Help me

[chris96m]

I have a 29 gallon with 2 tiger oscars one bout 3 1/2" and the other 2 1/2". I did my normal weekly water change last night only about 7 gallons. Woke up this morning to both oscars with hole in the head. Any suggestions on how to fix this quickly it seems to be developing rather quick compared to other out breaks I have seen in the past. Any help would very appreciated I don't want to lose those my oscars they are some of my favorites

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

the tank is too small and has a huge amount of bioload, so until you upgrade it is going to need about 75% pwc per week. they also need high quality food, good temperatures and the filter pads need rinsing in a bowl of old tank water so they are clean but have all their BB.

for 2 oscars a 75 is a minimum for they hit 12in, and often keeep growing. and the fact you have 2 oscars means a likely chance of a male or two, so a fight to the death may ensue when they mature.

im sorry you will get a lot of flak for the tank, but its sorta not fair for the oscars xxxxx

 

[chris96m]

Before anyone else starts with the tank size let me go to further detail. The tank they are in now is temporary while I'm finishing up an 80 gal. The oscars have been together in this tank for over two months now. I'm running a filter rated to an 80 gal on the 29 to help with the bioload the tank has 5" airstrip as well.
The tank is at steady 78 always

 

[chris96m]

Forgot to add they are fed Hikari Gold one pellet each in the morning and again at night once a week they are fed frozen bloodworms(thawed of course)

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

very good thanks for clearing that up

i hope they dont argue! a pair is much better than a single one imo.

well either way the bioload is whats causing the HITH, so doing more of a pwc is veyr much going to help. i do a 75% pwc every week on my 75 x

 

[chris96m]

I'll do another water change tonight as soon as I get some more water ready.

I originally had just the one tiger oscar it looked so lonely so I got another they never seem to fight. Most of the time they just swim side by side around the tank

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

can we have a pic? curiosity and i adore seeing peoples oscars x

 

[chris96m]

Just took u can see how bad the HITH is. Last night absolutely flawless looking this morning this is what they look like

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

overnight???????
im sorry but thats crazy. HITH doesnt get that big that quick from everything that i have heard. or am i very wrong here?
id immediately say they are fighting, although the eye of the left oscar and the fin of the right oscar both have white spotting... nah id put it down to fighting if it wasnt HITH.

they are beautiful oscars though, i cant pick a favourite!! ha x

 

[chris96m]

That's what has me stumped they were perfect on it's face and eyes it was literally showed up after 12 hrs. I was wondering about the white showing on the fin of the larger one he has been growing alot lately didnt know if was from the growth or what

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

shouldnt be i never had these issues. mine grew 2in the first month, then 1.5in the next, 1in so far this month. pretty fast!
can we have a close up of the eye, the head and the fin please? i dont think its a killer disease or anything, but its good to be safe xx

 

[chris96m]

I just left on my way to pick up a 6 gallon to build a nano reef

Will get more pics as soon as I get home

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

oooh i hope to see what that turns out like

if you can get the pics, brilliant. what would you say the white looks like?
- a think sludgey film
- a pit on their heads
- a fuzz on the head and fin and eye
- a fuzz on the fin and eye, pit on the heads

 

[chris96m]

It looks like a pit in their head as for the eye and fin I am not sure the eye kinda looked like a small pit but not for sure

 

[chris96m]

These are the best pics I could get

 

[Aski247]

That looks like fighting to me. The hole on the head could be from the smaller of the two trying to dart away and bashing his head. I say this cause I have kept many aggressive cichlids and it almost looks too white to be, hith but more of a open wound. Either way pwc's are gonna be a must until it's cleared up. I would try two 30% changes a week.

Also often with hith you will notice many smaller spots around the gills. And I didn't notice any on you're fish.

Keep us updated. They are great looking oscars. I'm not a fan of them but I do like the mostly black ones.

Good luck.