Chiclid and oscar sickness

Question
I have a 10 gallon tank with 2 african Chiclids and 2 oscars and one Brim. First one of my oscars has developed white spots on her. This appear and then dissapear at different intervals but do keep returning. Second, one of my african chiclids has developed a rather large white spot on its left side just bove its gill. the other chiclid has begun to start fighting with it quite frequently. Thirdly, i have an over abundence of algae growning in my tank. I dont not know if this is because of the live plants i have in my tank.

Thanks
Josh

Answer
Hi Josh,
  The oscars will be 12 to 14 inches in length when fully grown -- a 10 gallon tank is going to be good for them for very long.  

   The little white spots are likely ich.  You need to treat this with anti-ich medicine really quickly or it will kill your fish.

   The large white spot is likely a raw portion on the side of the fish -- it sounds like that fish was bitten by another fish. This sort of thing heals if the fish is given a chance to be alone and recover.  

 The algae is caused by having lots of light and nutrients in the tank.  Reduce the amount of light reaching the tank and be sure that you are doing regular water changes.  On a tank like that you should be changing about 20% of the water once a week, every week. {The live plants have no relationship to the fact that you have algae growing}

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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