oscars have white spots. how do i treat?

[YoungO]

hi, im new to this web site. i noticed that two of my oscars have little white spots on them. in the tank i have three 2inch oscars, 2 one inch convicts, one pleco, and one pictus catfish. i have an empty 10 gallon tank that i was planning to use as a hopital/quarintine tank. how should i treat the fish?

[SomeGuy88]

well first of all, what size tank are they in?
Are they being bullied by other fish?
And what are your Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate readings?

Sounds like Ick to me, but from the scetchy (sp?) details you gave me i cant really tell. If you have a picture that would be perfect.
If it is Ick, your gonna have too raise the temperature above 80 F and add 1 tablespoon of salt to your aquarium for every 5 gallons you have. That should clear it out if its not too late.

[YoungO]

i do have a picture but it is very fuzzy. the tank is a 40 gallon. i am getting a 55 gallon very soon. the only fish that ppick on the oscars are the oscars.

[YoungO]

i just raised the temp. to 82 deg.

[Oscar_Mania]

A 55g is way too small for that number and kind of fish. A single Oscar needs 55g at least. You may have to get a larger one in the near future because Oscars grow quickly. Are there air stones in the tank? At that temp. you will need to put Oxygen in the water as the amount of dissolved Oxygen decreases as the temp. goes up. The aquarium salt will probably work. Also do frequent water changes making sure that you gravel vacc. any cysts in the gravel.

[YoungO]

yes there is an extra large air stone in the tank. i am thinking about giving the pictus cat and the pleco to my dad to put in his 50 gallon tank.

[YoungO]

these to oscars were a resque attempt. they were the only 2 left at walmart and there was an outbreak of the white spots in a tank next to them. they didn't seem to be sick yet so i got them. i guess they had already gotten sick but were not showing phisical signs of it yet.

[Blinky]

If it's ich, in addition to the salt and raising the temperature, another thing that helps is daily water changes with a gravel vacuum; ich has a stage where the little critters live in/on the gravel, and a free swimming stage. Changing the water will get them out of the tank before they can re-attach their little icky selves to your fish.
Best of luck.

[YoungO]

thanks everyone for all the advice

[daveedka]

Just thought I'd add 3 thoughts:
1. Keep the salt and heat up for a minimum of 2 weeks, and if your fish can stand it push it as high as 86*F. Salt can go as high as 3 tsp per gallon( actual water volume not rated tank volume), but I'd target 2 per gallon so if you are off a little, you won't get too high. Raise the salt and heat very slowly and watch your fish closely I usually add 1/4 tsp per gallon every 8-12 hours until I reach my target at 2tsp total per gal.

2. With a pictus in the tank, do not (I'll get flamed for this) use ich medication, and even if you can't see the ich on him you can safely assume the pictus has ich. It's very hard to see on a fast moving white catfish, and pictus cats are very succeptable to ich.
I have lost more pictus to Ich in the last 20 years than all of my other fish combined. I have never had one survive the combined stress of ich and ich medication both. The only successful method I've ever used with pictus cats is salt and heat. I use Iodized table salt because it's cheaper and does just as well.

3. as was said, look at something closer to 120g for three oscars, 55 is really not a comfortable home for even one adult O. Or get them healthy and sell them somewhere other than wal-mart untill you get a bigger tank someday.

[YoungO]

thanks alot everyone for all your helpful tips and advise. i am glad i found this site.