I have a bigger oscar who seems to have a little hole in his head, and it seems to be a little deep. The weird things is he's not rejecting the food, but is always constantly hungry. I've read on this website that means the oscar is okay. I'm just not sure what to do. My other oscar seems to stay in one corner he likes, and doesn't come out like he used too. I've been using melafix to help repare my lighter oscars split fin, as well I'm trying to treat whole in the head. I also wanted to know if feeding the oscars baby gold fish, if thats an okay thing to do? I'm not sure when to start feeding them regular tetra flakes again? I've also only got them in a 14 gallon for now, but plan on getting a 40 gallon for them. I don't know if I should remove the filter whenever treating melafix, because the filter has activated carbon. If someone would please help me answer these questions.

Thanks!

Firstly welcome to our site

Now, where do we begin? I suppose we don't mention your tank. How big are the Oscars? 14 gallons is almost 5 times smaller than the recognised smallest size aquarium for a single Oscar fish. Have you got a test kit? You're going to need to test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and PH. I kind of suspect that your water conditions are going to be not so good due to the size of your aquarium. Also, what type of filter have you got? Remove your carbon and don't put it back in. Medicating an aquarium with carbon steel in the filter will result in the medication being removed by your carbon. Also, some think that carbon can actually do more harm than good if left in the filter for long periods of time without changing.

Please don't feed your fish goldfish, there is always the chance of passing illness or parasites to your Oscar which in turn can result in hole in the head as well as other diseases.

You mention that you are getting a 40 gallon tank, I'm afraid that even this is not big enough for a single Oscar so I would strongly advise you to find a bigger tank if you intend on keeping Oscars.

If you could get back to us and let us know if you have any way of testing the water. Tell us how big the fish are, what kind of filtration you have got, how you have been cleaning your filter and how often you carry out water changes. Do you use any kind of water conditioner as well?

Sorry for the third degree but it is very important we know your situation.

Well when I first started out, I wasn’t really sure about getting oscars. I remembered my late father had a big tank, around a 55 galoon that he kept a few in, so I figured the tank would need to be bigger. When I went to my local walmart to pick up my first ten gallon aquariam, they said it would be okay to put an oscar in a small tank. I debated to get an oscar because I’d never taken care of them before. So a friend of mine picked out my first one with me. I bought another oscar, but it died because of Ick, and the first oscar I bought survived through all that wihtout getting sick. Then I got a smaller oscar but he wasn’t very active, so I learned there. My golden oscar would always chase around the smaller one, and it seemed the smaller one began to give up. I had to take the fishes life even known he was still alive, because my golden oscar would not get a long with him. Then I froze him after letting him die, took him back to the store and got a bigger oscar that was more active and alert, and my golden one has gotten a long well with the bigger oscar. After awhile all the sudden I just began to see a hole get deeper in my bigger oscars head. I eventually really wanted to get a much bigger tank and the only one I could upgrade to was a 14 gallon witch isn’t much bigger. I then eventually ran into your site, and began to learn that there was a lot I didn’t know about oscars. They are very beautiful fish and I love them. Those other two that died hurt me bad, because I didn’t want to hurt the one that was still alive and active, but had no choice. I’ve had to learn a lot. I named my oscars Ark and Bertha. The Golden one is Ark, and the other is more of a lightish brown color. A little bet darker than the golden oscar. I remember first getting them, they go crazy whenever I get ready to feed them and that’s what I love about oscars. They will go in front of the tank moving really fast, realizing I was getting ready to feed them and they would open there mouths over and over again. Then when feeding them boy they compete with each other for the food. Of course the bigger oscar takes more of the food. But boy they attack that food like there never going to get it again. My oscars love it when I come into the room, and they will always be at the front of the tank moving real fast excited to see me. The kind of conditioner I use for the tank after water changes is tetra aqua safe, witch is supposed to remove harmful chemicals from the water. I don’t have a test kit for the water, and I’ve never been able to find them. Since I’m new to taking care of fish, especially oscars, I’ve never known how to test the aquariam for those certain things. I do have easy balance though witch is supposed to reduce phosphrate and nitrate, and after putting that in there my fish don’t seem to open there mouths as wide anymore. I use a tetra filter for a 10-20 gallon tank. I have filters that have activated carbon in them. I usually change them between every 2 to 4 weeks like the directions say. I’ve recently had to deal with algae but I took care of that with algae destroyer. I usually do water changes 2 to 4 weeks. I havent done one for four weeks now, because time can be an issue sometimes. I just removed the carbinated filter and I’m now treating the aquariam with melafix. I miss how hyper an active my golden oscar ark used to be. He’s been sick enough, all he does is sit at the bottom of the tank, and seems to flop on his side a lot. The aquariams at our local walmart are never taken care of. When I purchased my two from there, especially my bigger one many of the oscars in there aquariams were dying off. The goldfish wasn’t a good idea and could’ve made ark even more sick because now he don’t eat anymore. My golden oscar seems to sit at the bottom of the tank, but he’s a strong fish and hasn’t given up, he continues to move around as much as he can. I’m amazed that if my bigger oscar has hole in the head, he still eats. He stays by my golden oscars side through all the sickness. I want them to survive because I love them. My bigger oscar is about 4 inches long, and a few inches wide. My golden oscar is about 3 inches, and about 1 inch and a half in width. I’m not to perfect as guessing how big they are, but I’m making the best assumption I can since I’ve never measured a fishes height before. The gold fish they ate were dying off as well at my local walmart, so for now on not a good place to purchase fish around here. Otherwise I just want my oscars to survive and will do anything. I hope to hear more advice.

OK, wow, lots of info... You firstly need a 100+ gallon tank, you will also need a HUGE filer. And a water test kit.

You can find the test kit at Petsmart, or Petco.

You need to do all of this quickly.

You will need to do at least a 50% water change a DAY in the tank now.

And you need to add more filters.

If this is not all possible in the next few DAYS, then my advice would be to take the fish to a store and return them.

Also as OFL told you, don't feed feeders.... Get a quality pellet.

rhoad98[quote]Otherwise I just want my oscars to survive and will do anything. I hope to hear more advice.[quote]
hello there.Glad to hear you'll do anything for your O's to survive.
Ofl and Nicki have got you covered.
Lots of the issues you talk about are due to the small livingquarters with insufficient filtercapacity...
Algae,the needfor use of medicine, HITH.
If you love your O's, which i don't doubt, get a large tank soon or you can startover again with new babies.
Not to sound harsh, but just to tell the truth.
for example, my O had his fins biten and severed upto his body.
With pristine water the filaments between the fins have regenerated within a week!

here's an article on why not to feed goldfish.Next to carrying disease here's why.

www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_6/volume_6_1/thiaminase.htm

hope we helped you out, and I'd love to hear your plans now.

hello ino what your going through.. i stated out with my little Oscar in a 10gal to but with help from this site hes now super healthy in his 55gal and almost 11inches!! listen to them and your fish should have the best chance possible

You really need to check out some of the forum topics and educate yourself. This may come across as rude, but someone needs to say it. This is just poor fish keeping and you are giving your fish a poor quality of life. Freezing them to go get new ones? Putting an Oscar in a 10 gallon at all? Why not have a small community aquarium and learn the basics and some day when you are ready up grade. For now I believe you should go back to basics and get a gold fish. Educate yourself before causing any other creatures to suffer. Good luck and I hope you make better decisions in the future. Here if you have any questions or need advice.

Well said...

rhoad98 wrote:


Ever heard of using paragraphs?