Could this be Hole in the Head on my Oscar??

[duanes]

To keep an oscar healthy (HLLE free) in a 40 gal tank, a 50% water change every other day would be what I consider minimal.

 

[RD.]

To keep an oscar healthy (HLLE free) in a 40 gal tank, a 50% water change every other day would be what I consider minimal.

I'll go one step further, with an Oscar that is already suffering from HITH, which is typically stress induced, I don't think it is possible even with 50% water changes every day. At least for an adult Oscar. For now, by the looks of the size of that O you might get away with it for a while, but eventually even continuous water changes won't help.

I would recommend a minimum 90-120 gallon tank for the fish, and large weekly water changes once he heals up.
Good luck.

 

[Kevin219]

I am not sure if I should treat him with medication or try something else. I first noticed this about two days ago. I have done a water change and he is in a 40 gallon tank alone. His appetite is fine, he loves to eat! The water quality tests all are in normal ranges. Please help!

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pretty Oscar

 

[Dalfrey86]

duanes is this a condition that could benefit from salt or is HITH a more severe condition that needs to address stress related issues?

Levels seem okay, OP might have mentioned this but I do wondering about the diet for the Oscar.

 

[coleifer]

I will be looking into a larger tank. As I mentioned, I inherited this Oscar from a student of mine. He has tripled in size since he come to live with me. I feed him Hikari Cichlid pellets and frozen Omega One cichlid formula. I was also wondering about aquarium salt.

 

[duanes]

I'll go one step further, with an Oscar that is already suffering from HITH, which is typically stress induced, I don't think it is possible even with 50% water changes every day. At least for an adult Oscar. For now, by the looks of the size of that O you might get away with it for a while, but eventually even continuous water changes won't help.

I would recommend a minimum 90-120 gallon tank for the fish, and large weekly water changes once he heals up.
Good luck.

Agree with this, and in reality its "not" about dosing meds, or salt, those are only temporary fixes.

The only real solution is prevention.
As RD stated HLLE almost always has something to do with stress, because that stress is messing with the oscars immune system, allowing bacteria that would normally be fought off, to become chronically infective.

Too small a tank= stress (a 40 gallon is a nano made for fish that get no larger than 4"), and related to that

high nitrate=stress , to me any nitrate number above 5ppm is stressful, and related to that...other water parameters (although we get the water we get)

add hard or mineral rich water to high nitrate in a too small tank= more stress.
But what we can do, is reduce as much of the changeable stress causes as possible

as stated above.....could be diet....
OP what are you feeding? pellets? feeder fish? meal worms?

 

[coleifer]

I feed him Hikari Cichlid pellets and frozen Omega One cichlid formula. I am hesitant to feed him feeder fish as many do not look healthy at the local store.

 

[The Morning]

Stay away from feeder fish.

 

[coleifer]

Ok - I found a 125 gallon tank in stock locally. I am not sure how to set up the filtration and heating for a tank this size. I have only had small fish before.

 

[The Morning]

Fluval FX6 is a great canister filter for a tank that size. A bit pricey but welcome to the hobby. Lol
I run 2 Fluval 300E heaters on my 150.