I have a fairly new tank, just over a week. I have two oscars, a green terror cichlid and a red devil cichlid, all juveniles. All have been living together well. Last night I noticed one oscar had a small white mark on it, I suspected Ick but it was just one small spot. This morning I woke up and that same oscar looks as if it has two scars now on one side. Thats the only way I can think to describe it, like the scales are missing in two small lines right next too each other. I then noticed that the red devil was chasing and nipping at the green terror. I wondered of maybe it attacked the oscar in the night and caused this as I cannot find any fish illness that resembles these markings. I removed the red devil from the tank. I then noticed the oscars acting a little aggressive toward the green terror which is a little smaller then them. The one oscar with the "scars" now has two small whitish spots but it doesn't really look like ick, looks more like a raised scale. I can't seem to get the "scars" to show up in pics. Does anyone know of anything other than fighting that would cause these marks?

Welcome to the site. They are not called "terrors" for nothing, the same goes for red Devils. Mixing these three types of cichlid together could be a recipe for disaster and is best avoided in my opinion. If you can possibly post a photograph, we could have a look. However, there is no doubt in my mind that this could be possibly caused by aggressive behaviour and fighting which could get much worse as the fish get older and approach maturity.

Also, how big is your tank? If you are keeping these fish in a fairly small tank, the situation could be much much worse.

my green terror is giving my fish hekk aswell ive arranged with the lfs to return it

Thanks for the response. The tank is 75 gallons. We have a cave and some plants and another fake coral for hiding spots. This is also the first I have really noticed aggression. I have been thinking I will probably remove the cichlids and keep the oscars together. The oscars were in the tank together when we bought them and they are inseparable. attached is one pic, let me know if you can tell anything. thank again

picture didnt post it was too large I will try again in a minute

uok, lets try again with the pic

actually the green terror is getting the most harrassment. He doesn't bother anyone, its the red devil who seems to be the bully. I will probably return both cichlids as the oscars are my favorite and I don't want to risk any fish getting hurt.

I tried resizing your photo but it wouldn't work, I think you are probably using a small photo to begin with.

However, it does to look like abrasions caused by fighting, try using http://www.photobucket.com you can put a much larger photo on here. I will have to have a look at the settings on this forum, it seems that it is not putting on the correct size photos

ok lets try this

It doesn't look like anything serious to me. My oscars get marks like that from little scuffles or when they hit something in the aquarium. I wouldn't worry if I was you.

my o's often get these marks from fighting and bumping around.
if yr water quality isgood these injuries normally heal in approx 3days.

mine get these makes on occasion, it can be from aggression or from bumping into things, if you get more at once it is probably from fighting. AS OFL says green terror and red devils got there names for a reason