skin disorder?

I

iexiak

Medium Fish
#1
Jan 13, 2008
97
0
0
#1
i have had my oscar for about a year and a half now, and he has been acting very funny recently. he has only been showing one side of himself, and has been keeping low to the tank except or feeding time. the other fish seem protective of him when i come around, and will swim between me and him.

well today i took my water to my lfs and they said my ammonia was a little high and that my nitrates were a little high, and suggested doing a 20% water change. So i changed the water in 1/3 of my tank, but while i was doing that I finally got a nice look at the opposite side of my oscar.

on his "forehead" is a sport, that looks like it has been ripped off. it is round and can not be bigger than .25 cm. picture:


then on the back of that size is a section of scales that appear to have been ripped off.


and then this is a section of scales on the side he usually shows, that seems like it could be infected.


please help, my oscar has never been in this kind of condition before!
 

brian1973

brian1973

Superstar Fish
#3
Jan 20, 2008
2,001
3
38
Corpus Christi, Texas
#3
They look like wounds from fighting, your stocking is terrible and probably the reason no one has responded. You have large aggressive fish crammed into a 29G tank, some one is going to get hurt. And please dont reply with they get along great because that is BS, I had 2 oscars in a 90G and they fought not all the time but they did, and that was in a 90G tank. Now I have 1 oscar and a large pleco and they too fight often.
 

I

iexiak

Medium Fish
#4
Jan 13, 2008
97
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0
#4
maybe i just got lucky then. yes they fight a little, but they each have their "territory" and i have never seen wounds on them before.

yes my tank is to small, i know this. i will get a bigger tank when i can afford one.

thanks for telling me that they are wounds, i really hope they arent some sort of infection.


also to be honest with you...maybe i should have posted that i was keeping more fish in my tank? all of those threads get fast and courtious responses. i have been on this forum long enough to know that i overstocked my tank in the beginning, and long enough to know that i havent overstocked it nearly as bad as i could have.

but i digress, i really do appreciate the help that this forum has provided, especially the wonderful amount of links to other websites that are easily had.
 

jo3olous

jo3olous

Large Fish
#5
Aug 6, 2008
909
1
0
Philadelphia, PA
#5
iexiak said:
maybe i just got lucky then. yes they fight a little, but they each have their "territory" and i have never seen wounds on them before.

yes my tank is to small, i know this. i will get a bigger tank when i can afford one.

thanks for telling me that they are wounds, i really hope they arent some sort of infection.


also to be honest with you...maybe i should have posted that i was keeping more fish in my tank? all of those threads get fast and courtious responses. i have been on this forum long enough to know that i overstocked my tank in the beginning, and long enough to know that i havent overstocked it nearly as bad as i could have.

but i digress, i really do appreciate the help that this forum has provided, especially the wonderful amount of links to other websites that are easily had.
Click to expand...

You do realize when you overstock your tank and BREAK rules of thumb to the max. And you overstocked your tank WORSE than you could have. You have a semi-Aggress tank with LARGE fish for crying out loud. I would not argue with Brian over this, you will lose over and over. As I just said in your other post, I really hope you get tons of good luck, because you'll need it if you are sincere about keeping these fish alive healthy happy and fun to care for. But realize when you do everything wrong with a tank like stocking, setup, etc. you will run into problems not commonly seen, thus creating more confusion and chaos, along with a bit of irritation on both ends, yourself and the repliers.

