Hey guys! Sorry I haven't posted here in a while... My Oscar, Jack Black, has been getting huge! Anyway, we had to go on a medical trip out of town yesterday, and when we came home last night I tripped in our doorway and landed (caught myself) on the side of my 55 gal tank, which is like right inside our doorway. Anyway, Jack Black must have been sleeping or something because I had the tank lights off and I must have really spooked him, because as soon as I caught myself on the tank, the lid on the other side bounced really hard. Apparently, Jack Black jumped out of the water and hit the lid and took a chunk out of his head.

Sorry the image isn't clear... I can't seem to achieve that with my camera. Anyway, you can see the white spot on his head where the chunk is missing.

Okay, so I have been VERY sick this summer, and haven't quite done the maintenance I should have on my tank... Here are my water test readings:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 80
pH - 7.2

I'm assuming that the first thing you are going to tell me is to vacuum my tank and do a 50% water change, as all I have been doing lately is topping off. So, I will preemptively perform that maintenance this afternoon to take care of my Nitrates, as I know they are high. Next thing I need to know is, do I need to salt the aquarium to treat the wound? Let me say that Jack Black is acting fine today and eating fine, so there are no changes in behavior or mood as far as I am aware. I am pretty broke, because my hubby got a bad case of prickly heat from us helping my mother move, so I've been spending every spare penny we have on cortizone cream and body powder for him (we don't have insurance for him to go to the doctor...) So, I am really not in a position until AT LEAST the 18th to buy and medication for my tank. Will salting it be enough, if I am sure to do regular water changes to bring down the salt level once he has fully healed?

From what I can see it doesn't look too bad--I would say just keep up the water changes, get the nitrates down and he should heal fine. My oscar just recovered from a nasty scrape on his side where he had a pretty bad gash, probably worse than yours and he had a skin flap hanging off-- I just bumped up the water changes a bit, didnt add anything other than the prime for the water changes really, and it healed up right away.

X2 johnny...your fish should be fine if you keep them nitrates down

Thanks guys! I've never had a fish with an injury, so I freaked out a little bit. I'm sure he'll be fine and everything, I just panicked.

with pristine water, you will be amazed how quickly they heal (like a few days!)- no meds needed in most cases

MeghanR wrote:


How very true, we could do a head injury thread for it's a very common thing with oscars.
Both my fish have hurt themselves several times during a feedingfrenzy and from getting spooked.


The only thing noticable on my fish is that the scaring tissue has a little less colouration after the injuries.
The tiny spots on the scales of my o even returned in a few days.
Just keep your water in pristine condition, and it will heal just fine.
No salt needed either, imo.

Notice the blue band-aid plaster my daughter put on the tank for she felt so sorry for the oscar!
She pressed a kiss to the glass where my o was swimming and said:"So, now you'll get better real soon...".

Those kind of injuries are quite common on oscars and will heal surprisingly quick as long as your water is good. Unfortunately for nitrates are too high at 80 (as you know). The max should really be 40. So do a large 50% water change followed be daily 25% water changes to until your nitrates are below 40 and then do another 25% water change and your oscar will heal.

Try to keep your nitrates below 40. If you regularly let your nitrates go above 40 then your oscar is very likely to ill. It could get pop eye or HITH, also injuries may not heal quickly and may get infected