I have a 5" oscar that lives with a couple of tinfoil barbs, catfish, pleco, and jack dempsey. I've had all of these fish for about 2.5 months now and all are eating aggressively and are very active. Two days ago I noticed little white dots on the jacks and oscars fins and head/near eyes. My water levels are completely normal. I watched them for awhile and it seems as though the dots come and go as they please. What is this?

No one's behavior or eating habits have changed. No rubbing against anything or swimming sideways. No loss of scales, normal appearance all around (except for the dots of course). Am i just being paranoid?

by what you are saying it seems to be ick or white spot as sum say.

yes they will come and go they fall off to the bottom multiply by thousands and get back onto yr fish.

firstly i will recommend u push yr temp up to 30deg C as these cyst cannot grow in that temp.

also add some aquarium salt to yr water and vac yr gravel every two days to remove everything from yr substrate.

keep the temp up untill 3days after you see no sign of the ick.

there are quiet a few helpfull articles on this site regarding the treatment of whitespot.

hv a look on the left of this page under the "HELPFULL ARTILES" section for a more detailed description.

Almost Forgot----hello and welcome to oscarfishlover.com

Thanks. I had suspected it was ick. I've heard that to treat it, regarding salt, that you're supposed to add a lot? i guess i just don't know how much i should add per gallon? and the temp being that high won't hurt my fish?

(sorry to sound like a noobie)

Nevermind! I found it. Thanks though.

theres alot of diifrent opinions on the amount of salt but if you look on the packet there should be a dosage on there.

ill give u an idea----i treated my ick at 31deg c for 18days and added a Sh*^T load of salt any my O's never showed any distress what so ever.

I did vac my tank alot and add new salt every time i vaced it.

rember that salt wont just disolve the only way to get it out is by doing water changes.

to be safe i throw in a hand of salt every month and my fish are cool with that.

dont stress just follow that article and u will be fine in no time at all.

good luck