The one good thing out of this is that we are all learning first hand from you what happens when you overstock a tank, etc etc
 

I

iexiak

Medium Fish
#6
Jan 13, 2008
97
0
0
#6
its been overstocked for a while, survived a move of 100 miles, and my failures (i boiled the rocks when i moved the tank to clean them...doh). i do sometimes take my water to the lfs to get it tested, but ive never invested that much thought into worrying about the absolute cleanliness of my water. i do water changes when i can and my fish have lived great up until this point.

and yes theyre aggressive fish, but you have to remember that they are also intelligent. The jd uses the oscar to hide behind whenever someone who isnt me enters the room, and the pleco pretty much just sits wherever and acts like nothing else matters or exists. I know it seems weird that they would not be very aggressive towards each other...but they never have been before. my oscar occasionally knocks off one of my filter heads...and i think im going to chuck this up to that. though im not going to say it isnt fighting...and certainly if it is fighting then its a sign that its time to move on up. hopefully soon they will get more room...

edit: they do bit a little at each other sometimes, but ive never seen them actually bit each other...and have never had any damage to my fish which is what caused me to be so worried.
 

DesignsOnYou

DesignsOnYou

Large Fish
#7
Jun 21, 2008
493
0
0
#7
Just wanted to comment on something you said in your other thread. You mentioned that we ignored this thread for 2 days before anyone commented. Well, first of all brian responded the next day, 24 hours later. Also, I check the forums fairly regularly for new posts and this one didn't show up as unread for me, or I would have read it. I also know that I couldn't get on for most of the day yesterday, my computer said the server was unavailable. Maybe not everyone had this problem, but it's possible that some of us didn't respond because we either didn't read the thread and/or because we couldn't get on. I'm sure some of it was because you do have 3 giant fish in a tank that's too small for them, but that's probably not all of it. I'm not trying to be harsh, just letting you know that it wasn't necessarily people just ignoring your fish, although how much can you complain about free advice? Anyway, I hope your fish gets better. You could try a combination of melafix/pimafix in case it is an infection. Someone might have a better suggestion, but that's all I can think of offhand.
 

brian1973

brian1973

Superstar Fish
#8
Jan 20, 2008
2,001
3
38
Corpus Christi, Texas
#8
as designs mentioned this was the last thread I was able to view or respond to yesterday. I personaly would wait it out but I do not like dosing unless I am 100% positive of the need. Also you are overstocked worse than anyone I have seen post since TAL's 3g tank thread. We arent talking a little overstocked here, you have fish that throw the inch per gallon rule out the window and the fact you havent seen worse problems is suprising. You can not compare your stocking to someone overstocked with smaller fish because the bioload is so much higher from all the fish you have. I understand you didnt understand the stocking needed when you bought the fish which is fine and your hopefully sincere on getting a larger tank, but when you come back and say they are fine been there for a year plus, etc etc that, to me, means you dont really care anyway so whats the use in responding to a thread if your going to get defensive about the issue, I was by know means attacking you but simply informing you that saying they dont fight is BS rather you see it happen or not, so dont tell me that because I know better, it will get worse regardless of what you believe. I also remember you posting you had another small cichlid in the tank what species is it? Oscars can be passive fish at times and there fore become the target of fish that are trying to prove something.
 

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MissFishy

MissFishy

Superstar Fish
#9
Aug 10, 2006
2,237
5
0
Michigan
#9
I'll refrain from getting into this except to say that you are seeing the first signs of trouble with your stocking. Your aggressive fish are getting larger and more aggressive and obviously starting to attack eachother. This compounds with your water quality. As the wounds on the fish happen the water quality doesn't allow them to heal properly and will make them infected. This is a question of what is the humane thing to do with these fish is. Continuing to keep them together NOW, despite what may have been working in the PAST, seems like it is the wrong thing to do as they get larger and more territorial. A 29g is just too small for even one oscar to have any "territory". It's time to upgrade and trade in some fish. Do what's best for them, it's not moral to keep them in a tiny tank while they attack eachother as they get older, larger, and more aggressive.
 

