New meeting location for the 2023/2024 Season will be at J.A. Dulude arena.  Meetings start at 7 pm.

Oscar Sore

Started by catfish, November 07, 2017, 01:31:30 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

catfish

I adopted 'Frank' from PetSmart - he was dropped off there presumed dead until he twitched for staff and was placed in a tank. He's been with me (assuming he's male as I know it's hard to sex these fish) for about 2.5 months and is living within a 50 gallon to himself.  Used a large water filter with 2 biowheels and ceramic rings before very recently installing a new fluval 404 external filter with three mediums. There is a large heater and long bubble stick, rounded river gravel, two large fake plants, large lava rock for bacteria and small toys (ping-pong balls, etc to keep him entertained).
---
The water question always come up:
NO3 = 0
NO2 - .5
pH = 0
KH = 0
GH = 0
I know strips are not always reliable, but the results were nearly null for any worries.  I regret I cannot afford at this time a more advanced kit. I do water changes every two weeks (25 - 30 %).
---
Back to Frank-enfish
I noticed today he had a sore which may be a bit torn, I'm not clear - I wish I could pick him up and examine but hopefully this image and show clip will help someone help me. Located between mouth corner and gill cover.
---
Image: https://imgur.com/Fyiwc2f
Video (40 seconds long, slowed down - sorry, filmed on a blurry phone, yes filmed vertically - oh well)
https://tinyurl.com/ybxgtcdm
---
Thank you all for your time. Hope I will hear back.

catfish

Not sure how to delete this post I made.

I didn't get any replies so I kept an eye on him and let things go naturally and it worked.

T'was but a scratch and I'm good now.

Mike L

Oscars are one cichlid that can overwhelm a tank due to their size and food cumsumption. They do not like high nitrates. It is important to know what your water perameters are from one water change to the other in order to gauge if your water change schedule is sufficient. My guess is maybe but in my opinion if your changing less then half then your water over time will deteriorate.

catfish

I can't say for sure as it's been a few months now.  He's fine, sore is gone and nothing else has surfaced.
My guess it is he likely rubbed his face on a rock chasing a minnow (I have a few lava rocks for the bacteria aspect in the tank).  Aside from what was seen in the image, gills were good, breathing was good, very good appetite and very active (not laying around listlessly) - to him, it was like nothing was wrong.

He's good now, same ole Frank but I appreciate your comment. Of course it's very important to keep on eye on water conditions.

Mike L

I'm  glad to hear he is doing well. Google nitrate effects on fish.
I try to keep mine at 10 to 20ppm
At the end of a week some of my tanks are over 40ppm dependent on stocking levels. If anything less then a 50% change is done then I'm not getting to my target zone. Anything less then 50% water change will mean that nitrates will continue to increase over time leading to many issues. At 100 ppm your likely going to have fish deaths. 
Maybe the large planted community will chime in on this subject for alternate methods of controlling nitrates.

catfish

The oscar tank has a hang-over-tank water filter with floss and ceramic and inside the tank, a large sponge filter. As well, I no longer fake plants, they're all alive.  Mind you, the oscar has made it his duty to ripe all the larger stems clear off.   :)

Very nice tank, I saw your profile photos.