90% of health-related problems, including fish deaths are caused by poor fish keeping
If you are intending on keeping Oscars, or any fish really, it is very important that you know a little bit about fish health. Keeping fish in an aquarium is a huge compromise compared to what their life would be like in their natural environment. The majority of fish we keep come from the tropics where their water is extremely clean. Because of the amount of water involved when keeping tropical fish in home aquariums, it is going to be absolutely impossible to emulate the cleanliness of their natural waters. A fish in its natural environment doesn't have to worry about ammonia, nitrite or nitrate because they have millions and millions of gallons of water at their disposal. At the very best, you would only have a few hundred gallons for your fish to live in, in most cases, less than 100 gallons, a small puddle in the Amazon. Because home aquariums contain such little water, fish waste pollutes the water very quickly. Polluted water contains harmful organisms which can cause illness in fish. In the wild, fish would rarely come across harmful organisms, they are much more capable of warding off infection. In your home aquarium, harmful organisms multiply a very quickly, your fish will always be picking them up. However, if your fish is fed well, stress-free and you carry out regular tank maintenance, the fish can quite easily resist these harmful organisms. Some of you may remember goldfish at fairs, I certainly do, seeing them in bags hanging up waiting for someone to win them. Thank god this doesn't happen much any more. Most of those goldfish won would have had a pretty miserable, and probably very short life due to the fact that most of the people didn't know the first thing about looking after a fish. They thought it would be perfectly okay to take it home, fill a bowl full of water and let the fish live in it. Unfortunately, this does still happen with fish such as Oscars. If you are going to keep Oscars, you really need to look after them properly and give them a first-class environment to live in, if you don't, you're going to have problems. Stunted Growth Keeping an Oscar in a poor and unsuitable environment could lead to stunted growth. Even though the fish may be stunted and stop growing, the internal organs will not stop growing. In the end, there will be hardly any room inside the fish's body for its internal organs. So you can imagine that this will have a detrimental effect on the fishes health. If you house your Oscar in a small tank and he doesn't reach at least 7 inches within a year of you having him, then there is a very good chance that the Oscar will be stunted, as they should reach at least 7 inches, if not more within 12 months. Healthy Food
Various cichlids, especially Oscars are susceptible to a particularly nasty disease called hole in the head. You may also see it written as HITH. There are various things you can do that will help stop this disease developing. The two major causes of hole in the head are a poor diet and poor water conditions. Oscars have a varied diet in the wild. They don't just feed on fish as many people think. 60% of their diet is made up of insects and crustaceans. You shouldn't feed your fish entirely on feeder fish (a feeder fish can be anything from a goldfish to a tetra) If you do want to feed them fish, limit them to a few fish a week and it is probably best if you breed them your self. Feeder fish that are purchased from fish stores have in some cases had a pretty hard life, they may have been kep in poor water conditions and shipped from pillar to post. Occasionally, they may well become so stressed, they develop diseases and illnesses. You really don't want to be feeding diseased and ill fish to your Oscar. Doing this could contribute to the illnesses such as hole in the head disease. Prevention is better than a cure
Hole in the head disease is avoidable. With proper tank maintenance, there is no reason why your fish can't avoid this disease for the entirety of its life. If you start neglecting your duties and let the water quality deteriorate, you will increase the chances of your fish becoming ill. Carryout water changes on a regular basis and your Oscars should live a healthy life. Remember that once a fish has had hole in head disease, it's always going to be susceptible and the disease could come back within the blink of an eye if it is put under any pressure from poor water conditions etc. Beware of saturated fat
Don't be tempted to feed your fish on meat such as beef or bacon. These sort of foods contain saturated fat which is very bad for fish. A fish's liver cannot process saturated fat very easily so long term feeding of foods high in saturated fats should be avoided. If you want to give your fish meat, make sure it is very lean indeed. You are probably best off buying ready prepared meat from the fish shop. You can always make your own beef heart if you are feeling adventurous. Test the Water
Poor water conditions It's probably the main cause of fish Illness and death. It is very important to test the water occasionally to make sure that everything is running smoothly and no problems have arisen. For all you know, your filtration system might have gone pear shaped. If this was to happen and you didn't realise what was going on , it could have a devastating result on your whole setup and you could suffer fatalities. You can either take a sample of tank water to your local fish shop, or alternatively, get yourself a set of tests kits. You can purchase them singularly or you can buy tests kits that include all the most important water tests. They may cost you a few pennies, but it is certainly worth it at the end of the day. If you are about to use some test kits for the first time, read the instructions thoroughly. Some of the tests only require you adding a solution to a little bit of tank water and then shaking for a couple of seconds. Other tests such as nitrate are completely different. If you don't follow the instructions properly, you could end up with a false reading.