I

iexiak

Medium Fish
#10
Jan 13, 2008
97
0
0
#10


idk i still dont think its them fighting. i have never noticed something like this before. Normally i would walk into the room and my oscar would be at the front of the tank begging for food. now he is sitting on the bottom looking sad, but he seems able to swim around fine.

i bought a test kit, which i thought was going to be a 3 part thing for ammonia/nh3/nh4 but apparently it isnt. its made by api and tests all 3 at the same time. it appeared to have 0ppm of any of those, so i guess my filters are doing their job...Tomorrow im going to go back and buy separate ones so i can get a better idea of when to do water changes.
 

brian1973

brian1973

Superstar Fish
#11
Jan 20, 2008
2,001
3
38
Corpus Christi, Texas
#11
get the drip tests, but seriously it is going to get worse as I and missfishy have said those fish will not last long and oscars while aggressive can also succumb to stress easy, and if he is still staying at the bottom you really need to find him a new home until you can afford the proper tank for him. We arent trying ot beat you up, we just want you to be successful.
 

MissFishy

MissFishy

Superstar Fish
#12
Aug 10, 2006
2,237
5
0
Michigan
#12
As I stated before but will make clearer. It's not a "skin disorder" or a "skin condition". The marks on your fish are from scales being ripped out by your other fish, I can tell from your pictures. Think about it, when you are near the tank, the fish will be looking at you, not fighting amongst eachother. What are they doing the other 23 hours a day when you're not glued to the front of the tank? Just because they aren't fighting in front of your eyes doesn't mean a thing. It sounds like your oscar does not have a territory and is the "loser" fish in the tank as it is probably the weakest, he has limited time until the others pick him to death to get him out of their tank and space. This will happen over and over until one fish is left in your tank. As I said before, this is inhumane.
 

Violet

Violet

Large Fish
#13
Jan 24, 2004
318
0
0
Toronto, Canada
Visit site
#13
Your post didn't show up as unread to me either. If no one is online that knows the answer to your question, do you want a bunch of "I don't know" replies?

You said you were not concerned about the quality of your water? Are you also not concerned about the quality of the air you breath? You control the fish's environment completely, it is not fair if there water quality is not good, they can't do anything about it. Even without a water test it can be seen in your photos that the quality is not good. The biolaod will get bigger as they do. You have said they have never fought before, I believe what everyone is trying to say is that the fish are getting bigger, therefor the situation is changing. They are rapidly runnning out of room, which is stressing them; they are in water with poor quality, which is stressing them. If you were in a crowded smoggy room, wouldn't you get cranky too? Those are wounds. It's the whole "if a tree falls in a forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" arguement, just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it's not happening. Do you see gravity? Still happening.
 

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I

iexiak

Medium Fish
#15
Jan 13, 2008
97
0
0
#15
alright i gave the pleco to my lfs, and will be upgrading to a bigger tank hopefully soon if everything goes well.

i got a master test kit. ph7.6, ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate between 40-80, really hard to tell on the nitrate test what color it was. I did a 25% water change.

would it be wise to maybe dose some melafix to help the oscar out?
 

brian1973

brian1973

Superstar Fish
#17
Jan 20, 2008
2,001
3
38
Corpus Christi, Texas
#17
Warning:Graphic pics showing what can happen when "fish get along"

If you are offended I apoligize but these pic were sent to me from another member that thought his fish were getting along well and came home to find that wasnt the case, the attacker was a flowerhorn and the casualty was a peacock bass, these fish were housed in a 55G which should have been a decent amount of space or so the individual thought.

Mods feel free to delete pics if you deem them to graphic but myself and the member that sent them thought that maybe seeing this would help iexiak understand the seriousness of the situation since even with decreasing bioload he still had to many aggressive fish in a small environment.

 

brian1973

brian1973

Superstar Fish
#19
Jan 20, 2008
2,001
3
38
Corpus Christi, Texas
#19
I have a breeding pr of convicts, one day the male went crazy and attacked his mate and ate all his fry, I was willing to let it go and see what happened, the next day they were fine but she was a bit beat up. They are in a 24G tank, so even fish that get along great and are paired off can have issues. I can only imagine the chaos is a 29G with larger aggressive fish.
 

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