Oscar fish with clout?

Question
We inherited an aquarium with the purchase of a house and an Oscar came with it.  He has been the only fish in the tank as long as we have had him, not sure of his prior history.  We have had tank and fish for 7 months. Fish has recently started to show signs of listless behavior and white spots on coat and eyes look like he is blind. He is not eating.  I stopped by a pet store and they said it sounds like clout. The fish normally eats Cichlid Gold but as I mentioned he is not eating anything. The fish has never eaten live fish but I picked up a few to see if he showed interest in eating them and he shows no interest.  I used one treatment of "clout" in the aquarium and added an air stone to circulate air.  Fish still seems unresponsive and I was wondering what I can do to revive him.  I do not know his age, we use the Whisper Power Filter systems (we have 2 set up and running right now- one for a 20 gallon tank that came with the aquarium and we bought one for a 60 gallon tank and we use both). The tank itself is a 40 gallon tank.  THe fish is about 12 inches long and looks quite mature. As far as the chemistry of the H20 - Nitrite is .25,  PH is 7.4, not sure of the Ammonia level but I can get that for you and send in a later correspondence.  My concern is that the fish is not responsive and I am wondering if it is possible to "bring him back" to life.  Any insights from your end?  The fish just lays on the bottom of the tank and does not even swim around.  It is very sad, and I am not sure what is different and why he is acting this way.  Help please!  Thank you!

SAndy Detert  

Answer
Hi Sandy;

He may be suffering from the effects of elevated toxins. Make a water change right away. I would remove 25% of the water and vacuum the gravel. Do it again every day until there is no crud in the gravel and the nitrites are down to "zero". Check the ammonia too. Make sure it stays down as well. Nitrites and ammonia should always be "zero". If one or both are elevated it means there is something wrong. It could be overfeeding, overcrowding, new filter, overcleaned filter, new tank, etc. Anything that disturbs the bacterial balance, or having immature bacteria colonies will cause it.

His tank is pretty small for him. He would do much better in a 55 or larger. If you can't get the toxins to stay down you may have to invest in a bigger tank. There may be too much waste products going in for it to ever completely balance. It also helps if you don't overfeed him! These fellas do eat a lot, but they will beg all the time too. More food equals more waste. Feed once a day and don't let him eat so much that his belly gets big. Bless their hearts, they're just pigs!

"Clout" is really not a disease, but a medication. It treats parasites. Look for tiny white salt specks on his skin. This is "ich". If the spots are tiny and yellowish or gold looking, this is velvet, another parasite.

If they are more like white "patches", it probably isn't a parasite, but could be a bacterial or fungal infection. Get a remedy for it at the local fish store.

Always check the water chemistry first and do a 25% water change. It usually will help the fish feel better until you can identify the problem. Many fish stores will sell you a "cure-all" medicine like clout when they don't really know for sure what is wrong. This is very dangerous. If a medication is added to a tank with water quality problems instead of the fish being sick from a disease, the fish will get more sick. Like toxins can burn, medication can burn the fish too. It's like a double whammy.

Something else that is helpful is using aquarium salt. Add one teaspoon per gallon of water. This will help him get through the stress, and help him absorb more oxygen into his blood. (Nitrites alter the blood and keep the fish from being able to use available oxygen). Add more salt later after water changes, but only treat the new water. For instance, if you remove 10 gallons of water and replace with fresh, add 10 teaspoons of salt.) This keeps the salt concentration constant.

Followups welcome.

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins