Badly Injured / Sick Oscar

[Sunshyn]

Today I went to the pet store to buy shampoo for my dog who seems to
have picked up a few fleas at a friends house. I came home with a new
(used) fish tank and a new (used and abused) fish. Alone in a small
tank in the corner was a young Oscar that had been brought in by a
customer for resale. It's dorsal fin, pelvic fin and tail are shredded.
It's bottom jaw appears to have been broken at some point. I'm
guessing it wasn't a recent injury since it can move the jaw. It also
has a really bad case of HITH. Although I'm not expecting to much,
miracles have been known to happen. I've heard many cases of Oscars in
similar, even worse condition, recovering just fine.
I currently have him or her alone in a tank. The tank is treated with
Paragon for the HITH and combat against secondary bacterial infections
and I've added salt to the tank to help speed up the healing process.
I know all this may not make a difference, but I've got to try. I
couldn't just leave the poor thing at the pet store to die, as I'm sure
it would've. They had a sticker on the front of the tank that said "5
bucks, as is." I doubt most people would want to buy such a mangled
animal.
So, anyone have any advice? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Sunshyn

"I'm not paranoid, I'm perfectly aware."

[Heather]

Sunshyn,

What a nice thing you did for this Oscar! How big would you say it
is? What are you feeding it? How big is the tank it's in and what
are you using for filtration? Have you kept fish/cichilds/and/or
oscars before?

Please feel free to email me at if you'd like,
I have kept and bred cichlids for countless years and have also spent
time as an animal empath and veterinary technician.

Sincerely,
Heather

Sunshyn > wrote in message >...
> Today I went to the pet store to buy shampoo for my dog who seems to
> have picked up a few fleas at a friends house. I came home with a new
> (used) fish tank and a new (used and abused) fish. Alone in a small
> tank in the corner was a young Oscar that had been brought in by a
> customer for resale. It's dorsal fin, pelvic fin and tail are shredded.
> It's bottom jaw appears to have been broken at some point. I'm
> guessing it wasn't a recent injury since it can move the jaw. It also
> has a really bad case of HITH. Although I'm not expecting to much,
> miracles have been known to happen. I've heard many cases of Oscars in
> similar, even worse condition, recovering just fine.
> I currently have him or her alone in a tank. The tank is treated with
> Paragon for the HITH and combat against secondary bacterial infections
> and I've added salt to the tank to help speed up the healing process.
> I know all this may not make a difference, but I've got to try. I
> couldn't just leave the poor thing at the pet store to die, as I'm sure
> it would've. They had a sticker on the front of the tank that said "5
> bucks, as is." I doubt most people would want to buy such a mangled
> animal.
> So, anyone have any advice? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Sunshyn
>
> "I'm not paranoid, I'm perfectly aware."

[Sunshyn]

Heather,

It's been three days now and he seems to be doing quite well. His
coloring is good and so is his appetite. He was a bit shy about coming
to the surface for his food at first, but has since gotten over it. He
nearly swallowed my finger yesterday when I fed him!
He's about 5" or 6" long. Right now he's just eating floating pellets.
I was concerned about how well he would be able to grab onto anything
larger with his broken jaw, but I think he would be able to handle it.
For the moment he's in a 20 gallon tank with a whisper filter. I know
its kind of small, but he's only going to stay there till his health
improves a little. I'm planning to move him into a 55 gallon within a
few weeks. I don't have a filter in the 55 right now, so I'm going to
need to start thinking about that pretty quickly so I can get it all up
and running.
I have been keeping fish on and off since I was a kid. Over the last 2
or 3 years I've gotten back into it. I currently have 3 freshwater
tanks running, not including my small betta tanks. I don't have too
much experience with cichids. I have a friend who keeps african
cichlids and another with one of the most gorgeous oscars I've ever seen
and they have been alot of help. I've wanted to bridge over to cichlids
for a while. I wasn't expecting to start so quickly!

Sunshyn





Heather wrote:
> Sunshyn,
>
> What a nice thing you did for this Oscar! How big would you say it
> is? What are you feeding it? How big is the tank it's in and what
> are you using for filtration? Have you kept fish/cichilds/and/or
> oscars before?
>
> Please feel free to email me at if you'd like,
> I have kept and bred cichlids for countless years and have also spent
> time as an animal empath and veterinary technician.
>
> Sincerely,
> Heather
>
> Sunshyn > wrote in message >...
>
>>Today I went to the pet store to buy shampoo for my dog who seems to
>>have picked up a few fleas at a friends house. I came home with a new
>>(used) fish tank and a new (used and abused) fish. Alone in a small
>>tank in the corner was a young Oscar that had been brought in by a
>>customer for resale. It's dorsal fin, pelvic fin and tail are shredded.
>> It's bottom jaw appears to have been broken at some point. I'm
>>guessing it wasn't a recent injury since it can move the jaw. It also
>>has a really bad case of HITH. Although I'm not expecting to much,
>>miracles have been known to happen. I've heard many cases of Oscars in
>>similar, even worse condition, recovering just fine.
>> I currently have him or her alone in a tank. The tank is treated with
>>Paragon for the HITH and combat against secondary bacterial infections
>>and I've added salt to the tank to help speed up the healing process.
>> I know all this may not make a difference, but I've got to try. I
>>couldn't just leave the poor thing at the pet store to die, as I'm sure
>>it would've. They had a sticker on the front of the tank that said "5
>>bucks, as is." I doubt most people would want to buy such a mangled
>>animal.
>> So, anyone have any advice? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>>Sunshyn
>>
>>"I'm not paranoid, I'm perfectly aware."

[Mark Stone]

Sunshyn > wrote in message >...
> Heather,
>
> It's been three days now and he seems to be doing quite well. His
> coloring is good and so is his appetite. He was a bit shy about coming
> to the surface for his food at first, but has since gotten over it. He
> nearly swallowed my finger yesterday when I fed him!
> He's about 5" or 6" long. Right now he's just eating floating pellets.
> I was concerned about how well he would be able to grab onto anything
> larger with his broken jaw, but I think he would be able to handle it.
> For the moment he's in a 20 gallon tank with a whisper filter. I know
> its kind of small, but he's only going to stay there till his health
> improves a little. I'm planning to move him into a 55 gallon within a
> few weeks. I don't have a filter in the 55 right now, so I'm going to
> need to start thinking about that pretty quickly so I can get it all up
> and running.
> I have been keeping fish on and off since I was a kid. Over the last 2
> or 3 years I've gotten back into it. I currently have 3 freshwater
> tanks running, not including my small betta tanks. I don't have too
> much experience with cichids. I have a friend who keeps african
> cichlids and another with one of the most gorgeous oscars I've ever seen
> and they have been alot of help. I've wanted to bridge over to cichlids
> for a while. I wasn't expecting to start so quickly!
>
> Sunshyn

You're my hero! Oscars are extremely personable fish, the closest
thing in the aquatic world to a puppy dog. They're very intelligent,
too -- relative to body weight, their brain size is larger than any
other Cichlid and the second largest of any fresh water tropical fish.
You'll discover that he'll begin to recognise you. I have some readers
that claim that their Oscars will rub up against their arm
affectionately when they are doing aquarium maintenance. Owning an
Oscar will redefine a person's definition of "fishkeeping". Have fun,
and good luck!

--Mark


Mark Stone tractorlegs at msn dot kom
OSCAR Lovers! http://www.geocities.com/cichlidiot_2000/oscar.html
The ".Edu" meens i are smart.