Beat up Oscar D:

NoaDon12

I went to my local pet store today and I went to go browse and look at the fish. When I got to the end, I saw a Tiger Oscar. Alone. But this tiger oscar had hole in the head, hexamita, rotted fins, and ripped scales EVERYWHERE! My heart skipped a beat, but then he got all playful, and he was so cute and happy, so I couldnt just let him die! He's just like my other oscar, Ozzy! I asked a person if he was for sale and the lady said they would give it to me for FREE! Im buying a tank divider, and im going back tomorrow to rescue him! It turns out his former owner bought two texas cichlids from the same store the poor guy is now, put them with the oscar, and he was in for a beating! Im getting the tank all ready for him, removing the carbon filter and things like that! wish me luck!
-NoaDon12

aunt kymmie

I wish you luck, you are a very kind. I like that in a person! Do you have metronidazole on hand? It's my go-to for treating Hexamita. Good luck!!

Romad

Poor lil guy. Good for you for taking him and caring for him. Post some pics as soon as you can.

NoaDon12

Im going today to get him, i will post pictures asap!
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NoaDon12

Is that hard to find??? I discovered that yesterday i forgot to get that! Today im going to a bunch of pet stores today in search of that stuff! I spent $44 on meds yesterday but not one was that long m word!!!
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Kazzy

Poor thing! Kudos for giving him a second chance!

aunt kymmie

They may not carry it at the large chain pet stores but any decent LFS will carry this med.
What meds did you buy? You probably already know this but great care needs to be taken when "mixing" meds.

OscarLoverJim

Bless you for caring about the damaged oscar but I was wondering what size tank you're putting it in with another oscar. HITH is primarily caused by living in unclean conditions and it's difficult to keep a even single oscar in a 55 gallon maintaining healthy water, it's virtually impossible to maintain 2 oscars in a 55 gallon.

I wouldn't waste any money on HITH medicines, they simply don't work and may screw your biological filter up causing more stress to the fish.

aunt kymmie

Not to disagree but Metronidazole will not harm a tank's biofilter. I know many fishkeepers who swear by Metro and I'm one of them.

OscarLoverJim

Nothing wrong with disagreement as long as we are open to fact based discussions. Metronidazole is said to work on HITH per the belief the condition is caused by the flagella hexamita which is by no means a given. There are many updated sources on line discussing this.

Hole in the Head by Adam Dagna of World Cichlids

The facts of Hith

Most chemical medications affect aerobic bacteria at least a little and since HITH is heavily positively correlated with stressful water conditions and oscars' condition readily improves with the simple improvement of conditions sans medications my suggestion would be to do that first.

I hope you NoaDon are successful with the oscar's recuperation and again commend you for caring.