sick oscar

[mj_lover]

hi there
i have had my oscar for about 3 months, he's about 6-7" at the moment. last month he had a wierd fungus growth on his side, which has been delt with. this morning he had white spots on his head and small indents, which looks like someone poked him with a nail. i'm in the process of seting up the hospital tank. just wondering what would be the best/cheapest way of dealing with this. i would really hate to lose this fish, as he's my favorite.

here is a terrible picture which hopfully will help.

sorry about the picture size....photoshop incompetent

 

[Big Vine]

What you describe sounds like hole in the head disease (HITH), but we need clearer/closer pictures to be positive.
Nobody can really help you unless you post the following information:
-tank size
-filtration
-stocking (what else is in there with him?)
-how long the tank has been up and running with the oscar in it
-water parameters (including temperature), pH, ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte
(also be sure to report back on your tapwater pH, ammonia, and nitrAte readings)
-diet
-water changing schedule (how much, and how often)

BV

 

[missdixie256]

Do not put him in a hospital tank. There are NO medcations for HITH disease. The only cure for this is Excellent water quality! nitrates BELOW 10 at al times and a GOOD diet of a good quality pellet! No feeder fish. This is something that MUST be corrected in the tank he is in anyways so why bother with a hospital tank that will only stress him out more.

 

[mj_lover]

he's in a 55gal tank, been in there for about 3 monthes, tank has been running for 6 months. penguin biowheel 350 filter. the temp has been steady at 76f.
his tank mates incl. 2 comon plecs, 2 pictus cats, 5 young convicts, 1 sal?? small thing. and a bala (rescue..getting a new home soon) water changes 10-20% every week usually. now for the funny part..i went out, bought a reef test kit by accident...did the nitrate test though, was high..think i found the problem...

thanks!
the white spots are now gone and he looks fine, except for the little dimple

 

[Big Vine]

With that level of stocking, your water-quality problems do not surprise me.
Minimum recommendation for using HOB filtration on an oscar tank is a 10x turnover rate per hour. Your current filter (350 gph) is doing about a 6x turnover rate...not enough. Definitely slap another one on there. Just be aware that even with adequate filtration, you'll still run into water-quality issues which will only continue to worsen as the fish get bigger.

Getting a proper freshwater liquid test kit...API Freshwater Master Test Kit is a good one...should be at the top of your to-do list as well. I suggested testing tapwater (see my first post in this thread) parameters (esp. pH, ammonia, & nitrAtes) as well to make sure that your tankwater and tapwater are matching. If something is off---which IS the case where I live---it is in all likelihood causing stress, which could be leading to HITH or other signs of sickness in your tank. My young oscar (5" TL) had signs of early HITH which seem to be healing over now that I've rectified my tankwater vs. tapwater mismatch issue and added a liquid vitamin supplement to his diet.

As for your oscar's issues which you described...
They sounded a lot like HITH, in which case I'd be shocked to hear that they went away so quickly. Therefore we must conclude that he hit his head on something, and that what you saw was simply minor wounds in which case, yes, they should heal up quickly. The key to all of this, of course, is that your water-quality needs to be up to par:

ammonia 0
nitrItes 0
nitrAtes 20 PPM (less being better)

In my 55 gal. setup with a 5" oscar, nine tiger barbs, and a 3" leopard cactus pleco, my nitrAtes stay at or below 10 PPM with one 20% weekly water-change---and that's with an AquaClear 110 (500 gph) and two AquaClear 50's (each 200 gph).

You have more/bigger fish in the same sized tank with significantly less filtration and lesser water-changes, so obviously you've got your work cut out for you. With your tank as it currently stands now, I'd recommend a minimum of two 20% water changes per week...which even still may not be enough to keep nitrAtes down to suitable levels. Again, a test kit is needed to confirm all of this. Last but not least, your stocking presents some compatibility issues which will likely become apparent very soon...I'm shocked that they haven't already.

BV

 

[mj_lover]

eek..i thought my 350 was supposed to be enough for a 55... the proper test kit should be coming on friday,(maybe i'll be awake and actually reed what i'm buying) as well as a better filter

what compatibility problems will i have? except for the bala, who is moving soon

is the stocking bad even for young fish?

thanks for the indepth response!

 

[missdixie256]

I agree with BV. I muchly prefer a canister flilter on my Oscar tank with the addition of a HOB (Hang on Back) filter. CANISTER filters should turn your tank over 4xs an hour. The more filtration you have, the better!

