How long do Albino Oscars Live?

Question

I have 2 albino oscars and wanted to ask how long they live? The older one of the two is about 4 years old. He has stopped eating pellits and live food and seems to have a hole in his right gill flap. Also the skin on the flap looks old and crater like. I think he is dying and feel he is suffering. What should I do?? Is he dying of old age? ANYONE know???

Answer 1

Surprisingly, 10 to 18 years. They grow very smart and large, 45 cm.

The hole is a disease. It is probably hole-in-the-head disease. It's curable if not too far along. Go to a pet-store and ask for the medication. It could be another disease, but you can help by getting some good chemicals and cleaning your tank while medicating it.

Answer 2

First of all, do not buy 1" Oscars, especially odd breeds like an albino red. No one knows for sure, but the morbidity rate is super high on small oscars that are moved several times. It is thought to be a change in diet that causes it but that just a theory. Start of with at least a 4-5" Oscars. By the time they get that size they have "outgrown all of the childhood Oscar diseases." You might have to wait longer to find them, but the wait and extra money will be well worth it. Oscars is what got me in the fish business. There was no place to buy feeder goldfish locally without paying 29 cents each, so I just opened a store and never looked back. I never stocked the small Oscars after the first few months of being in business. If I was having a hard time keeping them under the controlled environment they were in, I sure didn't want my customers buying them. I always reccommended starting with the 4-5" fish, feeding them Oscar floating sticks supplemented with the feeders. If you don't feed them feeders you might as well get a guppy. Nothing is more exciting than to see them chase the goldies and see how many the can cram in their mouth at one time. You are under no obligation to pay any attention to me at all, but I bet you will like your results if you do. Good luck and happy Oscaring! PS: Don't forget the all important weekly 1/4 water change. I used to run a diatom filter on my Oscar tanks once a week as well.

Answer 3

Lifespan is 15 - 20 yrs when well kept.
What size tank are they in? An oscar needs 55 gallons to himself...at least a 90 gallon with a canister filter and weekly or bi-weekly water changes for 2.
Where is this "flap"? Cichlids can develop HITH (hole in the head) disease from poor water conditions. What are your water parameters? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH?
Hole-in-the-Head Syndrome (HITH), also known as Freshwater Head and Lateral Line Erosion (FHLLE), is an important syndrome which affects primarily gouramis, angelfish, discus, oscars and large South American cichlids. HITH can also occur in saltwater fish and is known as Marine Hole-in-the-Head Syndrome and also as Marine Head and Lateral Line Erosion (MHLLE). HITH lesions are most prevalent on the fish's head, though they may appear on the fish's flanks, following the lateral lines down the body. Fish with lesions can behave normally for quite a long time, but eventually they will become sluggish, lose their appetite and become hollow bellied.

An oscar has spots on its' head called sensory pits, which are a series of fluid filled sacs with tiny hairs that sense vibrations and convert them to electrical impulses. Both the sensory pits and the lateral lines are responsible for a fish's positional sense in the water. The sensory pits look like little pin holes, generally arranged in a cluster. In Hole-in-the-Head disease, these sensory pits become erroded and there can be loss of the normal coloration (depigmentation) of the skin.Sometimes, these ulcerated lesions expand and coelesce together, forming larger crater-type lesions. They can extend deeper into the muscle and even down to the skull. These open lesions may become secondarily infected with bacteria or fungi and such secondary bacterial infections may infect the bloodstream (aka sepsis), resulting in death.

Please see the link below for pictures of HITH from beginning to advanced to determine if this is what these craters look like.

There is still a lot of controversy about what causes HITH, but the most recent theories include a lack of minerals and vitamins from poor nutrition, specifically a lack of calcium, phosphorus and Vitamins C and D; and stress from poor water quality, especially high levels of nitrates (> 40 ppm), caused by overcrowding, insufficient filtration and/or poor tank maintenance. HITH occurs more frequently in larger, old fish, so it may be related to the diminished immune system that results when a fish ages.

Recommended treatments are better water conditions, better nutrition, more space...and hexamita or metranozidole.

Answer 4

See if this resembles the holes: http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html#HITH

If this is HITH, the other oscar may also get it. This can be caused by a parasite (Hexamita) which can be treated with Metronidazole ("Flagyl") at 250mg/5 gals. Try and keep up with water changes (and maybe throw in a few extra) to keep water quality as good as possible.

Answer 5

Oscars live to around 13 years.


ßübblëš