Oscar Help!!!!!!!

[archer772]

I work with a guy that has 3 oscars in a 85 gallon and he is haveing problems with one of them so I hope someone can help me because I am drawing a blank maybe just brain dead right now. He has 2 that have paired off and a 3rd loaner the 2 are about 8 inches and the 3rd is about 6 inches, the smaller one has scales sticking out and falling off and he says that it looks like the skin is peeling so he has it in a seperate tank for now he also has a common pleco in the main tank, wish he would have said something when it first started about a week ago. He does about 50% WC per week water tests show 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, about 5-10 nitrates, ph 7.8 and temp 78-80, filtration is AC 110 and 2 small PH for some extra current. He feeds shrimp, cichlid pellets, flake and occasionally spinach.Thanks for any help you can give.

Scott

 

[OscarMan82]

i'm not sure what the problem is but i think that is a little over stocked. thay may be part of the problem.

 

[tanker]

i'm not sure what the problem is but i think that is a little over stocked. thay may be part of the problem.

Or the other 2 is picking on him.

 

[Volenti]

Or the other 2 is picking on him.

this, I'd put money on the pair beating the snot out of the smaller one if it so much as glances in their direction, if they'd spawned they may well have killed it outright.

Short of putting a physical divider in the tank there's no way the 3 of them will co-exist peacefully now that a pair has formed.

 

[wataugachicken]

i agree - the pair is beating on the smaller fish. the 85 isn't really overstocked now, though it would be when the pleco grows out more. regardless, now that the two have paired up i don't think anything can be safely added to the tank.

 

[archer772]

That was what I thought but wasnt sure (the pair is beating on the smaller fish) what can be done to help out the smaller one recover any thoughts.

 

[Sploke]

Remove it from the tank and put it in a separate tank by himself with good filtration, excellent water quality, and try to keep him as stress-free as possible to let him heal himself.