Re: Oscar desparetly need help, heartbroken
#7
Quote:
golfball wrote:
very sorry to hear about oscar. dont bother using shop stuff as they dont work. ask your vet for baytril solution. get hospital tank, measure how many litres of water and then tell the vet so he/she can work out how much baytril to give you. if this does not work, the other solution is dangerous but it does work. its formaldhyde. you cannot go off and do things and leave oscar in this strong solution, you have to keep a very close eye on oscar, the second poor oscar starts to turn over or lean over, get him/her out immediately. if you leave oscar and do your own stuff, you will come back and find that he has gone to the big fishy sea in the sky. i did this with my madam and her other half - golfball and the maximum time each were in the spare tank was 15/20 minutes before both started to turn over. if your vet cares, he/she will do this for you. let me know hoe you get on and hope oscar gets well soon.
Woaaahhh!! Slow down!! Your enthusiasm to help is commendable, but there's a few problems with this advice:
1. We don't really know what's causing the fish to present with hypoxia - could be something simple such as a problem with water quality, in which case water changes and Prime/Amquel, along with more aeration may help the fish, without going to such extreme measures.
2. Not every vet is qualified in fish care - there are only a small handful of vets that are qualified in the diagnosis and treatment of fish. I am "lucky" enough to have 2 such vets, and IMO, neither of them are any good.
3. Baytril is an antibiotic. That MAY help the fish - IF the problem is a bacterial infection, but if it's not, it'll do much more harm than good. Every medication is slightly toxic to fish, so you have to weigh up the benefits of the treatment against the toxicity of the meds. This is why it's so vitally important to get a correct diagnosis before starting treatment.
4. Baytril (as I found out the hard way) is preserved in a particularly alkaline solution. If it's to be adminstered directly to the tank, you need to keep a close eye on water chemistry. If you have low KH and GH (as I do), even a relatively tiny amount of Baytril, added over a few days can raise pH significantly.
5. As an antibiotic, it kills the bacteria in the filter, so you have to have a plan to protect the fish from ammonia, nitrite and nitrate poisoning too.
T.L