Albino Oscar

[PNW_Libbie]

I inherited an albino Oscar about 3 years ago now. At first, things were going well. He grew and loved eating and ripping up and knocking over everything in his tank. Lately, though, he keeps getting sick. Right now he has a cloudy, white circle covering his eye, I think he may have hole in the head and fin rot. I’ve been reading around on this page to find out which direction to go and I will start doing a daily water change to try and clean up his water. But is there something else I should do? I’ve never owned fish before. And, like I said, he had been doing great the last few years with minimal maintenance. So this is all new to me. I don’t want him to suffer. Should I look in to rehoming to someone with more knowledge so he gets the care he needs? (I don’t actually know his gender but he’s a he to me.)

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Oscars are large predatory fishes that make a lot of mess. If the tank gets dirty from lack of big water changes and gravel cleaning, they get cloudy eyes and hole in the head disease.

Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. Post the results in numbers, here.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for 2 weeks.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Filters should be cleaned at least once a month and every 2 weeks is better, especially for big predators like Oscars.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Wash filter media in a bucket of tank water.

Post pictures of the fish.
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

 

[Metalhead88]

What size tank do you have? Is he in the tank himself? What is your water change schedule? What are water parameters mainly ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite? Most of the diseases you have mentioned are due to poor water quality.

You said minimal maintenance on the tank? You should have been doing big weekly water changes over the years..... seems like things may have caught up to him.

If you can take care of him, I do not think you should rehome him. If it interests you it isn't too late to learn and care for him yourself.

 

[Feza7]

I would do Water changes like the others said and get medicine.get a test kit if not all ready and check water parameters every day/other day.maybe some API PIMA FIX .