I have a 55 gallon tank 2 Oscars in it and a salvini my emergency is the albino red O has some piece of flesh missing especially around his gill and on his body he is laboring right now at the top of the tank! I need help ASAP!!!! Oh and im new to the website!

Welcome to our community, I have moved this post as it was in the wrong forum.

Okay, where do we start? I suppose we better start by mentioning your tank size, unfortunately it is not big enough for two Oscars. 55 gallons is big enough for one adult Oscar only.

It sounds like your fish may have early signs of hole in the head disease. The fact that your fish is hanging around the surface breathing heavily doesn't sound very good, this is a classic sign of water quality problem, or an ill fish.

Until we know your water conditions, it's going to be very difficult to advise. However, you might be wise to carry out a large water change, let's say 50% to begin with. Could you give us a little bit of information on your tank maintenance, how often do you carry out water changes, what type of filtration system have you got and do you ever clean it?

How are the other fish behaving?

Please get back to us that this information ASAP

Thanks for the respond it was just thoroughly cleaned a week ago with a 50% water change done i am running a whisper 60 and a tetra 20 for filtration! The albino has no holes on his head its on his gill and body. These O's are only 6 and 7 inches long they are just now a yr old! I think it might be a skin issue or rotting fin maybe!

Oh and every once in a while he pulsates his tail like a fast flicking motion! This might help!

ofl will def have u covered on this one, in regards to the cause, much more knowledgable than me! however in regards to recovering, make sure yr water paramiters are second to non this means the wounds (if they are simply from fighting etc) will heal quickly with little fuss. if not there could be complications. wanna fill us in on yr current water paramiters?

btw

welcome to the site!

Have you got some test kits? If not, you're going to need to get some before we can really help you? You need ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Look at it in a similar way as you going to the doctor with a problem, he is going to check you over, take your pulse, take a blood sample etc, this is the only way he would be able to find out what's wrong with you, this is why we need to know what your water conditions are, we need to rule out toxins in the water before we can really advise on what you can do, or what could be wrong.

I am new at this too even though I have had my oscars for 3 years. I just posted a "HELP" post this morning as well. Everyone gave me great advice. All I can say is that I know for sure as the others that your tank is too small. The other thing I can tell you is this. My oscars were acting like yours. After all the advice and not finding a solution to their distress, someone on here told me to look at the instructions on here for "cycling". I did and it said that ammonia levels higher than 1.0 were dangerous. Mine were 4.0. I don't know if that is your problem but your fish are acting just like mine and I did as the instructions said. I changed my water 80%. I even washed off the filter cartridges and INSTANLY my fish are back to normal. It was the Ammonia that was killing my fish slowly. I hope this helps. I will be praying for your fish. God bless!

Pie314 wrote:


Can you post a pic? Does it look like a WOUND/Injury?

Its not a wound because they have not went away! I added Melafix Pimafix just to be safe they are all natural but he has moved more in the last hour then he has in the last 2 days! But i loaded the photos in my profile under my photos!

the pictures shows it is definitely a HITH... a poor water issue...i suggest
a large water change immediately, and wash the filter in tank (not tap).
i have to go back with the whole thread to know other concern.

I just took a look at the pics. the damage isn't so great that your fish will die right away, but it may turn out that way in the long term cos your making a few common mistake. if you put these mistakes right ASAP I would have thought your fish will recover.

1 you need to maintain the tank you have. keeping water in very good condition. you will need to get a test kit and tell us what the results are.
2 you will need a larger tank. NOW. you don't have room for 2 oscars in your small tank. it will lead to poor water and fighting for room.
3 you will need better filters. also you need to put some time into reading how to take good care of your fish. I suggest you read from the home page of this site. OFL has put together a lot of information about care for oscars.

i can only concur with marcus.... the information given in the whole thread
shows it is more on water issues due to over stocking, tank size, and tank
maintenance...