I came home from a weekend out of town and my oscar's lip was torn with several stringy pieces. He is acting sluggish but still has an appetite. I fear that it may be cottonmouth but I am not sure. I removed him from his 55gal tank into a 20ga quarantine tank and added fungus clear tank buddies and aquarium salt in case it was an infection. Prior to me leaving for the weekend i noticed that he his head looked a little roughed up and i assumed he hit it on an aquarium rock. He was also jumping out of the water earlier in the week more than usual.

He is roughly 6 inches. His tank mates include two 4 inch aquatic turtles and a 4-5 inch jack dempsey. I know oscars and turtles are not ideal together but i am trying very hard to keep the water levels adequate. I bought them when they were small and didn't know much about aquariums. Now i know.

Water parameters: ph ranges from 6.5-7, but the kit i use is rather vague and only tells ph levels. I have to do 75% to complete water changes every 1.5 weeks due to the quality from the turtles.

What is wrong with him and what can i do?

Hey there.
Weclome to the site.
A couple of things come to mind.
The first thing i noticed you got Turtles in with your fish.
Turtles create a lot of waste and you will need a huge filtration to keep up with the ammonia and nitrite levels.
A 55Gl tank is the minimum tank size for one Oscar with NO tankmates.
We will need the test results for Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates to help you any further.
Jumping out of the water may be due to bad waterquality.

You say 75-100% waterchanges.
This i advice against, for you are changing to much at a time in the environment of the fish. It's better to do several smaller waterchanges with a smaller intervals.

IMO your best bet is to rehome the turtles to another tank, before you put the Oscar back. If not the problems you now have will reoccur for sure.

totally agree with all that noddy has said

X3 with the above advice. a picture may help. but you still need to test your water and oscars and turtles don't mix.

i couldn't figure out how to post a picture but my profile pic shows my oscar and his mouth currently. Will you take a look and tell me what you think?

Send me your photograph and I will post it

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ok i sent it.

It's a little bit difficult to tell whether this is a flesh wound, as in the surface skin exposing the flesh underneath, or whether it's some kind of fungal infection.

Does it look like this skin has been ripped away?

You will need to test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and pH.

My first thought when i saw it is that my turtle bit my oscar, which hasn't happened before (my oscar is generally boss in the tank). But then i remember there already being a stringy piece of skin hanging from his lip before i left for the weekend and thought maybe this was a growth. There is definitely a tear in his lip and to me the strings do look like skin. But i just wasn't sure so i removed him from my larger aquarium. He is still eating fine and comes to the glass and follows me around. i am going to buy a better testing kit before work today and will update you with the water levels this evening.

What is your opinion on water temperature right now if is is a cottonmouth? I heard warm water accelerates the growth.

Well, that really hasn't helped that much okay, let's assume that this is just an injury. As long as your water is in good condition this injury should heal up perfectly okay without the need for any kind of medication.

However if fungus has set in which sometimes does happen then you may need some kind of fungal medication, but again, the water has to be in good condition for medications to work properly.

So you are going to need to test for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH. In the meantime, does carry out a small water change every few days making sure you use a water conditioner. If the Oscar is eating then he can't be feeling too bad.

As for water temperature, I shouldn't worry too much about that. I would imagine that warm water will accelerate some fungal growth but since you are keeping tropical fish, you cannot really drop the temperature too low.

that fish got bitten on the face by a turtle. poor thing.

ok i have the water levels.
high range ph 8.2
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0

my oscar still looks the same. Should i put him back in the his regular tank?