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Hi, several days ago I noticed my Oscar's fins were looking ragged and I suspected it was fin rot. He/she will often rough around his tank some, but not usually to the point of hurting himself, so I can't imagine what else it could be. I started a treatment four days ago with a medicine (link below) containing Malachite green. His fins seem so ragged and I've noticed a hole now in each, I can't tell if it's even doing anything. He's an albino so I can really see he's starting to get that red/blood veiny thing happening more so in his fins. Do meds like these take time to kick in and I'm worrying too soon, or should it be clearly helping by now? Thanks for any input.

http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?R=4028&sku=947016&redirectURL=%2fShop%2fSearchResults.aspx%3fNav%3d1%26N%3d0%26Ntt%3dfin%2520rot&Nav=1&N=0&Ntt=fin+rot

sounds like fin rot to me. In my experience, there are a couple of main causes:

1. Stress. When a fish is stressed, it will lose condition and can show signs of fin rot
2. Bacteria. An infection that can only be treated by strong medicines. Most uncommon.
3. Poor Water quality.

Now, given that you have not posted your tank parameters and it's an oscar, i'm going to go with poor water quality. You need to keep an eye on your nitrates and ammonia, in particular. You would be better off buying a test kit than buying any more meds or continuing your current course of treatment. As an interrim until you get your test kit and post your results, i suggest you do a 20% water change and a gravel vacuum. Keep doing 10% water changes daily from then on, until you test your water.

Also, some info on how long the tank has been set up, how big the tank is and the fish sizes would be very useful.

Good Luck.

Thanks for the reply. I gave it a huge cleaning before I treated with the stuff I bought. He'd moved things around enough and had the plants and rocks all pushed to one end of the tank and had been collecting mess there and getting dirtier then I had realized. I started to use a filter carbon with an ammonia eliminator in it (zeolite crystals?) several weeks ago. Hopefully that has and will help some if the extra stuff really does much.

I've never really done all the technical stuff of fish keeping, probably about time I learned. This tank has been set up for a couple years and haven't had any problems until now. It's a 30 gallon and still roomy enough for my Oscar for the time being, but plan to upgrade eventually when he needs it and I can afford it a little better.

I've never had a fish end up with fin rot before, I don't know a lot about it, but hopefully it may clear up on it's own with better water? Thanks for the input.

Last edited by Taurus01979 at 18-Nov-2005 16:36

If you get a chance, take a sample of your water to the lfs and ask them to test it for you. I think it may be to do with water quality, in particular nitrate.
Ask them for results on ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Get numbers from them, not just "its fine" because their fine and our fine are most likely different!
While you may not have had problems in the past your oscar is growing, and you will begin to notice that the tank is not big enough for him. (size + filtration) This is when problems start to occur as the filtration can not keep up with the fishes waste. How often are you doing water changes/gravel cleans?

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

I pretty much gave up on gravel a while ago and just tend to use some larger polished stone more then anything else. Water changes are fairly sporadic, when I feel it could use it really, but I typically do a full cleaning every few weeks.

I'm not trying to put you off Oscar ownership... but it really is like having a dog. If you don't have the time/energy/motivation to keep a dog, you don't have time for an Oscar.

First things first... how long have you had this fish, and what size is it? 30G is far to small for an Oscar. You need a tank around 4' long * 2' wide * 2' high. Thats about 75G.

Gravel - your Oscar lives in rivers. As such, they are use to river stone. They enjoy moving rocks and digging up plants. In fact, i buy plants monthly just for my Oscars to destroy as it's what keeps them happiest. They don't like other toys. You need to let them follow their instinct or they'll get bored, sulk and then become unhealthy... possibly causing things like fin rot!

Cleaning - your Oscar tank will need one 20% water change per week, minimum. You WILL need to remove all plants + decorations and do a DEEP gravel vacuum. Changing the water is not enough. You need to remove the food and fish waste that causes the Nitrate and ammonia spikes. If you don't, you'll never fix the problem. I have 2 Oscars in a 75G, and do 2 * 15-20% water changes per week with a gravel vacuum. My fish are both > 12" long.

If you just want something to look pretty in your 30G, i really do think you'd be better off with a less demanding fish... maybe a smaller cichlid. Big cichlids are all quite messy, but the Oscar is about the messiest. To keep them healthy, happy and in good condition, you need to provide them with suitable attention.

I hope your fish gets better, and i hope that you become an Oscar addict like me If you don't think you can handle the workload that comes with having an Oscar... please think of another fish to keep.

can you post some pics of its fins then we can tell you for sure.