Just to make sure, please describe how you clean your filters. You don't want to be too aggressive with bio-media, but you can replace mechanical as a general rule.
How to get fish to take Metronidazole
- Thread starter knicks791
- Start date
I would say for sure that is what's causing ur fish's hith. I would rinse one filter at a time and wait about a week to rinse the other filter and mechanical media. I would do as large of a w/c as possible, as low as u can before he is just barely covered with water. Do those twice a week, you need to keep the nitrates as close to zero as possible. Be very aggresive with the water changes! That is what is going to cure this. Oscars are very nitrate sesitive, and require low nitrates to stay healthy. In the wild they would be in water with almost no nitrates. You will need to keep up the aggresive changes untill he has completly cleared up.
Depending on how the pitting is here is my full proof solution. catch the oscar and poor a small amount of metro directly into the pits and make sure its in the pits pretty good and put the fish back in the tank. Do it 2-3 times like that and do what else you've been doing. I learned this from an old LFS owner here in cali. Works every time. That's what I would do to be sure.
I've done it many times with fish much more sensitive than oscars. Trust me it works. I've been dealing with rare CA/SA cichlids for over 25 years. the oscar wont be out of water more than 30 seconds. This will get rid of the pitting along with the other methods described here. Just put a bit on the tip of your finger and rub it in gently to the affected area.
NorCali, will go with your method if the scars don't heal on their own first after a month of treatment.
Has anyone else done this?!
Has anyone else done this?!
I have never done this but I would consider it a last resort. Depending on how sick the fish is, the stress very well could kill him. Im not doubting that this would work, but first you need to address what cause the hith to start in the first place, which is poor water quality. Im sure with a month of very aggressive w/c's you will see great improvement. You could probably do back to back 80% changes and that would get rid of most of the nitrates in one change. I do regular back to back w/c's and it never has any negative effects. So what about getting a pic of your oscar? Sick or not I love to see oscars. 
