white spots on oscar

Question
hi nicole, i have community tank. i do 20% water change every week.2 days back i saw white spots on all over body of red tiger oscar and fins has peeled off from many places. tell me what to do.  

Answer
Good evening Arvind,

It sounds like your oscar has a case of ich coupled with fin rot. This is likely due to water quality issues.

Changing 20% of the water every week is fine if you have a lightly stocked, well-balanced aquarium. A more taxed aquarium needs much bigger changes weekly, double that amount or more. An adult oscar puts a tremendous strain on the biological and mechanical filtration of the aquarium...

A 55 gallon (about 210 L) tank is necessary for a single adult specimen. Powerful, redundant filtration is a must, otherwise problems ensue. The presence of more "big bruiser" types of fish, and there is a real need for a larger aquarium than that. You don't mention the size of your aquarium, but if it's overstocked, under filtered, too small - water quality will degrade in any of these cases.

The first thing you should do is do a massive water change, 75% would be my advice. As you do the water change, vacuum the gravel all the way to the bottom. This will weaken the ich parasites and remove many of them from the gravel, where they multiply. It will also remove uneaten food and feces.

From this point on it will be up to you what course of action to take. You could use heat to rid yourself of the ich infestation, however advanced fin rot often leads to septicemia, which is much harder to treat when it reaches this stage. There are multi-function medications that will treat both the ich and the fin rot, for example Sulfathiazole, Metronidazole. What you need is a medication that will treat both bacterial (fin rot) and parasitic (ich) diseases. Of course, you could use two medications in conjunction, just make sure they are safe to use together. Use what is available locally, or order it online:
http://www.thatpetplace.com
http://www.drsfosterandsmith.com

In the meantime, read more about oscar systems here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/oscars.htm

Please do also browse their section on diseases, where they have answered many questions similar to yours. It will give you some reassurance to read the experiences of others.

I hope that helps. If you need any clarification, please feel free to write back. You could also write to WWM:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/WWMAdminSubWebIndex/question_page.htm

Good luck, and take care.
Nicole