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rescued Oscar help...

3K views 23 replies 7 participants last post by  1077 
#1 ·
so....i WAS planning on my new 55 gallon tank being a lake malawi mnuba tank and already had 3 albino zebras in there....well today my boyfriend and i went to petco just for a looksy and there was this sad looking albino oscar. he was laying on his side missing half of one pectoral fin, a lot of his dorsal fin is missing, looks like his jaw is displaced, from trauma or birth defect i dont know. also had hole in the head disease and has some sort of cyst on his lower jaw and something wrong with one of his eyes. so i found the girl in the fish department and told her, she seemed like she didnt care and went about her business (big surprise!!) So...i found a manager an infront of several customers told him that they had a sad looking oscar that looked as though it was about to croak and that i would be willing to try and save him if they could work me a deal. The manager told me if i wanted to take him and try to save him we could just have him!! SOOOOOOOOO......we took him, on the way home i stopped by my LFS and let them look at him....they rec. some meds but i didnt buy any untill i got some advice from here. Now i am in the process of looking for a bigger tank for him so i can go on with my dreams of the african cichlid tank. Right now he is happily swimming the tank checking it out. here is a pic....
 

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#3 ·
The oscar does look distorted and sick but im not sure what specifically. Can you get clearer pics? I would just give him clean water and a good diet. Don't put him with the africans because he will probably get picked on and they might kill him. Oscars get big fast so if the little guy pulls through He's going to need a 55 by himself but preferable a 75. Keep us updated on him.

Never have liked petco or petsmart. I loose half the fish I buy from there eventually.
 
#5 ·
i started another thread regarding the laying on the side deal...but in anycase.....yes he was free. i know he will need a much larger tank. we just went out and got another 55, it was a steal, $75.00 for the tank, filter, hood, lights, powerhead, heater, stand, substrate, and a whole bunch of decos and fake plants(gotta love craigslist!!). so we got that one just for the time being to put the cichlids in and this poor sad sap will have the other 55 to himself. The cichlids are currently in my 5 gal QT. i got a vid of him i just need to find my adapter to upload it on the computer along with the other pics. that one was taken on my cell
 
#6 ·
If he has open wounds you can treat with Melafix.
I hate to say it, but from what you're describing here w/out seeing the fish I'm not sure if the rescue may not be too late already.
 
#7 ·
he doesnt have any open wounds i can see. its funny.....its like he is "playing dead" when someone walks up to the tank he will go hide behind something and just lay on his side on the bottom of the tank but when they walk away he gets up and starts swimming around exploring the tank again. from what i have read, this is not uncommon for oscars to do in a new enviroment. but i can help but to assiciate it with his poor physical condition
 
#8 ·
Thumbs up for refusing to purchase him out of sympathy. I just hate it when people do that!!!

I suggest:

a) Leaving the tank lights off for a while so he can readjust.
b) Giving lots of cover for him to hide.
c) Feeding a high-protein diet to speed recovery, eg frozen worms, red wrigglers etc.
d) Salting the water to draw some of the fluid out of his cyst.
e) Perhaps add some melafix to rpeven tinfection in his weakened state.

Good luck! He's a cute little guy... apparently these fish can be as intelligent and tame as goldfish!
 
#10 ·
I have no first hand exp with them to say that up front. But sounds to me maybe that he's simply adjusting? Just to be safe, i know you'll take good care of him, but you're sure you have no Ammonia NO's readings that would make him act like this?

If there's no open wounds or fin rot or anything bacterial infection style, you won't need Melafix, just sounded to me at first that he was torn up for real by other tank mates before.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I agree,Water changes maybe twice a week with good diet will benefit the Oscar.
Not a fan of medicating fish but in this case, And if caught early,, I would opt for Maracyn and or Maracyn II over Tea tree oil if bacterial infection became issue. Would not use however unless condition was serious for the meds mentioned will affect biological filter and close testing would be needed in my opinion for probable bacteria die off and subsequent ammonia or nitrite spikes.
If case was mild,then perhaps Melafix or Pima fix MIGHT prevent it from becoming worse.
Would feed all of the afore mentioned foods and perhaps some vegetable matter as well.
Am a fan of Ocean Nutritions cichlid foods as well as Hikari's Bio Gold pellets.
 
#14 ·
i have been offering him the hikari cichlid pellets. so far he doesnt seem interested. i left the lights off and didnt attempt to feed until this AM. I went back up to petco this AM to let them know how he was doing and i was ableto get a bit more history on him. from what they say i women dropped him off wednesday night because he was getting beat up by the other oscars in her tank. i guess she told them that he was on a diet of feeder fish, nothing else....i think i am going to have a difficult time trying to get him off the feeder fish diet and on to a pelleted one. I am not a fan of give my fish feeder fish just because i dont know what they are eating...i know this probably is going to sound terrible of me, but i do have some molly fry i cant get rid of....should i try those??
 
#15 ·
You can offer him the Molly's...if YOU can do that/ watch it.

How's he acting this AM?
 
#16 ·
i told myself not to be too diappointed if i woke up this morning and found him dead, but to my surprise he is swimming happily and chasing the plecos in there. As mentioned before he wont eat the pelleted food i offered. he seems to be begging for food though. If i sit next to the tank he will swim up and down the side closest to me and snap at the water line. So this is why i fed him this morning. i was going to wait a full 24 hours before trying to feed him just to let him settle a bit more
 
#19 ·
I might leave the fish to beg for food and then offer the pellets. If it refuses,, net out the pellets and try again the following day. Fish appears to have appetite which is good But I fear the needed vitamins will not be realized with diet of molly fry. Might try offering chopped earthworm,frozen chopped Krill , frozen chopped shrimp, Squid, Mussles, Anything but feeders for they alone will not in my opinion sustain the fish health wise.
I feel for you. I have a Dempsey that absolutely refuses pellets of any kind but will take the foods I mentioned if I thaw them and cut them into pieces he can handle.
Keep trying with different foods and hopefully ,you can wean him from the feeders.;-)
 
#20 ·
I'd also try the food you have at home, over & over again, he'll get used to it and accept it soon enough. I pers couldn't do the baby feeding...
 
#22 ·
Agreed. By offering many choices, the fish will soon recognize that what you are offering is food and then perhaps you can slip the pellets in. Maybe try mixing pellets with garlic.
I have plenty of guppies that I could feed my dempsey but I know once they are offered ,it will be increasingly more difficult to get him to try the pellets. I keep trying and he keeps refusing but I am hopeful. At least he is eating the other foods I mentioned.
 
#23 ·
yes, i have decided against feeding any fish to my fish. wheni came in to scoop out the pellets they were gone and i didnt see them any where in the tank so i am assuming he has eaten them.

@1077 fresh garlic, like smash a clove and mix it in, or powdered garlic??
 
#24 ·
Garlic clove mashed up and mixed with pellets. Can place what you don't use in fridge for next feeding.
Have also used minced garlic in an effort to get fish to eat medicated foods.
 
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