# Help On Diagnosing



## JALOOS (Sep 6, 2008)

I have what I am told to be a Latino Cross oscar it has something on its side and need a little help with what it is. Been there for a long time and at first thought it was a tiny wound but it has most definatly gotten bigger. He is in a tank with Red Oscar and 6 Red Parrots. The water is all good,regular changes of at least 30% every week, no other fish shows anything like this.










What it started as










What it has gotten to be.

He or she has gotten somewhat lathergic lately and has what apears to be some equilibrium issues. If anyone can give me some clues on what it is and a cure would apreaciate it.


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## djoneser (Mar 20, 2008)

I can't really tell from the pictures. Is that 'wound' extruded or intruded? ie. is it a growth or a missing patch of flesh? If it is missing flesh/scales, my first guess would be that he is rubbing up against something in the tank. Maybe there is something in the normal swimming path that he is catching that side on? the underside of a branch or something? sleeping flush on a heater?

Can you get a better picture of the affected area? Closeup, different angles, good focus? What is the time interval between the 2 photos you included? What are your actual water parameters (not just "OK", actual numbers)? Tank size?

btw that is a Lutino Red Oscar, not latino


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## JALOOS (Sep 6, 2008)

Thanks will get better pics tomorrow when lights are on. Will do a thourough water test as well.


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## JALOOS (Sep 6, 2008)

The "wound" is definatly intruded and resembles a missing patch of skin. I wish I could believe

it was a wound from scraping something but what started out as a dot has become elongated over a

period of about 3 months. He can't sleep on the heater as it is mounted vertically and I have

never noticed him hanging in that area.

As mentioned b4 there is a Red Oscar in with him and he shows no signs of this nor do the 6 Red

Parrots. He or she has also taken to laying on its side on the bottom in the last day or so. It

will get up as soon as I get near the tank and has definatly not lost its appetite, although

didn't raise too much interest when live guppies were added the other day like the other

inhabitants did. Noticed it tends to swim with its front (nose) up more so and not level

anymore.

55 gal tank, crushed coral and shell substrate, with 2 large rocks, a piece of driftwood and

some plastic plants.

Penguin bio wheel 350 HOB
Aqua-tech 30-60 HOB
Knock Off of a Marineland C-360 Canister Filter (SunSun works well so far)
200 watt submersible heater keeps temp consistant

temp 79 F
ph 7.4 to 7.8
Ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate <20 ppm
GH 160 ppm or 8.96 dH
KH 80 ppm or 4.48 dH (CaCO3)
CH 60 ppm

I don't mess with the water parameters and the ph and hardness are what is from the tap water

and tank substrate ect. I do add 1 tbs of sea salt, 3 tbs of aquarium salt and 1/2 tbs of epsom

salt to 30 gallons of water when doing water changes only. I use Kent Ammonia Detox and Kent Pro

Tech Coat in all my tanks (for over a year in 5 seperate tanks) to remove chlorine, chloramine

and to detoxify ammonia and neutralize heavy metals. Water is clear but has a tinge of tannis

from the driftwood, clears up at water change.


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## JALOOS (Sep 6, 2008)

Update. Patient has been moved to a 10 gallon hospital tank as it did not want to sit upright and now spends most of its time on its side laying on the bottom. Am thinking he won't make the day.


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## JALOOS (Sep 6, 2008)

Some better pics still hard to get good ones esp wit it on its side like that.


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## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

that really looks like an oppression wound to me. it's in a high suspect area for S/A cichlids. sub dominate fish often turn to one side, when approached. i realize you mentioned never seeing such behavior, but....well, i hope it pulls through for you. pretty fish.


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## djoneser (Mar 20, 2008)

Wow that's a hard sulk going on in that QT! (I hope it is a sulk and not more serious)

If it is not an object that caused the wound, I wonder if you might have an overactive plecostomus? Plecos that are underfed (or think they are) will sometimes go after a sleeping fish's slime coat during the night (I don't see you listing one, just a guess). Wound would start small, but if it continued, get larger over time...

