My Oscar has issues...

[Jexnell]

Hi all my red oscar has been with me for a year and a few months, and recently I have noticed it has weird "dots" on its head and that its head is crooked... Does anyone know if anything is wrong with it
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Oscar's do have a lot of sensory pits on the head and jaw. Usually five or so in a grouping.
My Oscar Toni had them as well.
full pic
zoomed in
You can see that Oscar's have these groupings of sensory pits.
Now yes your O's does look like the start of HITT and I would follow the advice given.

 

[FreshyFresh]

125 with endli and ornate bichir, female convict and 4 inch frontosa

Do you have a read in PPM for nitrate and how often and how much water do you change?

My oscar setup has never been ideal, but I can keep my nitrate level never getting to 20ppm between weekly fin-level water changes by feeding lightly and using decent pellet foods. My oscar and green severum have been kept in the same 75gal setup for 8yrs. Like I say, it's not enough tank, but it is manageable.

 

[Cfremont23]

Do you have a read in PPM for nitrate and how often and how much water do you change?

My oscar setup has never been ideal, but I can keep my nitrate level never getting to 20ppm between weekly fin-level water changes by feeding lightly and using decent pellet foods. My oscar and green severum have been kept in the same 75gal setup for 8yrs. Like I say, it's not enough tank, but it is manageable.

I just checked yesterday as my test kit disappeared and the nitrates are at like 100ppm, every week I do a 30% water change

 

[Cfremont23]

This hobby requires a certain amount of time and dedication (work in the form of water changes) especially if you want sizable healthy fish like oscars.
Most fish the size of an oscar need triple the water changes that a basic community tank requires even if the tank is large enough, and if your tank is small, it may require daily water changes and filter cleaning.
It's all about the time you allocate, and dedication, unless you are wealthy enough to hire an aquarium service company to do it for you.
And its not about judgement, its about reality.
If you don't have time, that's what virtual aquarium screen saver is for.

Trust me I try. Is HITH contagious to other fish

 

[FreshyFresh]

I just checked yesterday as my test kit disappeared and the nitrates are at like 100ppm, every week I do a 30% water change

Like mentioned, that's not nearly enough. Tanks containing fish like oscars are typically drained to the point the fish start to flop over on their sides, then refilled. My oscar is so used to this type of water change, he just kind of lays there giving me the stink-eye like can we get on with this please..

 

[Cfremont23]

Like mentioned, that's not nearly enough. Tanks containing fish like oscars are typically drained to the point the fish start to flop over on their sides, then refilled. My oscar is so used to this type of water change, he just kind of lays there giving me the stink-eye like can we get on with this please..

Yeah I now realize that... I think it might be better for the oscar if I give it back to my LFS that has a tank dedicated to oscars.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Yeah I now realize that... I think it might be better for the oscar if I give it back to my LFS that has a tank dedicated to oscars.

Even without the oscar, that tank is going to need much more aggressive water changes.

 

[Jexnell]

Get a Python, they make water changes super easy. I have two 125s and do 75% water changes of both of them every three days.

 

[Cfremont23]

Get a Python, they make water changes super easy. I have two 125s and do 75% water changes of both of them every three days. View attachment 1442623View attachment 1442624View attachment 1442625View attachment 1442626View attachment 1442627

Yeah I got one, I suppose I'll start doing more water changes