ok hers the deal m y Oscar brutis has this stuff on his whole body I h ave had fish for 15 yrs now and seen nothing like this here the deal on the underneath and on both sides of his face it looks like a pummis stone all holey and indented on his body not his head his body there are white specks ( not ich either) on his scales and there are patches of scales missing where the flesh or skin is exposed i have on pic i could get its just on the serfaces though not eating threw him so to speak his side fins have a couple of small holes in them and are dis colored at the base there is nothing but him the lights cover heater filters gravil and a plant all tank peramiters are excelent Paracite perhaps I have never encountered this before



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as I told you Tracy, I am at a loss, I have never seen this before. But as long as he is eating I think you will have a bit of time before you have to worry! Lets wait and see what the troops have to say!

Hi Tracy, I just came across your thread. It almost looks like some type of fungal infection. How are the water parameters? Brutis's behavior, eating habits? Try not to fret now. No need to panic. I am sure we can find an explanation.

its weard he is eating just fine and has an attitude so everything is normal i have hood lights heater otb filters gravil and his plant no other fish in with him tank perms are tested wioth master test kit and all are normal

Tracy it really looks like a fungal infection. I would like to see some others comment to confirm or support an alternate diagnosis. Fungus is usually treated successfully with Maracyn® medication. (Remove any activated carbon from filter it may take medicine out of water). Anyone else have any suggestions? Hope this helps!

PS. I am not a certified vet, however I am quite familiar with fish illnesses, a lot of research and reading.

brutis's water parameters

0 ppm ammonia
0 ppm nitrites
30 ppm mitrates

water is tested twice a week and water changes done accordingly
temp is around 78 - 80 F

the holes on his gill plates look alot like HITH only there not spreading persay to his head or his sensory pits wich is usually where it starts his water has been kept in prestine condition but no sign of turn around

15 years old? I would say that is very old for an Oscar. Could this possibly have something to do with old age? There was another post on here a few weeks ago where someone had a 21-year-old Oscar and that had quite severe skin problems.

It does resemble HITH to a certain extent, the lesions under the eye and around the gill plate. The posted water conditions looked okay so are not a cause for concern

I'm afraid we could all surmise and try and guess what is wrong until the cows come home. That could be any number of reasons why this is happening, the only reliable way to diagnose exactly what is wrong is to take a skin scrape and have it examined.

Purpplecrazy wrote:


just want to check...is brutis 15 years old??? or you are keeping fish for 15 years?????
i looks like some ammonia burns or exposed to something hot.>....

Brutis is NOT 15, she has been keeping fish for 15 years. And this has me stumped!!

Cant really tell from the pic, but are the white spots fuzzy at all? Could be ich, not sure.

Definately not Ich. I would treat Brutis with Melafix and Pimafix. The reason I would use both is because it looks like a fungal infection that has turned into a bacterial. See how treatment goes for 7-10 days. If that has not helped then I would try Maracyn.

If you do not want to use medications, you could always bump the temp. up to 86 degrees and add salt.

Do you feed live foods such as goldfish? What is his primary diet consist of?

How long has this been going on for? if I was in your position I would start off with an external parasitic treatment. Is there any slime on the skin? This can often indicate a bacterial infection which can look horrible as well.