The pictus cats will need to be moved anyways. They will quickly become a deadly meal for a constantly hungry Oscar.

Each pleco (assuming that they are commons) will require almost much room in your tank as your Oscar. (55g per oscar NO tankmates due to their huge bio-load. ) Plecos are poop machines!

As far as your Bala shark they do better in schools and will eventually need a HUGE tank because they get so large.

Convicts aren't something I am familiar with so someone else could chime in here.

 

[Big Vine]

thanks for the indepth response!

You're welcome!
Thanks for being receptive to the advice and sticking around.

eek..i thought my 350 was supposed to be enough for a 55

For a typical 'community' setup with fish that aren't terribly messy, then yes, it would probably be enough. The recommendation for a 10x turnover rate with HOB filtration on an oscar tank is in place because oscars are so much messier and create so much more bioload than your 'typical' community fish.

the proper test kit should be coming on friday...as well as a better filter

Excellent...be sure to post test results from tank/tap as soon as you get it!

what compatibility problems will i have? except for the bala, who is moving soon

I'll start by saying that a 55 gal. is generally regarded (at least among the online oscar-keeping community) as the minimum-sized tank for a single oscar; no tankmates. I'm guilty of pushing the envelope on this one as well. This recommendation takes into account the oscar's sheer size (min. requirement of 4x the length of the fish for swimming space, which is just barely met in a 48" tank with a 12" oscar), but wouldn't even suffice for a larger oscar (12-14"+). It also takes into account the number/volume of water-changes required to keep nitrAtes within acceptable levels (at or below 20 PPM, with less being better). This will become unfeasible (if it hasn't already...which perhaps it has...again, test kit will confirm ) with those other fish in there---esp. the two plecos.

As for sheer compatibility factors...
Pictus cats have been known to become snacks for oscars, and their spines which they'll stick out as a defensive response can easily cause the fish to get lodged in an oscar's throat and even puncture its gills. A member over on oscarfish.com had to cut up his pictus cat which got lodged in his oscar's throat; part of it puncturing the oscar. Pictus cat was killed, but the oscar survived in this particular case. I wouldn't wanna put one in this sort of situation again though.

The 'young' convicts are a concern as well.
What happens when they decide to pair-off and spawn? All hell breaks loose, and your oscar could end up being bullied. Sure, the fact that there are 5 convicts might mean that they keep themselves occupied chasing one another without bothering your oscar, but then you'd still be running into bioload issues in a 55 gal. tank. Salvini are, pound for pound, one of the nastiest Central American cichlids available. The fact that the oscar is larger would normally mean it won't get picked on by the sal, but you may find that this isn't necessarily the case in a 55 gal. tank...simply not enough room for them. This is particularly true if the sal is male. Granted, the fact that all those fish in there will distract each other works in their favor and means that no one fish is likely to get singled-out and picked on---but again, bioload issues are again the main concern here.

So in sum, those fish (aside from the pictus cats) would likely be just fine in a much larger tank which takes into account their bioload and provides territories for all of them. A 55 gal. tank simply fails to meet these requirements.

BV

 

[mj_lover]

just out of curiosity, what size tank would you recommend as a minimum? i also added a second filter rated at 100gphnot ideal, but hopefully will help a bit.

thanks for the in depth response! new tank searching has commenced before i run into more problems.

 

[nycsicktank]

minimum 75 gal.

 

[missdixie256]

I am thinking atleast a 150g tank for all fishes excluding the 2 species I will discuss in a bit.

I would lose the Bala Sharks. They just get too big for the average fish aquarium. I would also get rid of the Pictus for the reasons BV explained.

I would think if you wanted to keep both plecs in the tank with the Oscar you could get a 120 and be fine for bio-load of the Oscar and the Plecos. Remember each Plec is going to take round-about the same as an Oscar.

The 55g that the guys are in now you can do the misc convicts and whatever else. You could keep the Pictus in the tank with these guys I think anyways... As I said Convicts and other cichlids aren't my thing and someone else will have to chime in.

 

[mj_lover]

well, the Bala is going soon, covered that already , 120 idea sounds alright, might as well bite the bullet and go 300, which i wanted to anyways..figure if you're gonna spend over a grand on a aquarium, might as well go all out *BOUNCINGS

thanks for the responses! been very helpfull