change, but all of them died within two days. This was a new cycled tank so I check my params again and all was well. I went back and got more fish, but before I put them in to my tank, I checked their water params. The ammonia and ph were through the roof so I guess the last ones died of shock). Right now the oscars are in the hospital tank. It is only five gallons, but they have much more room than they had at the store. They really look perky this morning and are swimming to the front of the tank and up to the top for food (yay). I will move them to a 30 gallon in about a month. Isn't that the usual quarantine cycle?? I do have several larger tanks to move them to as they grow...if I keep them. Not sure if anyone knows the answer, but do I use salt with melafix?? I added melafix last night before I put them in to the hospital tank and I don't want to over stress them.

I would just leave them be for now. Maybe hold off on anymore Melafix for the time being (although salt should be okay with it). Oscars are tough fish and they should pull through with a good diet. Most people feed them only feeders whihc are really unhealthy. A good diet will work wonders for them.

It sounds like they are doing a lot better already.

Will the 30 gallon just be for them? How big are they? The little guys double in size in about a month and I dont think they'll last in a 5 gallon for that long. Like goldfish, they grow so fast that they get stunted easily and you dont want that happening.

Actually, at the moment my tank doesn't have any salt in it. I had already put in the melafix. Should I stop the melafix, wait a day and start salt? The melafix seems to be doing the trick. The bite mark is only slightly visible on the one fish and the fins on both fish look much better. I am still seeing red streaks just slightly on the other fish. I have a variety of sixed tanks so once they are done they can have any tank they need up to 125 gallons...that is if I decide to keep them. I will try to find a good new mommy or daddy for them.

It sounds like you're doing well. As jsrtist says it should be okay to add salt with melafix if you want. Good luck!

i think that is just wonderfull that you took them in and tried to get them help and yea they are going to need a big tank i was told that one oscar needs about 50 g of water so two would probably need about 100 g. i hope they make it.

Yeah I know. I need a big tank (or two). I have two baby zebra oscars that I bought several weeks ago and they are in my 40 gallon. On Friday I will be putting the albino oscars that I saved in to a 30 gallon that I have to nuke today. I had a mother convict die of dropsy in that tank so I need to boil the rocks and clean it VERY well before I put any fish in there. I have a 125 gallon to move them all to later (if I keep the albinos (lutinos?). The albinos are looking vey well. You can tell in the 2nd picture that they are fattening up nicely.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i243/sku...tterOscars1.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i243/sku...tterOscars2.jpg

keep those two that you saved away from goldies.. they will eat the goldies alive..