I am not a medical expert, but with an open wound, some melafix/pimafix might be a good idea in the QT. Water parameters seem fine. I will cross my fingers and hope for a speedy recovery


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## eraserhead (Sep 25, 2007)

Is he laying like that because he's passed out, or is that how he acts? It looks like something took a chunk out of him, and maybe a secondary fungus or something. I had some aggression in my girlfriend's 55gal african tank, and her polystigma had one that looked just like that. I got some bad luck and got a tainted batch of melafix though... I dosed the tank and within half an hour we had 5 dead fish. Three water changes stopped that issue. Needless to say, I didn't add any more melafix, and now the fish are fine. Sorry to get off topic there.


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## Morpheus (Nov 12, 2008)

You have 2 oscars and 6 red parrots in a 55 gallon?


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## JALOOS (Sep 6, 2008)

There is a Pleco in the tank not sure if he is aggressive enough to actually go after the oscar. He is moved and still looking pretty listless have added melafix and will see if that helps.

"You have 2 oscars and 6 red parrots in a 55 gallon?"

Yes i do, well 1 oscar now. With diligence it is working out just fine, water parameters are in check and the tank is definatly got adequate filtration. So far so good and yes the Oscar had the spot b4 the addition of the 2nd oscar and the parrots.

Guess its just a waiting game now i guess.

thanks for the help all. :thumb:


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## JALOOS (Sep 6, 2008)

Whatever that spot is seems to have affected his equilibrium so to speak. He is showing more intterest in food and is more mobile although he still spends time on his side flat on the bottom. When he is swimming it seems to be only using the pectoral fins and has the apearance of dragging his butt so to speak. It cannot nose down to pick up food from the bottom, in attempting he rolls over and tries to retrieve on its side.

Any chance whatever this apears to be has messed up its lateral line and messed up his sensory organs enogh to do that? If so any idea if it will heal or is putting the poor bugger down the right thing to do.


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## JALOOS (Sep 6, 2008)

Man seemed to have better response to my questions before someone so rudely moved it to a generic disease section.

:-?


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## getwithit (Jan 13, 2008)

i have seen pleco's go after a jack dempsy of mine and they leave an pretty clear suction mark on the fish. it almost looks like that right in the front from the pictures and perhaps he started scratching it and made it worse. as far as melafix i noticed the recomended dose seems to high, my fish started getting "rapidly ill" the first time i used it...now i do a 1/4 the dose and it seems to work fine. there may be a bacterial infection causeing him to itch too.
well anyway that is probably the coolest colored oscar i've seen. gl


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## JALOOS (Sep 6, 2008)

After a week of treatment it apears the poor bugger is feeling a little better but the motor skills are definatly not returning. Doesn't look like it will recover from whatever it is that id=s wrong with him. Unfortunatly looks like it is time to put it down. Dam was a good looking fish too.


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## morningsky (Apr 22, 2008)

I skimmed thru your thread again. Did you treat with any antibiotics? If he is still in the ten gallon I would try antibiotics before euthanizing him.

Maracyn or Maracyn II-can be combined.


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## JALOOS (Sep 6, 2008)

After another week of treatment with Maracyn still no improvement in his motor skills so I put the poor bugger to rest. Man not knowing what the issue was is the hardest thing to take.


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## morningsky (Apr 22, 2008)

Sorry about your fish.  I think you did the right thing. It is wierd that it would not heal. I wonder what happened too.


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## JALOOS (Sep 6, 2008)

Ya its odd as I have another oscar in the tank it was from and all is well there. The Parrots are far too messed up in the mouth to do any nipping just usless pushing around and bickering and by the looks of it the pleco is far too docile for any damage to occur. It may have been some type of infection who knows but by the looks of it did enough damage to the lateral line system that it was beyond healing and left me with for the most part a flounder of a fish. It surely wasn't getting enough to eat the way it was going and to expect a fish to heal well under poor nutrition was not going to happen. Figured there are plenty more Oscars out there that the suffering on this poor bugger wasn't fair to it.


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