General Care Concerns about Oscars

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Go_redfish

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Jul 21, 2018
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A little bit of context for you: I am not new to keeping fish. I specialize in koi and goldfish and kind of fell into aquatic "rescue" when people began giving me unwanted fish. Over the course of 30 yrs I've kept and rehabilitated several species. I always avoided bigger predatory fish and Oscars tho because i dont often have a large space i can dedicate to just one trouble maker.

A few months ago I didn't get much choice tho when someone left a sick oscar on my porch in an ice cream bucket. Its a lutino(?) But when it first came the colors were not very bright at all. In fact it was pretty much just all gray. I have it in a 125gallon tank with 55gallon sump filter ( only fish in the tank). Treated it for fin rot, internal parasites, opportunistic bacterial infections, and gill flukes (diagnosed by means of scrape and scope). Fish was also very malnourished and looked to be in the begining stages of HITH. It is off all the meds now. Still keeping the water quality carefully maintained. diet consists of API cichlid pellet (not his favorite) krill, Repashy spawn and grow (had good results building up sick koi and GF with this) mixed with Repashy super green, live earth worms from a colony i maintain (hand strip them before feeding to fish), and he/she(?) Really likes pealed grapes...

Is there anything I'm not doing that I should be? Anything I AM doing that I SHOULDN'T be? I've tried to do as much homework as I can for species specific care but direct advice from an experienced keeper can be invaluable.

Thanks for reading
 
All I'm not seeing there is the water change schedule, most of us with Oscars or generally well stocked tanks do massive weekly changes of 80%:-)
 
All I'm not seeing there is the water change schedule, most of us with Oscars or generally well stocked tanks do massive weekly changes of 80%:)
I've been doing 50% 2x a week and I check the parameters 2x a day with a drop test kit because he was so very sick when I found him. The tank is in hospital setup still. Totally bare.
 


You are doing an excellent job caring for the Oscar. The Oscar looks good.:) The 125 gallon is great for the Oscar. Jexnell Jexnell has a similar colored Oscar named Toni he takes great care of his Oscar as well.
 
You are doing an excellent job caring for the Oscar. The Oscar looks good.:) The 125 gallon is great for the Oscar. Jexnell Jexnell has a similar colored Oscar named Toni he takes great care of his Oscar as well.
Thank you. This one has come a long way in just 3 months. I honestly wasn't sure he would make it but he hung in there.
 
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I agree sounds like you are doing more than most would do! Brought that fish back from the brink. I applaud you.
Are you a well known aquarist in your area? Seems crazy to me that somebody would leave a fish on your doorstep like a baby in a basket
 
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