Hi I have posted here before and I appreciate everyones help but I have yet another issue. I have had fish for quite some time now but have never had any issues other than a little bout of HITH (which is now cleared up) so I am somewhat ignorant when it comes to diagnosing this. What appears to be on my one oscar is tiny(maybe a quarter of the size of one nostril hole or smaller) elongated white 'bugs' that move/crawl very fast around the head area. I treated with Super Ich Cure and the number of 'bugs' has decreased dramatically but I am not sure if this treatment will cure this problem. If I am an idiot don't hesitate to say so I just have no idea what this is and need help. Thanks in advance for the assistance.

Never heard of this... Let me do some checking and I will see what I can find!

Ok thank you I appreciate it. I was thinking maybe fish lice but I really don't know. At first glance I thought it was air bubbles, then maybe ick, but then I could see that they were 'crawling' around and elongated (not round like air bubbles or ick).

a picture can help us evaluate your concern...
please do post one... if it is a body borer,
your fish is in trouble....but body borer is
very seldom to attack fishes in tank and normally
it attack gold fish only.

I'm sorry i have been trying forever i just cant get the pics clear enough that close up

Does this sound right?

Trying to find a diagnosis. Oscar With Fish Lice 8/21/07
Hello, I have a tiger Oscar that has been self-mutilating himself. He rubs against things in the tank and has opened his flesh at times. I did not see anything with my naked eye (at first). Then, one day, I sat down by the tank and looked up. He swam into the light and behold, there were microscopic white specks on his head. Then, I looked closer and they actually were moving. They are so very small, too small to compare them to anything. The only reason I saw them, was because he is black and swam into very bright light. They look like bugs crawling around over him. Now that I knew what to look for, I noticed them on the glass of my tank. Lots of them. Only in the light and very microscopic.
I have tried researching "parasites" and nothing seems to fit the description. Fleas would be too big and flukes are described as "worm-like" rather than "bug-like".
I couldn't stand to see my Oscar with open wounds and frayed fins so I bought "parasite eliminator" to cure flukes, anchor worm, and fleas, etc. I am about to give the 2nd dose.
They have not responded to treatment so far. They are still there and there are plenty of them moving around unphased.
What can I try next if this doesn't work? I appreciate any response,
Thanks, Tina
< Try Clout or Fluke-Tabs. The parasites probably came in with some feeder fish.-Chuck>

www.associatedcontent.com/article/139461...es_and_symptoms.html

first time see topics about fish lice but seems to me like
what we call body borer...since infected fishes will have
red spots that contains this body borer.

you need a parasite treatment. ich treatment won't touch parasites. make sure all the ich treatment is gone from the tank. how long since you lasted used it? get a treatment for parasite and treat asap. try not to buy met blue as it stains the silicon on your tank and knockes your filter out. interpet works ok and don't damage the filter. follow the treatment carefuly, some parasites are very hard to control. if you find you have this form of parasite you may end up having to use met blue, but try another first.

Sure enough that is exactly what is sounds like. Wow I wonder how he got this? I have had carbon in for 3 days to soak up the ick medecine so I will put some parasite medecine in tomorrow when I do my weekly 30% and get the carbon out of there Thanks for the help everyone. I take that back, I'm doing my 30% now, I cant stand when theres anything wrong with my fish

PAUL wrote:


Symptoms: An appearance of lice causes a lot of irritation to the host fish. There will be visible inflammation on your fish in areas where the lice have been. This inflammation shows up as red spots on the fish. The affected fish will also become stressed, aggravated and restless. This pet will begin to rub up against the glass of an aquarium or other objects in its surroundings to try and get the fish lice off of its skin. These signs indicate that the affected fish should be examined for fish lice immediately.

Thats what gets me is there is no irritated spots. There are spots where it is obvious that he has rubbed up against things but no obvious spots if inflamation. I just put some parasite medecine in there a few hours ago so I will see if that helps. I wonder if he could have gotten it from one of my cockatiels? It said on the link that NickiSue posted that fich lice can be on bird wings?