Oil in new cannister making my discus sick! help!! :(

[ValorG]

I just got a new cannister filter, its a replica of an eheim 2028 made by another company. there was oil around the orings so i thought it was natural. i washed everything with water but didnt really try to take it off because i supposed they wouldnt put something that was hazardous to fish in a filter. i will be doing 20% water changes everyday and adding salt. will also get charcoal cuz none of my filters use charcoal. will the oil be absorbed by it? oh yah the discus arent eating as much, 1 is hiding, 2 are dark, most have a wite film flaking off of them (im assuming their slime coat) plz help

[nacra99]

Hi Valor,

Make sure that it is indeed the oil that is stressing the the fish, and not something unseen (perhaps disease) that affecting them.

I would suggest doing a complete 100% water change with aged water. Drain the tank and give everything a good scrub-down with dish soap and rise all the soap off throughly. The soap will help to get rid of oil in the tank that you can't see. Use another filter (sponge or otherwise if you have one). Salt at 1tablespoon/ 10 gal will help stimulate turnover of the slime coat. But i;m not sure if there are any commerically availible medication that would do the same.

You should try to contact the maker of the filter and try to find out what's going on... perhaps they know something about the oil we don't.

Hope things work out.
Marc

[jeep]

Where did this filter come from? It should have had silicone as a lube not oil.

The first thing I would do is get rid of that filter if it truely is the culprit. Then do some massive water changes. 20% per day is not enough to get rid of contamination. I would do a series of 50% - 60% water changes (aged and heated water) back to back until the contamination is gone from your tank. Or better yet, if possible, move them to another tank that is clean.

Good luck!!

Brian

[jeep]

Oops... You posted while I was typing :D

[Carol_Roberts]

. . . and I would not use soap in the tank

[nacra99]

I wash all my tanks with mild dish soap when i first get them... Practice that was handed down to me by my great-grandfather....seems fine as long as all the soap gets rinsed out throughly. I guess everyone has different experiences.

Howz the fish BTW?