sick Oscars

Question
HI. We have 2 Oscars that are 4 yrs old. They live in 120 gallon tank with an algae eater. Both are pretty big in size. The last several months one fish has had hideous fins. Holes, bumps, tears, jagged edges. We treated the tank multiple times for fin rot, ich, etc with no improvement. A pet store owner said he thought the fins were scarred and suggested salt. The fish still has holes and tears in his fins. The other fish has developed cloudy eyes and his appetite has decreased recently. This has been for 2 weeks or so. Today I noticed that there are very fine little "hairs" covered with bubbles. There are just a few on all the fish in the tank. These are all symptoms of various things that our fish could have. Nothing has worked in the past. Any suggestions? These fish are a part of our family, so we want to do what is best for them! I don't want to start dumping medicine in the tank randomly with crossed fingers. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Brooke Borreson

Answer
Hi Brooke,
 It sounds to me like the two are fighting.  Could this be possible?   Many fish fight at night when no one is watching.  

 The only other possibilty is if your water was REALLY foul.  
I assume that this isn't the case.  For oscars, in a tank of that size, you should be changing about 20% of the water once a week, every week to keep them healthy.  They are very sensitive to poor water.  Have you been doing that?

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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