Definately follow the table salt advice, and the water change advice. Next, in order to help yourself and your fish. Hold back on the live foods and beefheart both right now. While I'm a firm believer that these fish should get to hunt now and then, live foods and meaty foods tend to limit nutrition, while at the same time, produce higher waste levels. Your fish needs nutrition, and you need waste levels very low until the cycle is complete. All of my oscars eat a viriety of flake food pellets, and even bottom feeder wafers. Oscars like to be picky, but they are trainable. Give him very very small amounts several times a day. I really do mean very small amounts. If you think you are starving him you are probably overfeeding slightly. In the event that he waon't take prepared foods at all, use cocktail shrimp stuffed with flake food or high nutrition food of some type (see the article for feeding frozen foods) The spot aapears to be too low for Hole in the head (also known as lateral line erosion because it either attacks the head or the lateral line of the fish) HITH is incurable but not untreatable. Do not believe the claims that Metrondazole will cure it. it simply won't. Met can and will do a lot of good on a lot of different parasites, but it doesn't cure HITH. Here is one article I find particularly informative on the subject of HITH.
http://www.aquasource.org/CMS/modul...ns&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=48&page=1
Your Oscar lloks pretty emaciated really, I would feed him well with high nutrition foods, do some real searching for fungal and bacterial infections (probably why his skin appears to be peeling) keep up the water changes and do the best you can. If you get him past a week you can probably expect to see him fully recover. If he is flashing or showing any more white spots do some serious ich research. Oscars handle salt and heat very very well, and handle meds O.k. as a rule. I do not recomend meds, but would not say they don't work either. My personal recomendation if he has ich is the salt, and eleveated temps. But please read up on ICH first. there is a lot to know that will save you gnashing of teeth later.
Good luck, please keep us all posted.
Dave
http://www.aquasource.org/CMS/modul...ns&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=48&page=1
Your Oscar lloks pretty emaciated really, I would feed him well with high nutrition foods, do some real searching for fungal and bacterial infections (probably why his skin appears to be peeling) keep up the water changes and do the best you can. If you get him past a week you can probably expect to see him fully recover. If he is flashing or showing any more white spots do some serious ich research. Oscars handle salt and heat very very well, and handle meds O.k. as a rule. I do not recomend meds, but would not say they don't work either. My personal recomendation if he has ich is the salt, and eleveated temps. But please read up on ICH first. there is a lot to know that will save you gnashing of teeth later.
Good luck, please keep us all posted.
Dave
I know not everyone has an answer I was just trying to encourage those who might have them not to be shy
also I noticed a wound by his anal fin so I guess that rules out the Hole-in-head desease (I don't know what a lateral line is but I am assuming that thats not it) Can you rule out any others?