Severely Beaten Oscar..please Help And Advise

[deb53cl]

Morning Everyone,
Had a S.O.S call from my daughter and son-in-law last night to tell me one of my beloved Oscars i had given them had been badly beaten up by her tank mate. They only have one tank so i told them to bring her over and i shuffled my fish around to give her a temporary convelesent home.

They said they didn't think she would survive the 20 minute journey as she was so bad.

When they arrived I dreaded opening the box expecting to see a dead Emmy. ( I have had these for a good while now and am very attached) !!!

When I opened the box up there was poor Emmy lying on her side with huge pieces of flesh hanging off one side, bloodied and I would possibly say nearly if not down to the bone. She has other bites down this one side too but not as bad as the front 2.. Her eye is also damaged. She allowed me to lift her out flat on my hands without flapping around that was how stresssed she was.

Both the oscars live in a 4ft tank on their own apart from a pleco. They have always got on fine. My daughter has had them over there for a good few months now.

As i said they have always got on fine but when they came in from work last evening the other one had her ( always call her a her as slightly smaller than the other) he had her pinned on to her side in the corner of the tank tearing chunks out of her!!

I put her into the tank I had emptied for her.... unfortunatly only a two and a half foot but in a time of an emergency this had to do. I left the light off for a couple of hours and then fed her some blood worm which she did eat.

This morning she is swimming around and eating and the bite marks have turned flesshy white rather than bloodied but I would like some advice please on treating these wounds.

Shall I leave for now and hope they do not get infected? Do I treat for preventive infection if so what with? Will she be ok in this tiny tank for a while , while she heals? I know the photos are not that clear but where the white is is where the deep wounds are. Is there a chance that she will survive this traumatic time or are they too bad? The eye does not look too bad this morning just bloodied.

O dear just read back through this and I know I am waffling but am so concerned for her.

Was not sure wether to post in here or in fish emergency but any help will be greatly appreciated

Thanks

 

[saz326]

Eeek. Not good.

Well done for your quick action of getting a tank ready.

May be best to get some other opinions first, but Id be tempted to put a very small amount of tea tree oil in the water. (mix a little in a bottle with water by shaking it really hard to make an emulsion that should disperse in the tank water).

Reason for this is tea tree oil is antiseptic, but not likely to alarm the fish. It would kill of background bacteria in the tank. Wouldnt assume the bacteria in the filter would survive this though.

There are prepared medicines that will also do this. Methalyne blue is one that has a good strong bacteria and antifungal properties, but isnt nice to use.

Hopefully *BUMP*, someone else will come along with a bit more help.

Little food but often. Keep the fish active and searching for food, but dont let it fill its sore belly too much.

 

[deb53cl]

Eeek. Not good.

Well done for your quick action of getting a tank ready.

May be best to get some other opinions first, but Id be tempted to put a very small amount of tea tree oil in the water. (mix a little in a bottle with water by shaking it really hard to make an emulsion that should disperse in the tank water).

Reason for this is tea tree oil is antiseptic, but not likely to alarm the fish. It would kill of background bacteria in the tank. Wouldnt assume the bacteria in the filter would survive this though.

There are prepared medicines that will also do this. Methalyne blue is one that has a good strong bacteria and antifungal properties, but isnt nice to use.

Hopefully *BUMP*, someone else will come along with a bit more help.

Little food but often. Keep the fish active and searching for food, but dont let it fill its sore belly too much.

 

[deb53cl]

Eeek. Not good.

Well done for your quick action of getting a tank ready.

May be best to get some other opinions first, but Id be tempted to put a very small amount of tea tree oil in the water. (mix a little in a bottle with water by shaking it really hard to make an emulsion that should disperse in the tank water).

Reason for this is tea tree oil is antiseptic, but not likely to alarm the fish. It would kill of background bacteria in the tank. Wouldnt assume the bacteria in the filter would survive this though.

There are prepared medicines that will also do this. Methalyne blue is one that has a good strong bacteria and antifungal properties, but isnt nice to use.

Hopefully *BUMP*, someone else will come along with a bit more help.

Little food but often. Keep the fish active and searching for food, but dont let it fill its sore belly too much.

Thanks for the advice Saz.

No it does not look good. I am so concerned for her.