Look at testing the aquarium water in a similar way you would do as going to the doctors for your check up. The doctor will take your blood pressure and maybe some blood. Both these can tell him a lot about what is going on inside your body. Testing the aquarium water is a very good way of telling you what is happening within your biological filter. Water tests can tell you whether you are overfeeding, or whether you are overstocked. They are absolutely essential in maintaining a healthy aquarium so remember to carry one out at least a couple of times a month. It actually wouldn't hurt to do it once a week. If you notice your fish behaving differently from normal and you haven't got a test kit, carry out a water change and stop feeding until you have tested the water. One last thing regarding testing your water, let me give you small piece of useful advice. Test your tap water for nitrate. Believe it or not, tapwater often contains nitrate. It can be very frustrating when you carry out a large water change and then do another test only to find that the levels haven't changed that much. Toxic Talk
Fish produce a dangerous toxin called ammonia. Without going into scientific detail, ammonia is contained in solid waste, urine and excreted through their gills. The beneficial bacteria in your biological filter convert ammonia into a slightly less toxic nitrite. Once again, the bacteria convert nitrites into nitrate. Both ammonia and nitrite are poisonous to your fish and should never rise above 0ppm. Nitrate levels should be kept under control by doing water changes. Whereas nitrate is not a toxin, it must kept to an acceptable level. The effects of extreme levels of nitrate can stress fish out, even if you don't realise it. This must be avoided because stress is one of the biggest killers of fish. Stress can lead to diseases such as whitespot (ick ) which is why we always say good water condition is very important with Oscars. Keeping nitrate levels at no higher than 40 ppm, or ideally lower is recommended although many people like to keep their levels below 20 ppm for peace of mind. If your nitrate levels do become very high, your fish may become very lethargic and go off its food. My Oscar is yawning Athough little is known about why fish yawn rather like humans, there is thinking that fish do this to flush out irritations from their gills. It could well be a sign that your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate may be too high. It could also be a case of the fish stretching the muscles in its mouth. Just be aware if you see your oscar doing this a lot. There are products that reduce the nitrates in your water One such product is Tetra Minus These can be added to the water once a week. There are also nitrate filters on the market as well that remove nitrates from your water. These can be fiddly to set up and they have to be watched. Some of them are very expensive so shop around. However, even if you have a nitrates filter, or you are using a chemical to reduce nitrates, don't think this is the green light to stop doing water changes altogether. Water changes are very important as they do replenish certain minerals in the water. Also,your substrate will need cleaning as well. Water ChangesDoing regular water changes will help keep your nitrate levels down. With all the will in the world, keeping nitrate levels at Zero is not easy at all. The chances are, you will always have nitrate present in the water, especially if you house your Oscar in the smaller tank. Putting plants in your tank can certainly help to reduce nitrates but as we have already said, plants and Oscars don't mix very well. Leaving it too long in between water changes can result in pH level dropping very low. Regular water changes should stop your pH dropping below the recommended levels. Since we are talking about the importance of water changes, I thought it might be an idea to run through a few ways of doing them. Changing the water in a tropical fish tank is no means rocket science. However, there are a few important factors you have to take into account. Firstly, you must bear in mind that most tap water contains chemicals such as chlorine. These are very harmful to fish, so any water that comes straight from the tap, into a fish tank has got to be treated. Secondly, you must endeavour to match the temperature of the tap water to the tank water. Sudden changes in temperature are not good for fish.  So, what's easiest way of doing the water change? It really depends on how big your tank is. If your tank isn't particularly big, then using a bucket shouldn't take too long. If you have a tank that is around 125 gallons and you need to do a 50% water change, that is a lot of buckets and probably around two hours, maybe more. The easiest way to do the water change on a large tank is with a plain old hosepipe. What I do here is put my gravel vac on the end of the hose pipe, the other end out the window, and 20 minutes later, you are ready to put the water back in again. Don't just put the hosepipe on the tap and turn it on. I would suggest that you run the water so that is coming out at the correct temperature. Then attach the hosepipe using a very good clamp. The problem with putting the hosepipe on before you turn the tap on is that it's very difficult to get the temperature right because you'll find that the water might fluctuate as the water goes in, which should be avoided for health and stress reasons. I would suggest you use a water conditioner that "instantly" neutralises chlorine. This means that you can put the conditioner into the water before filling the tank up again, or you can do it as the water goes in. As the water is going in, keep an eye on the temperature, just in case it starts changing too much. The temperature might change gradually, don't worry if this does happen. Just as long as it doesn't change dramatically. The same goes if you are just using a bucket. Treat each bucket as you pour the water in, or put the conditioner in first.
