# Sick Oscar!?!



## Suess00 (Sep 5, 2008)

I got two Tiger Oscars and I purchased them when they were just little babies and they are in a 150 gallon tank and are aprox 7-8 inches and i got one albino sucker fish in there with them since I had them. The bigger Oscar has white spots and scales falling off of him and one of his fins looked like it is torn up. At first I thought the two Oscars were fighting but the smaller Oscar is perfectly Black and Orange with no visible signs of white or anything. My friend told me today it might be a Fungus or a parasite and to treat the water ASAP. I bought Tank Buddy Anti Fungus and and Anti Parasite and put them in seperatley from each other and did a partial water Change. Is there anything else that I should do or any other suggestions to help me solve this problem? I have grown attached to those two fish and even though they are a pain in the butt and always up keep of cleaning up the tank I would be sad if they died. Thanks for your time.

Chris


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## Guest (Sep 5, 2008)

A couple things come to mind.

Could you describe the white spots?
How big are they/where are they? 
Are they fuzzy or flat? 
Any blackening around the fins that are torn?


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## Suess00 (Sep 5, 2008)

The white spots are all over the side of the fish not anywhere near his head. The spots grow each day little by little and look like sores. The places the sports are at have little to no scales and there are no black spots that I see. The Oscars are a natural black with orange spots and stripes and the white spots are all white. Also I see a long white string like object from the sick fish and also the sucker fish what is that?


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

Sounds like it could be ich. Have you fed them any feeder fish? Anyway, try bumping the tank temperature up to about 82 and treat the tank with aquarium salt.


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## Guest (Sep 7, 2008)

It doesn't sound like ich to me at all.

To me, it sounds more like parasites of some sort. Have a look here, and see if that looks like what your fish has. If your fish is eating, I'd suggest treating with an anti-parasite medicated food.


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## Guest (Sep 7, 2008)

is the tank a 150 gallon? or a 75 gallon as you identified in another post??

test your water for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. If these are battle wounds, poor water quality will only inhibit them from healing.

Adding aquarium salt is not a bad idea either.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Suess00 said:


> Also I see a long white string like object from the sick fish and also the sucker fish what is that?


This makes me think it is an external parasite as well. Ich does not create long strings hanging off. Since it is on both the Oscar and the Pleco it has become a tank wide issue so ultimately the whole tank needs to be treated. Personally I would start researching external parasite worm kinda things (I know very little so I can't give a name). I know that some respond to increased water temperature, and others thrive in it so you want to know what it is before you raise the temp. Salt baths will work for the oscar. I would look up how much of that is safe for the pleco. How to do a salt bath is on the site that Ichtius provided. 

I hope you have luck identifying it soon! A picture would help.


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## Guest (Sep 8, 2008)

we might wanna figure out where the white stingy thing is coming from first 

Is this white stringy poo? or on the body somewhere else? that is pretty important


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## Guest (Sep 8, 2008)

GoodMike said:


> we might wanna figure out where the white stingy thing is coming from first
> 
> Is this white stringy poo? or on the body somewhere else? that is pretty important


Agreed. White stringy poo is just a sign of general illness, sometimes bloating or poor diet as well. If it looks like a worm or a fluke coming off of another part of the fish, then yes this would indicate a parasite.

I'd agree with Leah in that it doesn't sound like ich, but I'm still having trouble visualizing these spots. Do they look like open sores? Or fuzzy white patches?


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

GoodMike said:


> Is this white stringy poo? or on the body somewhere else? that is pretty important



I suppose I could be wrong in my thinking, but I do tend to assume that someone who has had an Oscar long enough for it to get to 7-8 inches from "a little bitty thing" knows what poo looks like and where it comes from. 

Again I am open to being wrong about this, but it is the basis of my earlier statements. If it is just poo then it is not a parasite.


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## Guest (Sep 8, 2008)

Obsidian said:


> If it is just poo then it is not a parasite.



Not saying your wrong at all, but it is information we need to know as it was not identified. 

It could be the difference from treating for internal parasites (a cause for stringy poo) or external ones. Just want to make sure we have all the facts first, thats all


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## Suess00 (Sep 5, 2008)

Thanks for the information guys. The Tank I have them in right now is a 75 Gallon my brother has 150 gallon sorry for the confusion. They do not look like battle wounds and the smaller of the two Oscars has nothing at all wrong with him.

The white stringy poo is what looks like from the pooper but it floats behind the sick Oscar and gets as long as 2 or 2 1/2 inches before it falls off. The other healthy Oscar does not seem to have the whtie stringy poop.

I have done a partial water change and put in Anti Parasite tablets and waited for 24 hours and then put in anti Fungus tablets. The amount I put in was that was described on the back of the package and did a partial water change with both treatments and pre dissolved the tablets like directed from the package. The anti Fungus tablets turned the water all green and is still partially green today.

The food that I give my Oscars are Blood worms and Cichlid Gold Medium Pellets from Hikari Cichlid. One weird thing that i have noticed is that everytime i feed the albino algae eater the Oscars 90% of the time the bigger sick Oscar eats the albino's algae wafers that I drop in every couple of days and they are also from Hikari Tropical. Is that normal? Even when the algae eater is eating the wafers the sick Oscar nudges him away very lightly and picks up the wafer from the bed of the rocks and eats the whole wafter in one bite and the wafer is pretty big lol

I have been thinking of given the Oscars to my brother he has a 150 gallon tank and his wife knows alot about fish but I cant stand her so that is why I am on here and not asking her. I would really hate to see them go but i think they might be getting to small for the tank and they are not healthy for some reason. Im really getting frustrated and kind of sad that I cant help them. I had them since they were little babies 

Any more information would help out 

Thanks
Chris

PS I will try to get some pics up ASAP


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

LOL, see I am wrong 

I have had fish that have gone through bouts of white poo. I don't know if it is a sign of any particular illness other than to make sure it is not some kind of worms. When the poo was white it did get incredibly long. Then it went away on it's own. The fish never appeared ill though that does not mean it wasn't.


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