# Is my Oscar spawning?



## Splash55 (Jan 24, 2008)

So one of my oscars is kind of acting listless not eatiny much and is getting fat,She has been hovering above slate quite a bit since yesterday







. Now she is above slate and something white is hanging down. Is she spawning?


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## Nick89 (May 26, 2008)

I think thats internal parasites.. Feed garlic. And i think your oscar is developing HITH (hole in the head disease). WHat size tank is the oscar in? What are the water parameters?


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## oscarlover43055 (Jun 7, 2008)

Its a 55 gallon with 2 oscars and 2 africans right splash?


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## Nick89 (May 26, 2008)

Thats a bit overstocked. 1 oscar is a minimum for a 55g, alone. Whats the filtration? Diet? Need to really know the water parameters..


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## Splash55 (Jan 24, 2008)

That's right I have a ahiem filstar XP3 on it and usually do water changes twice a week. If its parasites I have some capsules I can add to the water. I notice the dots on her head last nite and added a bit of salt when I did water change. If its a parisite I will treat the whole tank


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## Nick89 (May 26, 2008)

I wouldn't treat the entire tank, i mean if your other fish are perfectly fine it will only stress them out too with the meds. But that oscar appears to have HITH. Need to feed a wide variety of foods, and maybe do water changes.


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## Splash55 (Jan 24, 2008)

Actually they do get a large variety of food and I have do 40 % water changes twice a week and I have over done the filtration. It you have read my other post and seen pics you will know that I rescued these fish from a 20 gallon tank and giving them all I have until a better resulation comes along. Check out my posts. I am asking if this is parisites and if it is I will treat the tank. If she has them I am sure they can be passed on also they all have been eating fried krill, NLS, live snails, frozen brine shrimp, bloodwoorms, cichlid stix. If you check out the pics on my threads my water is crystal clear and I pull just about everything out of the tank so they would have lots of roo. They are a pair and been together since they were babies so I don't want to break them up.


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## Splash55 (Jan 24, 2008)

These two oscars appear to be cleaning off a piece of slate in the tank with their mouths. Not normal behavior for themThey nudge each other and rub on each other, this normal for them.


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## Nick89 (May 26, 2008)

Ok so the diet is well, water changes seem to be good, filtration seems to be good.. But, just because your tank looks clear, doesnt mean it doesnt have ammonia, or nitrates, which is a big problem for cichlids, such as oscars. You probably dont with the filtration and water change schedule but, You have a test kit? Really need to test the water and see whats up.. Oscars shouldnt have more than 20ppm for nitrates, try to keep it to 10-20 tops. But im going to say that he/she has internal parasites, which can be cured.


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## Splash55 (Jan 24, 2008)

My oscars have what is called sensory pits not HITH Here is a link and my oscars heads look like the one in the pic with the sensory pits.
http://www.oscarfishlover.com/index.php ... -HITH.html


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## oscarlover43055 (Jun 7, 2008)

All O's have censory pits. Your fish has the early stages of HITH, no doubt about it. The censory pits are real real small. You really can't even see them in a picture. Sorry bro, it happens to the best of them. How old is he?


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## bulldogg7 (Mar 3, 2003)

Looks like pits to me, could be the angle of the picture and the lighting. They look small, and pretty cool that you actually got a pic that shows them. Not sure what that white thing is?


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## oscarlover43055 (Jun 7, 2008)

there is only 2 pits on an oscar. I see quite a few other craters.


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## bulldogg7 (Mar 3, 2003)

I see more than 2 here, not the nostrils.


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## herny (Nov 30, 2007)

> All O's have censory pits. Your fish has the early stages of HITH, no doubt about it. The censory pits are real real small. You really can't even see them in a picture. Sorry bro, it happens to the best of them. How old is he?


 lol i even know thats no HTH hahahh nice lol


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## oscarlover43055 (Jun 7, 2008)

Look back behind the eyes about an inch... right before the head meets the body. I'm not sure about HITH I have been keeping fish for awhile and never had to deal with it.


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## BlackShark11k (Feb 16, 2007)

I'm moving this to the ilness, health, and disease forum, i think you'll get some more replies there.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Pick up a product made my Jungle called HITH Guard. It contains metronidazole and another med (that escapes me right now) and will help with both potential problems.