There are various ways to get siphon going. When using the long hosepipe out of the window, the best way to get siphon going is to fill the gravel vac with water, lift it up and let the water start draining out, just before it's empty, submerge it again. Doing this a couple of times normally gets a siphon going. You can suck the pipe from the other but this can be difficult because of the length of the pipe. If you are using a vac with a short pipe, there are a few ways to get the siphon going. The obvious way is to suck on the pipe. This isn't the nicest thing to do, especially if your tank is a little grubby. Sucking to get the siphon going normally results in a mouthful of tank water. If you lift the gravel back up and down under the water vigorously, this can also get the siphon going. Probably the easiest way of getting a siphon going is to submerge the whole vac , including pipe under the water. Once it fills with water, put your thumb over the end of the pipe and lift it out making sure you have a bucket ready. 
There are various products on the market that are designed to help you with water changes. One such product is called the Python. The way this works is that you connect it to your tap and then turn the water one. What happens then is that the strength of the water coming out of the tap causes a siphon so you can vacuum the tank. There are a few drawbacks with the rest of us. Firstly, if you don't have a strong water flow coming out of the tap, the suction will be very low and you won't be able to suck up big bits of debris. Secondly, if you are on a water bill, it could get very expensive because not only are you running the tap to take water out, you have got to then put water in. And finally, do you really want all that crappy water going into your sink, especially if it somewhere that you prepare food? I have tried the Python and it failed miserably. I personally don't think that the Python is worth the money. Lots of people rave about it so each to their own. I much prefer using a hose and gravel vac. Certainly a lot cheaper and does exactly the same job. Cleanings Substrate [Sand & gravel]
Cleaning sand is probably the easiest thing you'll ever do. With sand, dirt doesn't normally work its way underneath because of the particles being so tightly packed together. For this reason, the dirt normally sits on top. This means the filters will have more chance of removing it. When cleaning sand, you literally hover above the surface of the substrate. Just close enough so that the suction lifts the dirt and removes it from the tank. Make sure you disturb the stand a little as well so to release any dangerous gas pockets. You may get a bit of sand churn around in the vac, it doesn't normally get sucked out if you lift the vac up straight away and let the sand fall out. We've looked at sand and how to clean it. We will talk about gravel on how to clean it now. With gravel, there is more space in between the particles, unlike sand. This means that debris works its way under the surface a lot easier. This has both advantages and disadvantages. The biggest advantage being that you can't see a lot of dirt meaning your tank looks cleaner for longer. The disadvantage of this is if you don't clean it properly, you can get toxins building up in your tank because of the trapped dirt that is encased in the gravel. You clean gravel in the complete opposite way you clean sand. Push your gravel vac as far as it will go into the gravel. They are normally made of clear plastic so you should observe murky water as the dirt is lifted from the gravel. When the gravel vac clears, lift out, and carry on doing the rest of the tank. There is one important thing you must remember, substrates, especially gravel will have beneficial bacteria living amongst it, so for this reason, you don't want to go over the top when cleaning. Just get the majority of the dirt out. Over cleaning will just remove a lot of the beneficial bacteria which could have a negative affect on how your tank deals with all the toxins. If you've got green fingers and like your plants, use the water out of your fish tank to water them, you'll be astonished how well they do. Talking about pH
