# Is this fin rot?



## Jerseyfish (Apr 16, 2008)

My girlfriend set up a tank about 2 weeks ago (using pre-cycled media from other tank) and purchased an oscar for it on Tuesday. The little guy is 4.5" or so, and was doing great for 2 days. However on friday, he started just hanging out in the corner and laying near the ground. I came and took a look at saw it's fins were a bit jagged. I treated the tank with maracyn plus, guessing that its a fin rot or something similair. Here is a picture of him today.










His tankmates are a few snails and a 4" pleco (forget what type), so the injuries aren't a result of tankmate aggression. Just wondering if my diagnosis/treatments are correct, and what to do about it. The little guy is just laying about, with occasional bouts of swimming, and seems to be uninterested in eating. I'd hate to see her lose him, as he's such a beautifully patterned oscar. Water perameters are pretty normal,

80Âº F
7.4 ph
.25 ammonia (probably gone assuming the recent 20% change w/prime did the job)
0 nitrite

Hoping someone can offer advise. Thanks in advance.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

If the tank sat without any fish in it for close to 2 weeks (or even 24 hours) your girlfriend would have lost the beneficial bacteria she obtained by using the old filter media.

So, it sounds like the tank is cycling, and oscars are pretty messy fish regarding input and output. She's going to need to monitor the water parameters carefully and do water changes as needed, unless she can get her hands on some other established filter media.

You don't want to put meds in a tank this new if you don't have to.

Kim


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