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thank god thats over,hey guys,this story mite tug on some of your heart strings,but it does have sort of happy ending.so here it is,i got a phonecall 2day,from a freind who had just got the keys to his new house and was moving in,he said come over and have a look at this tank in he gamesroom thats just been left,(as he put it)well,when i got there it was a 175gal,with 3 tiger oscars in there,opon further inspection,they were in such bad shape its not funny.the 3 of them have a meduim advanced case of H.I.T.H,and the water was that yellow you could not see throo the tank from the front to the back.plus the dinosore cannister filter was that unmaintained it had stooped working altogether,i dont even know what kind it was it was that old,so i said those fish must come out of there NOW,so i raced home and got my transporter,and went back to get them,they are in my 200gal now(ive moved my 2 jds into my fh tank,(75galwith a steardy divider),ive put in some metro,and given them a big feed of worms,plus ill get the frequent water changes happening too,at the moment,apart from the H.I.T.H,they seem fine they are eating,swimming around sorting throo the gravel,when they were in the other tank,they were just sitting on the bottom not movingthey were also breathing really fast,like it was hard for them to breeth.after i got them into some good water and a good feed,i went back to have propper look at this discusting setup.when i pulled the cannister filter down,nowonder it had seized up,the gunk was undiscribable,and the media in it was steel wool(that nasty stuff from under your kitchen sink)i was dumb- founded.then, when i checked the magijet 1000 internal filter,it was only just bearly running,and that also had steel wool in it.so thats a magijet 1000 internal, to filter a 175gal tank,the external filter had been stopped for a while,so u can imagine the state of the water,and the condition of these poor oscars,the guy whos house it is(chris) wants to keep the 3 oscars if they pull throo,they are about 10inches,all 3 of them,he also wants to get the tank done properly,from what i can see the tank will be up running soon,and me and chris are going out next weekend to buys the parts 2 get a mini reef hooked up to the 175gal.we cleaned and scrubbed all the other stuff,gravel,heaters,airstones,decore,ect,ect.also the smell that was coming from the water was just vile,and the smell was worse when i opened up the internal filter.no wonder they got H.I.T.H.when i opened up the cabnet,all there was for food for them was out of date flakes(for 10 inch oscars),so god only knows when they last had there bellys full.so at the moment the tank is empty,guna give it another clean this weekend,and fiil it up when the reef is done.,i want to get into contact with the previous owner,and give him a peace of my mindthere is no need for this type of neglect,as awkward as it is to move a big to like that,or if he no longer wanted it,then offer it free to a good home,that type of tank would have been snapped up,but no,this guy just leaves them 2 die.so thats the story guys,tell me your oppions,or experences with tanks like this,ill keep yous posted on the progress of the 3 tiger oscars,also ill have to go up to my local vet 2morro,and get some more metro...then hopefully i can get em back to normall.

Great rescue. I can't imagine the mess this tank must have been in. It's amazing to me that someone would just leave a tank of this size let alone one stocked with fish to just in reality, rot. This guy needs to be reprimanded for this type of action, and if it was my decision to never be allowed to have any type of pet again. Good luck with the care of the Oscars and do keep us posted.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

honesty old timer,it was just discusting,my heart bled when i seen these poor oscars,ive already been upthe vet,and got some more metro and ive already redosed the tank,also ive given them a meat and vegie mix that ive made,this plus the waterchanges,and the metro,hopefully this will rid them of the H.I.T.H,it worke for my b4.and yes people like that shoulnt be allowed to keep even insects as pets.

Well, it sounds like the Oscars are in good hands now and I'm sure that the care you are giving them will result in you being rewarded with healthy fish. Again, keep us posted on their progress.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

well thanx for the praise oldtimer,im sure that everybody on this site would have done the same thing if they were able toand on a good note,just after one day not even that of being in good water with food ive already got them eating out of my hand,i swore they were near death when i grabed them from that sickly tank...

I'm so glad you were able to get there in time.

I just was given a 55 gallon tank that had been sitting empty and evaporating at my church. Imagine my horror when I was told that an "algae eater" (as I was told) had been left in the tank, which had at best, an inch or so of water above the level of the substrate.

I had known the tank was there for quite some time and had been under the impression that the fish (wintering goldfish from a church member's pond) had been taken out and reintroduced to their un-frozen pond. I dashed to the tank only to find that if there had been any fish left in there, it must have perished some time ago, as I couldn't even find a skeleton left.

I can only hope that my aunt (our secretary) was mistaken when she mentioned the 'algae eater' to me. I really, really hope she was. And I can't help but be upset, if there was a fish left behind, so many people at church knew I kept fish... I would have happily taken in a pleco, even if only to find a new home for it. Blah.

Good luck with the oscars. I hope the pull through. I wonder how long they were there... Wish I could offer advice, but I've never kept oscars and it sounds like they are in good hands with you!

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Wow, good job man, I remember how bad my aquarium got when my filter was unplugged for 1week(thanks to my new kitten), the water turned yellow and alge went crazy, few fish got sick, thankgod its all good now, but I cant imagine how bad it was, again good job man.

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

way to go man. if they manage to survive you can thank the neglectful individuals instead, & I'm sure the fish will be better off now that you're caring for them. Sometimes it helps to find the positive in a situation when possible. Goodluck

By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
Socrates-
I happen to have become a philosopher

thanx for all the praise guys,as i said above im sure all you guys would have done the same thing.i can see change in them already,there colours have come back heaps,and now when i walk into my fish room they come darting up the end of the tank near the door when they see me,its been a while since ive had oscars,i almost forgot just how hardy these guys are,i really thought that they were guna die when i found em,they have only been in good water for a short time,and i can see a huge change in all 3 fishes