Let us mention pH for one moment. The pH is the measure of the acidity in the water. A pH of 7.0 is neutral. Anything higher than 7.0 is alkaline, anything lower in acidic. Oscars like acidic water with a pH level around 6.5 to 7.0. However, they will be okay with levels up to 8.0. However, pH level of 7.0 is ideal. The pH won't necessarily stay the same all the time. PH normally drops at night, and then rises during the day. It can change when you add fish, or take fish away . Fish waste can have a lot to do with pH levels as well. If you've got a heavily stocked Oscar tank with no plants, you may find that your pH is very low. On the other hand, if you've got a heavily planted tank, your pH levels may be higher. What you have in your tank can influence the pH. For instance, bogwood has a tendency to lower pH. Certain types of rocks can also alter have an effect of the pH. Trying to alter your pH level isn't really advisable unless you really know what you're doing. You can cause do more harm than good if things go wrong. Just because your book says the best pH for your fish is 7.0, and yours is 6.5, there is no need to panic, as long as your pH is stable, your fish show no signs of distress, they'll be perfectly okay. I am not going to go into great detail about altering the pH. I've never had to alter my pH and my fish have been perfectly okay. However, there may be circumstances when you have to alter your pH. There are products on the market that can raise and lower your pH. These aren't always a good thing to use on a long-term basis. You best looking at methods that don't use chemicals. It's probably easier to raise the pH than lower it. If you do want to lower the pH, you can put some peat moss in your filtration. Bog wood also has the same effect but is not quite as efficient. To raise the pH, many people use crushed coral. You can also use limestone as decoration, this will also raise the pH. You have to bear in mind that this is not a quick way of doing it, it will be a relatively slow process. If you want to know more about adjusting your water conditions , I would suggest you visit the following website where they have more detailed information.
Oscar Laying down
Sometimes you may notice your Oscar sitting on the bottom of the tank , you may also even see your Oscar laying almost on its side. I'm not going to pretend I know why they do it. What I can say is that in most cases, this strange behaviour doesn't last very long. Oscars are not the most active fish, in fact, they can be really lazy sometimes. However, they normally respond when you are anywhere near the tank. However, fish that suddenly become lopsided, or are having problems swimming can sometimes be suffering from a swimbladder disorder. There are factors that can cause this condition including sudden changes in temperature and internal infections. If they start doing it after a water change, you may have to be more careful about matching the temperatures of water going in and the water in the tank already. If your fish keeps lying on its side, or doesn't quite sit right in the water, you could try taking it out of the tank and putting it in a hospital tank with the water around 5°C warmer that the main tank. Keep the water quite shallow . Medicating the tank with an antibacterial treatment is also an option. On a more serious note, swimbladder disorders can often be permanent. In cases like this, euthanasia is the only option Aquarium Salt A lot of people ask whether salt is really necessary in a fresh water aquarium. I don't use salt and I never have done. I really don't think it's necessary. Okay, salt can help sometimes such as when fish are ill or stressed. Salt can also be used to reduce the effects of nitrite poisoning. By all means use salt in these circumstances but it isn't really necessary on a regular basis. Cuts Abrasions & Damaged Fins 
Something that you will have to get used to when keeping Oscars is that they have a tendency to bash themselves up occasionally. I have yet to keep an Oscar that hasn't either injured itself while squabbling with another Oscar, or swam into an object in the tank. As you can see by the photo, this juvenile Red Oscar has quite a nasty looking abrasion on its head. In fact, the top layer of skin is missing altogether. This probably happened at night as I noticed it in the morning. It probably swam into a rock or maybe the side of the tank.
