Wart on Oscar?

covergerl · New member Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 3

My Oscar must have scraped his "chin" on something a while back, because I noticed he had what appeared to be a small scrape in that area, which turned into a white, growth on that spot. It looks like a wart.

Now it's huge.

My tank is 65 gallons, it's inhabitants are the oscar and two slightly smaller painted parrots. They are fed live feeder fish once a week, and pellets the rest of the time.

The tank is filtered by a Whisper Power Filter for 20-60 Gallon tank, and heated to ~75 degrees. 1/3 of the water is changed weekly and conditioned with ammonia lock. Ammonia & Ph levels are normal.

They were just put into this larger tank 3 months ago, which was a 30 gallon.

Can you help me?

tina1 · Senior Member Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 651

I'm definitely no oscar expert but I think you should get a good fungus medication. Try melafix or myacin, both worked well for me but I found that after I stopped using the melafix the fungus would come back. Once I used the myacin it never came back. Are there are any sorts of irregularities on your parrots?

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3436

It's just a callous. It's fairly common with oscars because they like to dig in the substrate. Unless it starts getting red or fuzzy I wouldn't worry.

A couple other points though:
You really shouldn't feed your oscars feeder fish. They are a great way to introduce all kinds of diseases into your tank and have very little nutritional value. Oscars are actually insectivores not piscivores (fish-eating). So if you want to give them live treats a much better choice would be earthworms, meal worms, or crickets.

What are your readings for nitrItes and nitrAtes? And an actual number for the ammonia would be good to (nothing personal, but I tend not to believe people when they say "it's fine".) 1 oscar and 2 parrots is pretty heavily stocked for a 65 gallon tank. Also, even though that fiter says it's good for up to 60 gallons, it's only rated at 330 gph which means it's only good for up to a 33 gallon tank. The general rule for HOB filters is you need 10x the volume of the tank turned over every hour which means you need 650 gallons per hour for your tank.

75* is a tad on the cold side for your fish. 78* - 80* would be better.

And just so you know, painted parrots are dyed. It is a really horrible process which generally weakens their immune system (another reason not to use feeders) and shortens their lifespan.

-Chelle

covergerl · New member Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 3

It is sort of reddish in spots and keeps getting bigger which is why I am worried. It is also growing through the inside of his mouth.
I will have to check the water parameters when I get home.

I didn't know the parrots where dyed when I bought them, if I had known I wouldn't have bought them. I learned that way after buying them.

The parrots show no sign of disease.

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3436

covergerl · New member Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 3

Thanks for all of your advice! Can you explain this a bit further?

tina1 · Senior Member Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 651

When considering stocking one not only has to take into consideration the number of fish but also how much waste they produce and their need for territory, and the adult size of the fish. Oscars can produce a lot of waste, get very large, and need a lot of room for territory. Parrots also get quite large and need lots of room for territory. You also must consider how able your filter is to handle all the waste that three large cichilds will produce. I believe this is what is meant by your tank being overstocked.