Sick or Injured Oscar...need help!

[Tifftastic]

I am glad to hear that he is out and about now and doing much better. I would agree that you should start increasing the volume of water you are changing.

As for food you can give him chopped earthworms as another supplement as well as other types of frozen food. Frozen krill is a good one, but feed this sparingly and keep pellets as your staple food. Hikari makes a great cichlid specific sticks and pellets that are good for growth, color and overall health. I give my bichir the Hikari carnivore as it is high in protein and low in fat and has a good amount of fiber. All the fish foods list the nutrition content on the back and you want one for Skippy that has a good amount of protein and low fat. Also check out the ingredients on some of the foods. Tetra is not as low quality as Wardleys and Top Fin, but it certainly is not the best either. If you check the ingredients you will notice there are a lot of "fillers" mainly something that ends in the word "meal." Look for foods that don't list a lot of these, also look for ones that add vitamins. Giving a varied diet is a great way to keep him healthy. As I said earthworms are a great snack I give them to my bichir once a week or so as a fun live food. But do it too much and they get spoiled. Just remember to stay away from feeder fish from the stores as these are virtually nutrition free and can harbor disease and some theories say can lead to hole in the head.

For a really good source of info that you don't have to buy try MonsterFishKeepers.com. This is the sister site for big fish owners. Check out the Central and South American Cichlids section and you will find a lot of threads pertaining to Oscars. There is a great sticky in the Freshwater Illness section on hole in the head which is something every oscar owner should know how to identify and how to prevent, check that out for some good care advice and go from there.

 

[Riviera]

Hi Everyone!

My apologies for not posting more frequently but working full time as a single Mom fills the better part of my days...when night time comes, I generally fall asleep while laying down with my little one. I'm happy to report that Skippy is still doing great, he's quite the fish! I will get the API Master as soon as I can get to the pet store...which is just over 2 hours away. I will start to increase my water change amounts as suggested & get out the siphon & do the gravel. I'm also looking into getting a larger tank for him. I wonder, however, if there is a certain size that he will need to be moved by...my other Oscar seemed to do fantastic in this tank for the time that he was with me (just about a year)... Anyway, thank you to all who've replied and have been checking in on him. I'll try to get a pic of him up here sometime soon! I will take your advice and read over the forums & I'll also check out the links that have been posted. "chopped" earthworms? Gross! I'm having a flashback to grade 6 science class! LOL Oh well, if he'd consider it a treat, I shall go do some digging! What about things like lettuce (my other Oscar "Fish" kind of gave me a "what do you want me to do with THAT" look!), cabbage, peas...and I've been told raw hamburger? (that doesn't sound like a wise choice to me...). I have read enough to have ruled out feeder fish though and also the reason why I don't have any tank mates for him besides the Pleco...the last guy ate my Iridescent Sharks! Thanks again to all of you, I appreciate you taking the time to pass on your knowledge

 

[Tifftastic]

I always hold the worm with a pair of tongs and just use scissors to cut them up. . . it sounds gross but it really isnt that bad. If he is big enough or the worm is small enough you could probly just do a whole worm. I would stay away from hamburger. I have read that fish do not really digest mammal fat very well, although beef heart is sold as a frozen food and will help him grow.
I would say that you should just upgrade his tank as soon as is possible for you. Oscars grow quick and I have had people tell me that theirs reached 12 inches in one year.
Glad to hear that he is doing great. After working in a pet store for a while its nice to see people actually care for their oscars. Keep up the good work.

 

[excuzzzeme]

I am glad to hear of the improvements in your maintenance and as a direct result, you are seeing benefit in your Oscar. Since you have a pleco as well as an Oscar, you need to make a deliberate effort to get a 75 gallon tank at the minimum.

When you get a 75, it would be better to run 2 filters instead of one. I personally run 2 Emperor 400's on a 90 gallon tank that houses a Pleco, Oscar, and a pink convict. The 15 gallon difference between a 75 and a 90 is not all that critical. More is always better if it is effectively filtered.

Water testing and proper maintenance is a critical part of Oscar care. Unlike some fish, Oscars need effective care more. With having 3 of them, I am doing water changes frequently on their tanks. I do my WC on a schedule so that nothing gets missed. I do changes on Wed. and Sat. Sometimes I may slip in a 3rd WC if it looks as if it is needed.

I always treat the fish to something different to eat on occasion but stay with the Hikari Gold as the main food. One of my O's at 2.5 years of age is about 15". My younger ones I give them a bit of flake food (large flakes) as a treat a couple of times a week. Right now they don't care what I feed, they just want something, anything! They just about come out of the tank at feeding time.

They crack me up!

Keep up the good work!!!