 It can be quite upsetting for newcomers when they see these sort of injuries for the first time . Let me reassure you that in most cases these injuries whilst looking quite serious, are actually very superficial. There is no need to medicate the tank, just keep your water in good condition, that means nitrate should be kept as low as possible. Doing this often helps the injury to heal reasonably quickly. if the injury looks particularly nasty, or isn't healing in a reasonable time, you could treat the tank with a medication such as melafix. There is more information on this website about medication and cures, it's always a good idea to know what medications are available and what they do should problems arise. The photo to the left shows the same Oscar. You can clearly see that only three days after receiving the injury, the wound is healing nicely
Occasionally an Oscar will damage its fin. The pectoral fins which are on the side of the Oscar are quite vulnerable. The Oscars tail can often get damaged, often you will see a split. Again, these normally heal up reasonably quickly so don't worry about it. Like what I said about abrasions, if the Oscars fin/fins don't start healing in a reasonable time, have a good look at them to make sure that there is no bacteria or fungus forming where the damage is. Bacteria
What is bacteria? Bacteria are single celled organisms that are microscopic, i.e. invisible to the naked eye, you can only see them with the use of a microscope. For this reason, treating bacteria infection in fish is notoriously difficult. If your fish develops a bacteria infection, you may see one, or several symptoms. These could be swelling of the abdomen, white feces that floats, or appears to be very stringy and trails behind the fish. Bacteria infections can also result in skin problems such as slime. It is worth noting that most bacteria is totally harmless, in fact, a lot of bacteria is absolutely necessary for life to exist. You need bacteria in your filtration system, without it, your fish would not be able to survive.
Outbreaks of bacteria infections in an environment such as an aquarium are nearly all caused by pollution. Remember that an aquarium is a huge compromise to the wild. In the wild, you would have so much more water to dilute problems that may occur. You will have natural filter systems that remove all the nasty stuff. In an aquarium that is not maintained properly, you'll just keep building up lots of nasty organisms which if left unchecked, may cause serious problems.
If you suspect your fish does have a bacteria infection, you may need to try several medications before you find one that works. Some medications may need to be ingested, i.e. the medication will only work if it is inside the fish. You can soak fish food in antibiotics, this is the best way of administrating medication to fish. However, this is sometimes not possible if the fish has stopped eating, this often happens when the fish has an internal bacteria infection. In cases like this, a visit to a professional veterinarian is essential as they may be able to administer the drugs by injection.
You must remember that if you do use the medication and it doesn't work, carry out a large water change before medicating the tank again. Alternatively, use some good quality carbon in your filtration system, but remember to remove it before medicating the tank again. Also bear in mind that a clean aquarium is essential for medications to work successfully. It is a complete waste of time medicating a dirty aquarium, this will prevent the medications from working properly.
Good tank maintenance is the key to keeping your fish free from bacteria infections. If you are the sort of person that is lazy and cannot be bothered to do water changes, then don't be surprised if your fish start becoming ill Parasites (internal & external) There are various symptoms that point to your fish having an internal parasitic infestation. White stringy poo/faeces can sometimes indicate an internal parasite. Severe cases of Internal worms such as the tapeworm often give themselves away when you see what looks like thin pieces of ribbon, or cotton hanging out of the fishes anus. You don't normally know your fish has this condition unless it is heavily infested. Extreme cases could also cause swelling in the abdomen. Fish can live with internal parasites without any effect on their health whatsoever. Larger external parasites are often visible to the naked eye. Anchor worms, lice, leeches, cysts connected to white spot disease are quite easy to see. Typical signs of an external parasitic infestation is when you see your fish rubbing (also known as flashing) themselves against rocks, or substrate. The fish may also develop red patches and inflammation its body. These are often found at the base of the dorsal fin. Breathing may be laboured and the fish may become lethargic. Because some parasites penetrate the fishes skin, bacterial ulcers may break out. It is important to mention that the symptoms mentioned here don't always mean your fish has a parasite. Your fish may have developed another disease or poor water quality could be irritating them. If you suspect your fish is suffering from a parasitic infection then action needs to be taken quickly. Get some anti-parasite