I have had my tiger oscar for 1 1/2 years now, he/she lives with a plec in a 40 gallon tank the oscar is around 7-8 inch & the plec around 4-5 inch long, I have the tetratec external filter plenty big enough to cope & clean the tank along with a 50% water change once every two weeks, not knowing about oscars much other than they are messy & enjoy wrecking the tank I think I have caused hole in the head due to bad feeding habits, I have been feeding him/she on halibut pellets & prawns thinking this was ok as no signs of the disease had been present, perhaps I thought that he was causing this via head butting & thrashing around but it has now got worse, the top of his/her head has a large red patch on & the fish is pale not eating & always on the bottom tail shaking in short 2 second moves, I hope somone can help me as I would be a little upset if the fish died as he/she is a joy to watch, full of life (when well) a bit like having a dog but in a tank.

Thanks in advance

Mark

One more thing I have noticed erratic violent twitching with mouth movments a little scary to see........

Firstly, Oscars do twitch occasionally, all my Oscars have done it. Could you possibly post a photograph of your Oscar?

You need to do some water tests as well. Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. Poor water conditions are probably the main contribution to hole in the head disease, although nobody is actually 100% sure what causes it. I have to say that you are keeping your fish in a tank that is too small. If indeed your fish has got hole in the head disease, you are not helping the situation with stocking your tank with the fish you have. For long-term health, I would suggest that you think about getting a much larger aquarium. You may also want to consider reducing the stock you have at the moment.

I will take a picture & post tomorrow, but on the bigger tank issue I have not got the room at the moment but was thinking this is the first thing on the list when we move house, there must be a way of getting round the situation until this happens maybe doing more water changes etc I know this will be hard work, I know that the tank is a little on the small side but because this was my first oscar I did not know how rapid they grow, if there is one thing I would like to see is a happy fish with plenty of room.

What you need to do is carry out a water test. Your ammonia and nitrite must not be anything above Zero. Because of your situation, you should try and keep your nitrate below 20 ppm. With all will in the world, it is virtually impossible to keep the nitrate level that Zero ppm, especially with small aquariums. A 40 gallon aquarium is a piece of cake to maintain. Water changes shouldn't take very long so isn't any excuse not to do them. By the way, I'm talking in general, not patronising you. So if your fish has got this disease, you need to keep your water in tiptop condition. This will probably mean about three water changes a week, maybe even more, it's difficult to say. So if you haven't got one already, get yourself a test yet. It's probably best to get a master kit if you can. These have all the tests you need. It sometimes cheaper to do it this way as well.

I have just added the picture I hope this will help

Thanks Mark

Picture added

A little bit blurred, but it does rather look like hith disease to me I'm afraid. Okay, you need to make sure your water is in very good condition and do regular water changes. I would suggest that you carry out increased water changes for the next week or two and see if there is any improvement. If not, you may need to administer some kind of medication.

That is a big red sore. Not sure if its hole in the head(HITH) tho. HITH is usually round craters in and around the head.

As your oscar is in a small tank what you really need is some water testers especially a nitrate one. Test at least once a week. Usually i would say try to keep nitrates below 40 is acceptable but below 20 is ideal. However as your fish is showing a problem i would say you need to keep nitrates below 20. If the nitrate is above 20 you need to do more water changes. Everytime you do a water change do 50% (dont forget to unplug heaters if this exposes them). Feed sparingly only what he will eat in 3 mins once a day. One day a week dont feed him at all

Thanks for the help I will check the water tomorrow & go from there, what do you feed your oscars? maybe if I change his/hers diet this would also help but the osar I have would sooner have sinking food rather than floating,

Thanks once again,

Kind Regards

Mark

By the way as soon as I have the room the oscar & plec will get a new bigger home I have seen some of the pics on the site & must say the 125 gallon tank looks fab but must be on the heavy side

I feed mine maggots on monday and tues, frozen prawns on wednesday, pond pellets(cheaper than Hikari) on thurdays and saturday and Hikari pellets (any cichlid pellet will do) on friday, peas on sunday(not all oscar will eat them). I also feed earthworms when i can get them.

Others foods people use are bloodworm (expensive for large oscars), muscles, lance fish, meal worms. Try to give them a varied diet

A 125g tank filled will be very heavy. It will be ok on a solid concrete floor but i would check with a qualified person before putting one on an upstairs floor or on a downstairs wooden beamed floor

My oscar has now taken a turn for the worse, the red patch on his head has now grown & one of his eyes has turned cloudy I think this is the end of my little buddy but have learnt along the way & will never make the same mistakes again starting with a bigger tank for one