CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Hi, everyone. I am a newbie to the world of Oscars.

Recently I have taken over an aquarium from friends who left for London. I now have two beautiful and big Oscars. I've spent some time on OscarFish.com since we got them, but now I have a dilemma.

The male Oscar has developed a funny growth on its head, and I desperately need help to a) figure out what it is and b) how to fix it! He likes to chase the Placostomous around and originally it seemed that he had just cut himself on one of the rocks whilst chasing the Placostomous.  But by the next day it had worsened a lot. The abrasion was doubled in size and had a funny fungal outgrowth sticking on it.

I researched quite a bit and the closest thing that I could find that it must be HITH with an additional fungal infection. It looks nasty and even after treatment it seems to be getting worse and not better!
I think I’ve run through all the advice: water changes, monitoring, etc but he’s not getting better.

For the sake of being thorough, I’ve included the what, when and how’s from the day that we noticed this sore, and I’ve included some pics of when it started vs today.

I would really appreciate if anyone could give me advice as to how I could be treating him better, or what else I could do to boost the healing process as I am fairly panicked at this point!

Thanks so much, Christine

4 June 2007
1. Wednesday 30th May noticed abrasion on the Oscar’s head
2. He had also stopped eating
3. By Thursday it was doubled in size with a white fungal outgrowth covering it
4. We did ample research and suspected that its HITH disease
5. Started treating the tank with Myxazin – but had not removed the Carbon (as we only learned of this later)
6. On Friday, changed the water & removed the carbon ball - 100% water change
a. Treated the sick oscar separately with a dose of Myxazin
7. Saturday, 20% water change and added
a. Treated the fish’s wound with Mercurochrome (as advised by fish shop worker)
b. Added the following to the tank:
i. Nutrifin Aqua Plus - added 50ml for 340l tank (main + sump)
ii. Nutrifin Cycle - added 50ml for 340l tank
c. He is now also breathing hard, but not staying at the bottom of the tank – he is still swimming around
8. Sunday,
a. 20% water change
b. Added Hole-N-Head Guard (jungle product) to the water
c. He is now also breathing hard (since Saturday), but not staying at the bottom of the tank – he is swimming around at the top – but his stomach also looks a little bloated, but he has not eaten since Wednesday
9. It is now Monday the 4th June, 5 days later
a. The wound has not healed, but gotten bigger
b. He appears to have more lesions on his mouth and on his dorsal fins
c. We’ve added 20ml myazin out of pure panic today, as it seemed like the Hole-in-Head product was not working
d. He is now also breathing hard (since Saturday), but not staying at the bottom of the tank – he is swimming around at the top – the female has become quite protective of him
e. Both also seem very stressed from all the attention

Beginning


Today
http://www.altersage.com/images/Today.jpg

OK, first things first:

Can you tell us what your water change regime is (how often, how much, where is it drawn from & how do you treat it)

You need to get some test kits, or even take a jar of tank water to the place where you bought your supplies (after ploughing money into him he should offer to test your water)
You need tests for Ammonia, Nitrite & nitrate.

Ammonia & nitrite should be 0, we are looking for less than 40ppm for nitrate

If you have never done a water change (or any of the above levels are high), you will be looking at doing one immediately (try to do 50% of the tank), if you can pre-treat the change water with your Aqua+, this will remove any chlorine & chloramines (Aqua+ will also calm fish so treat at the level required for chloramine even if your water does not have it)

You can also add salt if ammonia is present (I use rock salt - just make sure it is dissolved before going into the tank), at a rate of 1 tbs per 10 galls, this will increase the fish tolerance to toxicity.

Any Q's post right back, it sounds like there is a problem with the water, so we need to get that right too, Oh and in the mean time don't feed them at least for a few days

Hi altaafe,
Thanks so much for your reply.

Within 4 hours of that last pic, the O was in really bad shape. It looked like what I can only describe as some kind of "flesh eating disease" so I decided to call out a pro.

He double checked the water readings which were all balanced. He did find slight traces of acidity though, but still within an allowable measure.

His opinion was that did not think it was HITH at all, but a fungal infection that set in on an abrasion, from not being 100% physically, probably caused by stress during the transit from our friends place to ours about two months ago. He also said that he'd never seen something quite like it..

The prognosis was not good at all in fact, and he did not give him more than 24 hours - but I really am hoping for a miracle here!

He took the O with him to treat him in his aquarium, and our female is noticebly quite concerned and upset with him not being in the tank...She spent most of the first hour just chasing the Placky around tank and taking her frustration out on him.

My fingers are crossed for good news..

To answer your Qs:
We do at least a 30% water change once a week. We just replace the water with tap water, and had not treated it ever before, but since the O got sick, we started treating with the Aqua Plus & the Cycle products.

I am still treating the tank with the Octazin now while the female is in there...but I have been feeding her...should I stop until the treatment is complete?

thanks,
Christine

If you've started the treatment, you may as well complete the course.

Fingers crossed for your other fish, but as you say, it doesn't sound good.