12/16/2023 0 Comments Oscar fish temperature![]() The treatment regimen must proceed for a minimum of 10 consecutive days to be effective against the Spironucleus vortens infestation. Noticeable (visual/beneficial) effects of medication application do not indicate suspension of the treatment protocol. My own experience and all sources I have found, is to provide medicated food for a minimum of 10 consecutive days. However, your treatment regimen with the Metronizadole ended after only 3 days. And, you have a huge advantage in treating your Oscar with this medication since he seems to be eating normally (just about everything offered?!!). The Metronidazole medication is the 'gold standard' in treating a runaway Spironucleus vortens infestation in Cichlids. Set up a plant refugium with Pothos, floating plant species or other plant types that will naturally consume the Nitrates out of your water source. Change your supply water to a source that measures out in Nitrates lower than 10 PPM. 20 PPM is too high of a starting Nitrate level to keep Oscars in. WHERE are you getting this water with a measured 20 PPM Nitrate in it? The maximum allowable limit for municipal provided tap water in the U.S. And, the follow-through just isn't/hasn't been enough to rid your Oscar of this problem. The steps you are taking with this I believe, are the right ones. you are PRETTY MUCH doing everything right. I'm an analytical chemist by trade, I could probably pull it off with a carefully calibrated pH meter, but I don't know how well oscars can tolerate pH 8.5.Īny thoughts on the pH thing, or anything else to try? Do the red wrigglers work "miracles", or is this poor guy doomed to have HITH forever? I've kept oscars for so many years and never dealt with this before. ![]() *maybe* that might kill the critter if I were super careful about the pH? so I suppose if it *is* caused by Spironucleus or another diplomonad, perhaps if I could keep nitrogen under control (drop the temperature a hair, increase the flow through the sump, cut way back on the food). And the pKa of ammonia/ammonium is around 9.26, but starts creeping up around 8.2-ish. The webpage on Spironucleus says the pH tolerance of the organism that may be responsible is 5.5 to 8.5 seems that denitrifying bacteria die (or stop working) below 6 or so. Water quality went from "poor" to "excellent"- I can view the tank through 6' of water as if it were air now. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears as to what to try for this guy. The white coloration comes and goes: the erosions get worse with the white, and then they lessen when the white disappears. The lesions are deeper than they look in these pics. I have tried fortifying the Hikari pellets with both vitamin D and vitamin C to no apparent effect. Again, tap water here runs 500 ppm TDS, and this disease first showed up when it was ~150 and I was using RO water.įood has been Hikari cichlid chow, occasionally with live mealworm beetles, live bladder snails from the guppy tank, cooked frozen peas, and (most recently) red wrigglers, as per the webpage on Spironucleus. Hardness is somewhere in the 800 ppm TDS, I'm still changing out the salt I was adding 1 tablespoon of sea salt per 7-8 gallons up until recently. Temps run mid 70s to very low 80F, pH is 7.8-ish. Water is dechlorinated with ascorbic acid (vitamin C) as per FWS: Again, ONE oscar (medium-sized, under 12") in a 120 gallon tank, more like 130 gallons once hardscape and sump are figured in. We have ~20 ppm nitrate in the tap water, so getting those nitrates down has been difficult. The forum info asks I give all the following info: approximately three weeks of age, tank has been running for about 8-9 months now water parameters are 0/0/60-ish, and I do 25% water changes every three days. The forehead lesions remain.Ī few weeks ago, I ran a two-week course of Seachem Metroplex (metronidazole as the active ingredient), and the lesions seemed to stop coming and going after two weeks, I gave three more days' worth of Hex Shield medicated food, just as an additional measure. Since then, the disease has waxed and waned: it started with small round lesions on the head, and eventually got larger lesions on the cheeks (the more characteristic "HITH" lesions), which quickly healed up and went away with no scarring. I ran two courses of medicated food (Hex Shield, active ingredients being magnesium sulfate and metronidazole) for three days, to little effect. ![]() At the time, I was using RO water (the tap water here is insanely hard, about 500 ppmTDS right out of the tap), and using HOB filters.Īfter figuring out the filtration wasn't sufficient, I installed a fluidized bed sump (29 gallon capacity) and a surface skimmer packed with floss. I've kept oscars on and off for decades, never had HITH, but I've been fighting it since November. ![]() ![]() I have a single oscar, by himself in a 120 gallon tank, no other fish. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |