Weird lesions on my oscar

[OneTigerOscar]

hey now,
for a couple of weeks now my oscar started to develop this weird holes and gauges on his belly that almost looked that he had been in a fight with another fish. but when i got up close it looked like tiny pin pricks all over where the gauges were.
now almost 2 wks. later these "holes" have spread to the top of his head and on his back close to his top fin.so, we went to the petstore and looked in a fish book and saw a picture of hole in the head disease and the pic that it had in there was almost identical to what our oscar's wounds look like. we talked to one of the people who handle the fish department and they recommended using MelaFix (an anti-bacterial for open wounds and ulcers) for 2wks. after the 2 wks. doing a partial water change and then adding aquarium salts.

Do this sound right? Could we be harming our oscar by not medicating him right? UGH! this sucks because we really dig him because he's got a good personality and we've had him since he was just a wee little fellow.
Help please!!
-Laura


p.s we have one tiger oscar and a plectomus (sp?) in an 86 gallon tank with 2 bio-wheel emperor filters.we feed our oscar cichlid pellets,dried krill and earthworms. i have no clue what the ph is at because we don't have a tank but i can tell you that we do 25% water changes monthly.

 

[robertmarda]

MelaFix is a good treatment for hole in the head disease. The partial water change after two weeks is good too. I would remove all activated carbon from your filters as this tends to suck up the medication.

Poor water quality can lead to hole in the head disease so it will be a good idea to have a test kit that can test for pH, Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates. That way you will be able to monitor the water quality and make adjustments before it becomes poor and effects your oscar.

I don't know if the salt will be good or not as I have never tried that with the tiger oscar we have at work. He has been sick once or twice (I don't believe he ever had hole in the head) and after medication he recovered. This tiger oscar is very hardy.

Hopefully your oscar will respond well to the Melafix and have a full recovery.

 

[Menagerie]

[center:6bd9d73fd1] Welcome to AA, OneTigerOscar!! [/center:6bd9d73fd1]

Hole in the Head is an odd disease. You will definitely want to keep on top of the water changes and get a test kit for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

 

[spence0416]

Up the water changes to weekly. With the amount of waste these fish produce they will pollute just about any tank in a month. Oscars are very sensitve to poor water. If you stay on top of the changes you'll eventually see progress with the HLLE in a couple months or so.
Also pay atention to his eating habits. If he is eating like normal he should be able to pull through, if he's not eating and acting lethargic then start medicating the tank.