I'm not sure you're dealing with early HITH - looks pretty typical "oscar" to me, and with the diet you feed, the discoloured feces may even be contributed to that. (It's alot easier to determine when the colour of the feces is off when you feed one quality food - I'm in no way indicating that you're choices are wrong, just pointing it out. :thumb: )

I've kept very young (3-4 inch) oscars in a 55G in the past, so it's not unreasonable to warn you that you've got your work cut out for you keeping that water as clean as it needs to be. Even with great filtration, it can be a real challenge! Oscars are the messiest fish I've ever kept!

While treating with meds, I would increase the frequency of my water changes to every other day, at about 50% with a thorough substrate vacuuming. The oscars may sull and pout - mine hated water changes, but they will get over it! :lol:


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## oscarlover43055 (Jun 7, 2008)

How old is the O?


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## cc_woman (Jan 31, 2008)

The oscars were bought at the size of 2 inches back last november, so probably almost a year old. Yes they were my oscars, and unfortunately due to my boyfriends cruel ways he took them out of my 90 gallon and put them in a 20 because they were eating any new fish we got for the 90. Splash offered to house them for me temporarily for me in her 55 until I was able to buy a 230 gallon at the end of this year. They are about 7" long, and have been with her since mid may. One of them did suffer from HITH when they were in the 20, in which I treated them for it. Sometimes scars can remain from where the HITH was, isn't that true? Anyhow, all the fish in my 90 gallon are large enough now that the oscars should not be able to eat any, so do you recommend me taking them back and putting them in the 90? I will remove any fish small enough to be eaten by them, and find a suitable house for them. I have 12 tanks right now and an extra 40G out in my garage I can always temporarily house any fish in until I get the 230 gallon. My fish are fed a main diet of NLS, and supplemented with hikari algae wafers, and the odd treat of frozen foods. I also feed them peas, cucumber and zucchini every once in a while. Splash, you can also try and feed them some frozen peas, it will help clear their insides out in case she is bloated.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

cc_woman, it will be much easier to treat the oscars in the 55G than the larger tank, and since Splash just has a couple more fish in there, they may need treating too.

I certainly wouldn't move them until you make sure they are okay! :thumb:


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## Splash55 (Jan 24, 2008)

I would like my post put back in the right section. /There is nothing wrong with them I ahave make complete documentation of them spawning together. ?They do notcurrently have HITH. They have old scars from it. Right now I am posting pics of them spawning and I would like moved back to the oscar section thankyou.


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## herny (Nov 30, 2007)

vid dont work splash and OMG THE ROCK HAVE HTH WHAT DO WE DO LOL


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## bulldogg7 (Mar 3, 2003)

http://s265.photobucket.com/albums/ii21 ... V03795.flv
here's the link for the vid.
 congrats.


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## Splash55 (Jan 24, 2008)

> cichlidaholic Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:20 am Post subject:
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Cichlidholic just for the record that white stuff hanging from her was hanging frome her egg tube. It wasn't feces. Her egg tube was blocked. The way they were both behaving led me to believe that they were trying to spawn. I have 7 tanks and 5 of them are cichlid tanks. Three of these tanks have over 100 fry in them at this time. I am no expert on fish. I appreciate your time and explaintion on what might be wrong. Too many people like to jump to conclusions too fast and unfortunatley the fish suffer needlessly. I chose not to treat tank. Instead I warmed things up a bit and added 1 tblsp salt. Depending on the angle of the pic the censory holes can look like pits. Thanks again! Splash :thumb:


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## Splash55 (Jan 24, 2008)

> cichlidaholic Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:20 am Post subject:
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Cichlidholic just for the record that white stuff hanging from her was hanging frome her egg tube. It wasn't feces. Her egg tube was blocked. The way they were both behaving led me to believe that they were trying to spawn. I have 7 tanks and 5 of them are cichlid tanks. Three of these tanks have over 100 fry in them at this time. I am no expert on fish. I appreciate your time and explaintion on what might be wrong. Too many people like to jump to conclusions too fast and unfortunatley the fish suffer needlessly. I chose not to treat tank. Instead I warmed things up a bit and added 1 tblsp salt. Depending on the angle of the pic the censory holes can look like pits. Thanks again! Splash :thumb:


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