Confession Time

Well, was browsing through a pet store (unnamed) and was lamenting over the poor little Betta's and thought, man I should just get one... and then thought better of it and turn around and what do I see but a Tiger Oscar near death (who looked albino he was so sick) and two more in the tank who looked healthy but I knew would get sick soon... with ich or who knows what else. Soooo.... I've now had two Oscars in my now 20G hospital tank which was going to be a grow out tank for my convicts (and then Kribs which are growing nicely) for two weeks and they (as expected) are recovering from ich. So far heat (86) and regular water changes with prime seem to be clearing things up (I did do a few days dosing with Paraguard too) but I will soon have two healthy Oscars... one will likely end up in the 56 G, and the other, well not sure. Just want to get them healthy and happy. Heck I'll give them away if I have to.

Call it a rescue or what you will. It was spur of the moment, which I know is a no no in fish buying, but they just looked so cool, and I've always wanted an Oscar. Maybe I need to start searching kijiji again (face palm). All I know is the will get the best care I can give.

Congrats on the Oscars we all succumb to rescue mode at some point in time. Oscars are a nice fish as well.

Those fish are lucky, but you know the store has already ordered their replacements. It's so hard to hit that balance between wanting to save a creature in distress, and not wanting to enable a cruel side of the trade - the selling of oversized fish to people with undersized tanks. I have worked it out in my mind, but it is hard to walk away sometimes.

Agree with you Gary. I generally don't make these purchases, so this is not a regular for me. Maybe the only way we can really help is to be on forums like this... Educating and helping people make good choices. I do make impulse buys, but I always determine to do what it takes to care for the fish I buy. Bought a Blood Parrot before really knowing what I was buying and he now lives happily ever after with us. He gets pampered... hand fed blood worms... would I buy another BP. Nope. Now that I know what they are, but I'll care for what I got.

I've had a few fish over the years that I bought because no one else would and I felt sorry for the situation.

Ouch, I really hope your oscars get along as they grow out,
You are on the long haul with these, they live very long.
The very minimum you can get one in, is a 75 gallon tank, and even that is on the small size.
I wish you luck in your quest!

Thanks all... yah I knew I was in for an interesting journey with this two, but why not... life is short. I'll need to upgrade a tank at some point, but have some time to plan and work at it.

Been there done that, many a times. Not from pet stores but rescued goldfish from bad situations and unwanted strays. However I learned a very expensive lesson last year with a disease outbreak that killed three very expensive fish.

I still get asked, as it seems my name is still out there, but I no longer take in stray fish. My goldfish tanks are permanently closed to domestic fish.

It was a tough decision to make but I can no longer take the risk.

Good luck with your new fish, I'm sure they are now way better off then they were.

Steve

Update on the Oscars...

Both are healing up nicely. No more ich as far as I can tell, but I will keep the heat-treatment and water changes up for a total of 10 days (5 days of paraguard treatment before that). Their color is coming in nicely again and the beat up fins that they had are looking a lot better. One is 100% healed and the other is about 80%.

Would anyone recommend the ich heat treatment beyond the 10 days? They seem really happy at 87, but I think their ideal temp is around 79??? I'll keep them quaranteened for a another two weeks after treatment and then I will be doing some major aquarium overhalls and fish moves... that will be fun!

Congrats FishyPastor! This warmed my heart

This is great news. Well done with the oscars.