My 6 month old O has a large white spot on his side near his belly and the gill has a good sized moon shaped chunk out of it. He has had this for over a month. The spot is white with a pinkish color in the middle and the gill chunk is white around the edges and appears to be getting larger. He is still eating and acting normal. I have removed anything he can injure himself on. I have treated with Metafix, Pimafix and Binox with no luck. The tank is 55 gallons, I have 2 hanging filters and am turning over 600 gallons per hour. I have been doing 25% water changes at least twice per week. Temperature is 76-78, PH runs a little high at 7.8 - 8.0 due to my well water which is 7.5 out of the tap. Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings are all zero and have been for months. I'm stumped, any suggestions?

It would be helpful if you could take a photograph so we can see what we are dealing with. Does it look like an injury, or something different? Does there appear to be anything growing around the wound?

It doesn't look like an injury. Here are pics, hopefully they work, the white spot on the top is a 2 day old injury.

i39.photobucket.com/albums/e199/BoarderChikk42/DSCN0252.jpg

i39.photobucket.com/albums/e199/BoarderChikk42/DSCN0260.jpg

labrakebob wrote:

is your oscar looks like this????



this one give some question? no nitrate for that long?
how do you clean your filter? or anything you have done with the filter?

He has no spots around the head, only the one side and its not red. I have really never had high nitrate readings, even during cycling the highest I ever tested was 20. I use the AP testing kit on a regular basis. I clean the filters every couple of weeks with tank water.

I cannot see any sign of a fungal infection. I'm wondering if this is some kind of bacterial infection. Have you got a pleco by any chance?

Are you absolutely certain that your ammonia and nitrates are Zero?

I do have a Pleco that is showing no signs of illness. Just to be sure, I brushed up on the testing instructions and retested. Both ammonia and nitrate readings are still at zero.

labrakebob wrote:

it look like an injury to me... do your heater have armored protector?

My heater does not have a protector but that is my next investment since he is getting bigger and cranky at times. I have considered this possibility and he can not squeeze behind the heater to burn himself. My local pet store guy suggested the same thing.

Here is the latest. This morning his he has a piece of skin hanging from his mouth and his jaw is crooked like he dislocated it overnight. He keeps opening his mouth and shaking his head violently. He still seems to be eating but he is a mess.

What else is in the tank with him???

Just one Pleco about 6 inches long.