oscar parasites

Question
I have an oscar thats around 7"s long and I have noticed these small greenish white critters that have started attaching themselves to my oscar.  They are also on the bottom and swimming close to the bottom.  My fish has just recovered from HITH and I am not running any carbon in my filter.  I was just wondering what these are and if they are harmful.  They look like ticks.

Answer
Hi Andrew.

It's hard to say what these are without seeing them.  In general I would start doing 10% water changes daily on your tank to ensure good water quality.

Carbon filtration on a tank is virtually useless unless it's done through a cannister filter, so I wouldn't waste your time using carbon.

If you can try posting a photo of the parasites to this forum:  http://www.aquaria.info/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewforum&f=67 and they will be able to identify it.

Thanks,

Sean