New oscar that was beat on by other oscars

Question

we went to petco, and saw an oscar that stole our hearts. petco takes awesome care of their animals, but this oscar had gotten really really beat up by a few other oscars about a week ago (they had put him into another tank). they gave him to us for free, and now we have him in a 29 gal tank. hes about 3 months old. the problem is, hes missing most of his top fin, he has quite big gashes in his sides, and his lip looks like he had a stroke. i read to add an apple snail to the tank if we put in our pleco, what would this do? we have put melafix, and salt in his tank for him, and he is pretty active, but will his fins, and scales grow back, and will he have scarring? we do not care if he does or not, i just want to know what to expect, and what to do.

Answer 1

I'm sorry to say, but the fins wont grow back. you were smart in putting in aquarium salt, as it reduces stress and increases the fishes natural defenses against infections.  he should be ok in the tank. at that age, and depending on the pleco's size, everything should be fine. i dont know where you read to add an apple snail, but it makes no sense to me. in a year or two when the oscar is bigger, he'll just eat the snail. my sympathy to you and your new oscar. :)

Answer 2

Actually, his fins probably will grow back. I had a cichlid that had its tail pretty nipped up and after a few months of solitary confinement the tail was almost all the way healed! I have to say snails are better scavengers than fish. An apple snail will even eat rotting food, a fish would leave it. Apple snail (A smaller variety belonging to the same family is a mystery snail) Are very cheap and can be purchased at petco or pets mart. Just to let you know, he will need a 55 gallon tank as he gets bigger, 75 gallons if you really want to pamper him!=)  

Answer 3

Aw poor Trooper! Way to go for rescuing him! He'll most likely have some scarring, but it's possible his fins may grow back. Don't count on it completely though, because there is always a chance they won't. An apple snail is a good idea as Oscars are very messy eaters, but make sure you get a pretty good sized one, or else Trooper will try to eat it as he gets bigger.

Answer 4

Well crazjtk is right ... salt will help fight some infection.. miracyn II and some other anti-biotics would be needed. it will have some scaring and to help it along use a highproteinn diet with aperiodicc dosage of ick remover. This will lower the chance of any parasites in the tank. I had several that were scared for years from people haveing too many fish in a small tank as you saved this one, and you may want to consider getting a 100gal or better. but congrats on saving it !!