Think My Oscar Is Unwell

[leecasey]

Hi, I noticed about a week ago my Oscar wasnt quite himself. He's been hiding. When I go to the tank he will come to the surface but I've noticed he will take in a pellet then spit it out. He will maybe eat one which seems to just be chewed up and 90% of it expelled from his gills. He has lost his appetite of frozen blood worms completely. I mean usually it hardly hits the water. Same with the pellets which are hikari gold by the way.

Then I noticed white, quite translucent poop! I would suspect parasites however the poop is not stringy but form wise, it does not seem a lot different. Just colour and semi translucent.

Its been about a week now and I've not seen no improvement. I'm thinking it might be some kind of infection in the intestines or something? Should I treat the water with something?

I'm thinking the cause of this might have been some plastic plants I purchased. Foolishly I forgot to rinse them and I noticed a tiny bit of foam forming on the surface from where bubbles were not popping from my spray bar. I did a large water change and it fixed the problem.

Thanks

 

[leecasey]

he just had another dump and half looked normal, half looked white. Managed to get some pics! My poor O must feel so violated lol.

 

[leecasey]

Update...
I think my Oscar may have bacterial pitting. A few scrapes he have seem to be getting worse and there is now pitting around his gills. I have attached a pic to show you. What should I treat him with? Aquarium Salt? I have read to start with 1tbsp per 5 gallons? I'm assuming that would be US gallons?

any advice would be greatly appreciated. He is clearly not himself and still not really eating.

 

[hackmaster]

They look like wounds from sharp decor when he's been chasing fish

 

[mattlee]

the poo certainly looks stringy to me and the clear part might indicate internal issues/parasites.

the marks look like damaged scales, is there anything else big in the tank that could have attacked him? or any sharp decor?

when i moved my oscar the other week to his new tank he sustained marks like these when he started to panic about being caught and thrashing into all the decor. after a week he was totally back to normal with a few water changes.

i would do a few extra water changes and try your oscar on peas to see if they can clear him out a bit.

 

[leecasey]

thanks for the response guys.

I have to disagree on the marks being caused by injury though. If you look closely on the gill all of the marks are circular and all roughly the same size. Like cigarette burns. Definitely looks like pitting to me.

Now, I've never seen parasitic poop before so I don't know what to look for. I've tried googling a picture but have been relatively unsuccesful. Can someone show me what it looks like? If it is parasites it might be an underlying problem which is causing the bacterial pitting due to lack of nutrition.

Thanks

edit:
Forgot to mention there is nothing in the tank that hassles him.

2 x 3" JD's (pair)
3 x Geophagus Megasema
6 x Congo Tetra

There WAS a GT in the tank last week which I removed due to him being too agressive. I noticed a few scales missing from the O at this time but nothing wrong with his gills then at all. The marks on his body may well be from nips or something.

Will give the peas a go and considering a salt dose (1tbsp / 5 US Gallons).

video of tank at current:
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t_Ejra4ALw

 

[hackmaster]

it's not whats hasseling him it's what he's chasing

 

[leecasey]

it's not whats hasseling him it's what he's chasing

hes not chasing anything, he is very placid even when he is well. He is even more laid back at the moment. I just think the "wounds" are too perfectly round and the same size to be injuries. They look like pits to me. I've turnt the temperature up to 81 F and will keep it there for 48 hours to hopefully get rid of the parasites should it be that.

He's swimming around still, so I dont think he is that seriously ill right now. If anything a slight improvement today. Will keep an eye on him.

thanks all