I have never heard about using Tea Tree oil but yes it is a natural antiseptic and works well for humans I no.

Maybe this will sooth it a bit and help to prevent any infection.

 

[minxfishy]

Hi, that does look bad, but is healable, melafix is the fish tea tree oil med that can be used for helping to heal things like that, along with a lot of good water changes and hopefully it should heal nicely, although probably leave scarring.

 

[Davo86]

Agreed Melafix and clean water should be enough to cure the wounds,
As long as the Oscar is still feeding then there is a really good chance of it making a full recovery.

Have to say though that, as you have found, a four foot tank is really too small for two Oscars.

 

[deb53cl]

Agreed Melafix and clean water should be enough to cure the wounds,
As long as the Oscar is still feeding then there is a really good chance of it making a full recovery.

Have to say though that, as you have found, a four foot tank is really too small for two Oscars.

I am on way to lfs to hopefully get some Melafix.....Thankyou.

I realise now that the 4ft tank was too small and please believe me I feel absolutly dreadful about it and that I am responsible for her wounds. They have grown up in this tank and I suppose i have taken it for granted that they have been happy because there has never been any conflict before.

Just crossing everything that will cross that she will be ok and another tank is on the shopping list.

O and just an afternoon update...the wounds are not so bloody but pieces of flesh hanging off. Gosh i really can't beleive what we have done to her

 

[Lokemer]

was her tank mate another oscar? those bites luck nasty good luck to you

 

[Jaric]

No real advice but best wishes and good luck.

I'd have to think the fact that she's eating is a good sign though.

 

[saz326]

Im wondering... the bits of flesh that are "hanging off", do they look like they will heal back into the fish, or do they look like the may fall off?

If they look like they should fall off, but dont fall off, you may need to do a kindness and remove them. If they continue to hang they just allow more chance of bacterial infection (especially if the blood flow to the hanging bits has stopped) and for chance of ripping new regrowth. You may need to use a very sharp pair of scissors, and snip the hanging bits off if the connecting tissue is thin, or tie a fine thread around the hanging bit if the connecting tissue is thicker. The thread would encourage the hanging bit to fall off as it would further decrease the bloodflow. (the same way as moles are removed, dogs have their tails docked and male animals are "sterilised")

Please give us an update tomorow on how things look. Is the eye recovering?

 

[Tolak]

Along with the melafix, 50% water changes daily, for at least a week. Many of the infectios bacteria that are detrimental to fish are water borne, anything you can do to knock this back, such as water changes will help.

Just like any other healing animal, diet plays a big part. A good cichlid pellet, soaked in a bit of liquid vitamin will help as well.

 

[juanveldez]

Along with the melafix, 50% water changes daily, for at least a week. Many of the infectios bacteria that are detrimental to fish are water borne, anything you can do to knock this back, such as water changes will help.

Just like any other healing animal, diet plays a big part. A good cichlid pellet, soaked in a bit of liquid vitamin will help as well.

In addtion to what Tolak said I would also leave the lights off as much as possible and avoid having the tank in a high traffic area. so to reduce the stress level of the fish.

 

[deb53cl]

Along with the melafix, 50% water changes daily, for at least a week. Many of the infectios bacteria that are detrimental to fish are water borne, anything you can do to knock this back, such as water changes will help.

Just like any other healing animal, diet plays a big part. A good cichlid pellet, soaked in a bit of liquid vitamin will help as well.

In addtion to what Tolak said I would also leave the lights off as much as possible and avoid having the tank in a high traffic area. so to reduce the stress level of the fish.

Thanks to everyone for their advice.

Was really worried when looked into tank this morning was dreading seeing Emmy dead.

But no she is still with us. Her wounds are white now. She still has bits of flesh hanging off her (i am not sure if i can cut them off as advised i am bit nervous of that)
She has eaten bloodworm this morning. She seems to hover over the airstone a lot.....Maybe the bubbles are soothing
Once again thanks to everyone for the advice

 

[england]

My oscar's received a similar beating about 1.5years ago.......But thats a major beating You will probally find it will look worse befor getting better.....Mine went white over the wounds, suppose the dead skin.....As stated i preformed daily water changes at 50% for a week and all was good, then i started second week, every other day and dwindled the changes back to normal routine... good luck