my one o has a gray oval like blemish near his top fin. it does not look like any sort of disease but i want to make sure otherwise. i got a pic of it, but its really bad and all u can see is the dot. the skin has no change accept for the color, its about a dime size on a 3'' o and just appeared out of the blue a couple days ago. behavior is the same accept hes hiding more, which is more then likely because the other o has become extremely aggressive lately. when i feed them, he comes out and eats like a beast as usuall. just wanna make sure its nothing to worry about or if theres something i dont know of

ph 6.5
nitrate 0
amnomia 0

a photo would be helpful if you can get one, I fully appreciate that getting good photos is extremely difficult. However, it's very hard to diagnose anything just from a description, unless it is absolutely obvious what you're talking about.

Regarding your water test results. Ph is just about perfect, ammonia is very good. However, I am a little bit suspect about the nitrate reading. Did you actually mean nitrate, or nitrites? The reason I say this is because it is virtually impossible to get a zero reading of nitrate. The reason for this is because ammonia and nitrites are removed by bacteria, nitrate is not. Even if you do a sizeable water change, you normally get a slight reading of nitrate. Normally the only time you get a zero reading of nitrate is if you haven't done the test properly. What kind of test kits are you using?

Now back to your fish, if indeed the water conditions are okay, I would ask you to monitor the fishes condition for a few days, keep an eye on the mark and see if it gets any worse, stays the same, or indeed gets better. report back in three or four days time.

yes, typo that was supposed to be nitrites i dont have a nitrate tester but im sure it would be in right level considering. ill post a pic when i get home, like i said before its really bad, u can see the dot though but its just like i said. its just a gray color.

i do think its stress related. he seems to be stressing a lot since his buddy somewhat turned on him. the bigger o generally doesnt bother him and there is absolutely no physical injury. but the smaller is terrified of him alone, and has been doing nothing but hide behind the heater. the size difference isnt much, but it is noticeable

Oscars generally dont hide without a reason, so if the smaller one isnt being bullied he will either realise soon that its ok to come out or he may be ill. Please try again on the pic as it is difficult to say without it

You should go buy yourself a nitrate tester. This tester will tell you if you are doing enough water changes and/or are feeding too much

ok the pic doesnt show anything on the computer in fact u cant see anything. now that im thinking about it, i dont think im lookin so good. and this is for 2 reasons. 1 like delboy said, oscars dont hide like this. when i had my jack dempsey with my os he would tear them apart and the os would never hide. right after being attacked, they would just swim right back over to him

the 2nd is this. awhile ago i had a bala shark in the other tank and he got this discolored patch right below his top fins. as the day moved on he began to hide and the patch seemed to eat through his skin like acid. then his fins started to deteriorate and you could see the bone exposed. i didnt know much about fish then, so i decided he was sick and i didnt want the sickness to spread so i flushed him. im afraid this is the same or simular thing now that i think of it.

as far as the nitrate goes, i have no amnonia and the tank defenately has an adequate filter setup and i do water changes every week. never to miss a week. theres no such thing as exess food in this tank. when i gravel vac there is never any dirt, as the pictus cat i have does an excellent job of cleaning. and im always carefull not to overfeed. i learned the hard way with that. also the other fish seem to be their normal begging selves. but i will indeed buy the nitrate tester because it is something i should have.

s284.photobucket.com/albums/ll28/denver2...t-attachmentaspx.jpg

heres a bad pic of it. u can just about make out the fish and his spot near the top fin. i really didnt like the way he was hiding behind the heater. he would point his head down, and lie there almost lifelessly so i moved the heater hoping that he would relocate to a more suitable hiding spot. but much to my surprise he became his normal swimming self immediately afterwards. he still has that spot which seems to be the same after 3 days. but its definitely a good thing because he's been himself since i moved it yesterday.

just an update. the spot has srunk by 3/4 and hes lookin great! not sure what it is but if it goes away completely ill be happy

It tough to say from the pic but i would guess it is either fungus (does it have cotton wool look to it) or more likely it has injured itself (this will clear up in good water but you can add any medication for treating ulcers or fin rot