Tuberculosis

Q&A about diseases and their cure

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MrsCK
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2007 12:40 am

Tuberculosis

Post by MrsCK »

We bought 5 Oscars (South American Chiclid/Velvet Chiclid) last year and had them in a tank together, however, since they got bigger we began looking out for a bigger tank just last week and wanted to buy one this weekend.

Yesterday when I got home, 2 of them were dead and the surviving 3 looked terrible. I removed the dead fish and about 6 hours later another one died. It was horrible to see it go and it looked very disoriantated. The fish refused to eat - even ox heart (which they used to devour in seconds).

I noticed that the dead fish looked pale and the one that died later on also looked grey/pale in its face. All the fish also had a weird yellow spot on their eyes and their bellies (those that died) looked a bit saggy.

After a google search, I found that their symptoms matched Emaciation, hollow belly or Tuberculosis, caused by over crowding or dirty water. We cleaned the tank on Wednesday and the fish died 2 days later, so it can't be dirty water.

Now my question is, what can we do for treatment of the 2 surviving fish? They still refuse to eat and they still have the yellow spots above their eyes and they're not as active as they used to be.

It will be very sad to see them die as well. :cry:

Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Pam Chin
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Post by Pam Chin »

Hi Mrs CK,

Unfortunately it is very hard to diagnose fish. Usually when everything is going fine, and you have a sudden die off it is usually has something to do with their water. I really don't have enough information to know exactly what happened. I don't know how big your tank was or how big your fish are. However 5 oscars is sure to overcrowd most tanks, as well as overwhelm your filter. You say you changed your water on Wednesday, but how much?? Small water changes only diulte the problem.

All of these problems can be compounded with other issues in your tank, such as temperature, diet, and other tankmates.

I am sorry I can't be of more help.
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Pam

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