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HUGE abrasion
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TOPIC: HUGE abrasion

HUGE abrasion 4 years, 3 months ago #10463

I was utterly shocked this morning when I got up and turned the light on in my 55 gallon tank. The oscar I have in that one (Cletus, the black tiger) had this ghastly abrasion on his head! I mean it is very large, it's literally a huge patch of his skin that is gone. His only other tank mate is a 3-4 inch pleco. I immediately began running through the possible causes: I doubt he would have received such an abrasion from scraping his head against an ornament. The only other culprit is the pleco.....did the pleco chew on his freakin head??? I thought plecs were herbivorous, and I had just dropped 3 algae wafers in the water the night before!:angry:

Can anyone shed some light on this for me? I am very very worried about him because if it indeed was pleco, I have to remove him tonight before he has another chance to munch on Cletus again. Also, do I need to treat this abrasion or will it heal on its own? Thanks in advance

Re:HUGE abrasion 4 years, 3 months ago #10464

  • Jeffrey
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well, it's deffinitely not the pleco, i also have a small pleco with my Oscar and it is the oscar which sometimes chases the pleco. but most of the time they r friends! may be the oscar is hurt by an ornament! i am not sure, i am also a new oscar owner!
100 US Gallon Tank - 1 Tiger Oscar (Tiger);
1 Common Pleco

30 Gallon Tank - 4 Angels (1 Veil Tail, 1 Albino, 2 Marble)

Re:HUGE abrasion 4 years, 3 months ago #10468

I will take a picture in a few minutes and post that so everyone can see. I have a hard time believing that he could have done that himself...it looks like he held his head against a belt sander....and it was not there last night either. Stay tuned...photo forthcoming

Re:HUGE abrasion 4 years, 3 months ago #10470

...And here is the picture:

i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd137/Sylvain76/DSC00310.jpg

This is the best picture I could get because it's as if he knew I was holding a camera and suddenly grew shy. But you can clearly see it takes up the whole upper portion of his head...like his tupe fell off. I am really concerned.

Re:HUGE abrasion 4 years, 3 months ago #10484

Looks like it is healing already. It is not too deep either.

Here is a picture to calm your woes:





You can see in the photo his lip is still messed up from when he split it in half a month or so before that. Now you cant tell


That is one great thing about Oscars, they heal amazingly fast with clean water.

If you want, you can add some aquarium salt (but not much because the pleco is salt sensitive) ... and/or grab some MelaFix/PimaFix ... get the PondCare not API sub-brand, since it is more concentrated, and you most likely WILL need it again. They will help heal and prevent secondary infections, though, it looks like it is coming along well already.


I can guarantee he jolted around at some point, either bumping a rough piece of decor, or hitting his head on equipment such at the output area of the filters, or even the intake tubes. If you have a rock or driftwood, that could the the culprit because it is a large area, but it all depends on the angle he hit at.

Within two weeks, you probably won't even be able to tell it happened, if not, by three weeks I am almost positive

The best you can do is evaluate your decor, but, even in an empty tank, they can still hurt themselves. I know, mine has done this many times just on the filter. The Penguin as some somewhat sharp corners, but anything sticking out and a fast moving Oscar, even the heater, is a potential loss of scales.

I hope I have relieved some of the stress Your O will be just fine. Take care and try not to worry too much more.

Re:HUGE abrasion 4 years, 3 months ago #10490

Kenshin_Himura wrote:


I can guarantee he jolted around at some point, either bumping a rough piece of decor, or hitting his head on equipment such at the output area of the filters, or even the intake tubes.


Thank you for a very insightful response. So you think he did that himself? I still can't believe he could take that much skin off by just hitting something. So, you've never heard of a pleco doing that at all?? I only have about 2 hours to decide whether or not to return the pleco to the LFS. I don't want to wake up tomorrow morning and find that Cletus' entire side is missing skin...

Re:HUGE abrasion 4 years, 3 months ago #10494

  • drew
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my bets are....
oscar sleeping nicly then along comes mr pleco steath in the dark bumps the oscar oshit absolutly s**ts itself goes on a huge full speed rampage half asleep and bangs into somthing. happends alot with plecs as there nogturnal. ive sppoked mine befor coming in drunk and turning lights on and being noisy with heavy drunk fet and the oscars jumps out there skins and shot about but nothing in my tank to cause damage at the minute

Re:HUGE abrasion 4 years, 3 months ago #10641

  • delboybully
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Oscars often injure themselves like this. It should heal relatively quickly if your water quality is good
I can't get no sleep

Re:HUGE abrasion 4 years, 3 months ago #10648

  • delboybully
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Abusive message are not accepted on this site. All abusive messages in this thread and references to them have been deleted. Please dont do it again- you know who you are!!!!
I can't get no sleep
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