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I just noticed my pleco has a small eye shaped hole in the middle of his dorsal fin. What's with that?? Water specs seem fine nitrate 20 nitrite 0 ammonia 0 ph 7.0 temp 76 the only othe fish in there with him is my oscar He looks fine and acts normal except for the hole in his fin there are no other signs of the O having messed with him to have caused the tear

fin rot will ocassionially put a hole in a fins

Try treatment with melafix and raise oxygen levels in tank combine with a few extra 30% water changes.

Thank I'll try that

ok so I was headed out the other day to get the meds when I noticed that the tear in his fin was gone!! But then last night I noticed that my pleco had a chunk of the dorsal fin missing and my O had a couple of scales missing. So I'm stopping at petsmart on my way home for some melafix but I'm not sure if it's a case of fin rot or are they just fighting?? Could fin rot cause the O to be missing scales?? OHH I just don't know what to do If they are just fighting I haven't seen it before but I'm worried that the O has grown larger and faster than my pleco and I think he may be picking on him. I'm gonna get him a piece of pvc pipe to hide in just in case. Some times he comes up to the pleco and just kinda looks at him really really close but he has never attacked him atleast not while I was watching. Also will melafix cause my tank to have to cycle again??

There is most likely conflicts during the night when the pleco is more active and disturbing the oscar. However finrot can tear too

Melafix is natural(basically tee tree) and wont hurt your nitrifying bacteria and is generally a good thing to have handy..Just ensure plenty O2 though and follow instructions carefully)

A place to hide would be good

Thanks I picked up a big bottle today cuz I'm having a problem with fin rot in my guppy tank as well. I'm gonna treat both tanks tonight. The O tank has 2 five inch disks hooked up to the air pump there is small bubbles everywhere in the water is this gonna be enough or should I hook up an extra air pump. I have an extra one and air tube but I don't have an extra air stone I'm using it in the guppy tank at the moment.

ok so I treated the tank last night but this morning my O was sulking he didn't even come up to eat breakfast. I know sulking is normal but he never does it unless I've done a water change and that's for about 30 min. and he's always ready to eat when ever someone comes by him he starts darting around and shimmying but not this morning. He just sat at the bottom of the tank and it looked like he was trying to lay on his side. Maybe it's nothing but I'm worried. Also the bottle says to treat for 7 days and then do a 25% water change but should I do a water change before the end of the 7 days?? If so should I medicate the new water?? sorry for all the questions I'm just worried:confused:

Melafix kinda smells and I know Id hate to be treated with it but if you have followed the instructions correctly and increased air circulation I wouldnt worry a great deal... If you feel totally its stressing the oscar out just way too much then do a small 10%water change and see if that improves his situation.
Anyway basically its not uncommon for any oscar to behaive differently when the tank has changed from either being medicted ,water changes (my O stresses and bites me usually with water changes) etc

thanks for all the help. I'll see how he's doing tonight If he's still showing signs of stress I'll do a small water change. I'll let you know how he makes out after a few days of treatment.

Hi, Snabba. I agree with Tony's advice, but I would also suggest you to check your water parameters, especially for ammonia & nitrite readings. Both should read 0.

hmm something is off the ammonia and nitrite are both reading 0 but the nitrate is high between 80 and 160 also the ph is low between 6.2 and 6.8 and the alkalinity is low around 40. He's stopped sulking but the food I feed him this morning is at the bottom of the tank so he didn't eat this morning but was very happy to eat a few hours ago. I've had the problem with the low ph and alkalinity before I think it's something called old tank syndrome but it's wierd cuz my tank isn't that old I had to add baking soda last time and that worked Should I do this again?? I'm gonna do a small water change tonight to get all the uneaten food out of the tank and then remedicate with melafix

plecos are nocturnal. they need places to hide! also malaysian wood in the tank. they do tons better with than without.