Need Help Diagnosing A Diseased Oscar!

[Conqueror]

So I inherited a sick Oscar today, and I'm not exactly sure what he's got, or how to treat it (if it's not HITH or something else common, tomorrow I'm going to give him a salt bath and see if it does any good). Anyway, pictures are worth a thousand words... be sure you scroll side-to-side so you read all the captions:

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks,

CQ

 

[Tolak]

Looks like hith to me. This is usually due to poor water quality along with a poor diet. A large tank is needed, with plenty of filtration along with frequent water changes. Forget about any feeders, get a good quality cichlid pellet, & some liquid Centrum, a vitamin supplement. Soak the pellets in a little bit of the vitamin before feeding.

I was reading up on some of the common oscar diseases a while back, hith is one of the biggest. Mine gets the vitamin soaked pellets a couple of times a week, Omega One cichlid pellets, and he is fond of the veggie pellets I bought for my plecs. He gets feeders a couple of times a month tops, angel culls, not lfs feeders.

The white areas could be coulmnaris, or could be from being beat on by the other fish. I've had angels with the same whiteness after a few rounds with a breeding pair, they healed with water changes after being seperated from the aggressive fish. If it doen't look a little better after a few days, antibiotic treatment is called for. What to use depends on your location, as all medications are not readily available in all countries.

 

[vancouver]

If you give him a good sized tank with constant clean water and a good diet, it will probably be ok.

 

[Conqueror]

From what I can tell his previous owners had a good tank setup - decent filtration (not great, but adequate), and plenty of swimming space, and he still came out sick.

I wasn't really looking for suggestions on how to keep Oscars (big tank, what to feed, etc.). I already keep Oscars and know all that jazz. What I was (and still am, I guess) looking for is help with a definitive diagnosis on what's up with this poor little guy.

CQ

 

[Conqueror]

No one?

CQ

 

[Tolak]

Definitive is difficult with fish, even more so over the internet. For definitive you need a microscope & a gram stain setup. Even then it could be one of several treatments.

What I would do is vitamins on a good pelletized food & plenty of water changes for a week or so. This will stop the hith in most cases, but when they heal there will be some scarring. You will also be able to determine at this time if it's just battle damage to the fins, which should be starting to heal, or coulumnaris , which won't be healing. If you suspect columnaris, a round of Maracyn & Maracyn II should take care of it.

There is little written about the diagnosis & treatment of fish diseases. Handbook of Fish Diseases by Dieter Untergasser is one of the best around for diagnosis. Handbook of Drugs and Chemicals Used in the Treatment of Fish Disease, by Nelson Herwig, covers pharmacology.

Sorry there's no quick definite answer, that's the way it is and probably will stay until someone decides to dedicate their veterinary career to ornimental tropical fish & writes a detailed book.

 

[freddyk]

Unfortunately poor genes can also result in HITH, and sometimes all the precautions in the world may not quite do it. In these situations keeping the water unusually high (82-83) can help a lot, as well as a small amount of salt added to the water.

 

[HendrixTheOscar]

Personally (and as an Oscar keeper myself) i would say that most of them look like battle scars/wounds from his aggressibe tank mate or any rocks you may be keeping in the tank.

Is he flashing? Rubbing himself against rocks and the bottom of the tank? If this is the case it's almost definitely a skin infection or a resultant of possible high temperature.

My best guess is to give hime the salt bath you were thinking of, that's a very good idea. Then maybe do a massive water change of a good 50% and turn the heat up a little as that usually helps to kill infections. Mine have come through HITH and White Spot several times unscathed (luckily) and have now been disease free for quite some time.

The other thing to try is always taking him to the vet or your LFS is they're knowledgable in a poly box filled with tank water and see what they have to say. They can take skin samples etc and tell you better.

Good luck with it and i hope he get's better!!

Cheers,

Pete