medication. If you suspect your fish has an internal parasite, you can sake the fishes food in the medication, this can often need more beneficial than just adding the medication to the tank. Before doing this, make sure that it's okay for this type of medication to be used like that. if in doubt, you are probably better off seeking professional advice from a veterinarian who has some expertise in fish. Pop-eye Disease Another one of those diseases that seems to crop up occasionally. Popeye disease can be caused by a variety of factors such as a bacterial infection, poor water quality and a parasitic infestation. This disease has very obvious symptoms. One or both eyes may appear very swollen and protrude from the side of the head. Unless you are not a very observant person, you really can't miss this symptom. It is worth noting that Popeye is rarely fatal. It may only persist for a short time and then go away again. However, action needs to be taken for the sake of the fish. There are various medications that can be used to treat this disorder, one of them is called myxazin and should be readily available at your fish store. Fungal Infections Fungal infections are common in the aquatic environment. Obvious symptoms are cotton wool type growth on the skin which can be brown, grey or in many cases white in colour. Outbreaks of fungal infections can be contagious so if possible, isolate infected fish. Healthy fish shouldn't fall prey to fungal infections easily. Fungal infections can often affect fish that have had physical damage, so if your fish has developed cuts and abrasions, either medicate the tank with an appropriate medication, or make sure the water is in very good condition until everything has healed up. Fungal infections can be treated with a fungal remedy that should be available at your fish store. Fungus can also form on eggs. If left, they will totally destroy the eggs. Methylene blue can be used to prevent fungus forming on eggs but you have to remember that this can cause problems with your biological filter, so you are probably better off removing the eggs to a suitable receptacle before using methylene blue. FinrotThis condition is usually caused by a bacterial infection. Fin rot will normally cause the fins to split, or become ragged. Severe cases will totally eat away the fin until there is only a stump left. There is often a white egg edge to the affected area. There are treatments available for this condition, which are normally antibacterial medications. It's worth mentioning that this condition is often caused by poor water quality so keep up with your regular water changes. Bacteria and Fungi TreatmentsA variety of chemicals and drugs can be used to treat fungal and bacterial diseases in fish. However, their ease of availability may vary from country to country. Thankfully, there are purpose made treatments available from aquatic stores that can be used to treat many of the common problems in fish such as fin rot, a fungal infections etc. if you are unsure what to do if you have health problems with your fish, don't hesitate to contact a veterinarian. They can sometimes prescribe medications that are not available off the shelf. Lump on Oscars lip/Chin At some stage, you may notice what looks like a pimple, protrusion, call it what you like on your Oscar's lower jaw. This is something that is quite common with Oscar. They normally start appearing when the Oscar is around five or 6 inches long, sometimes a little earlier. People have various suggestions to why they develop these strange lumps. Cleaning rocks and shovelling gravel is probably the most common suggestion. However, I don't think that this has anything to do with this lump on the jaw. I believe this is just something that develops as the Oscar approaches maturity. So if you do see this lump one day, don't worry yourself. My Oscar changes colour Colour changes in the natural world is quite normal. Many many creatures are able to change colour for various reasons. You only have to look at squid to understand this. Fish change colour for various reasons. If you have your Oscars for long enough, there is probably an extremely good chance you'll see them change colour at some stage. Let me first say that baby/juvenile Oscars are always a different colour to when they are adults. So as they grow older, expect them to change colour, sometimes dramatically, especially with Tiger Oscars. What you have in the tank can also cause fish to change colour occasionally. The backgrounds, substrates can often influence a fishes colour at times. I found that my fish would sometimes become very pale when first putting lights on with the white sand. Sometimes the colour changes in the red Oscars was quite dramatic. They would sometimes go from quite a vibrant red to almost no red. My clown Loach change colour quite often. When they are fighting, their body colour changes to almost black, pretty amazing for a fish that is actually yellow in part. Oscars do this as well, if they are angry, spooked or when they are breeding, they often change colour. Tiger Oscars are one of the most amazing fish for colour changes. I was amazed how different my Tiger Oscar looked when he used to change colour. However, they should always return to their normal colour. Permanent colour changes shouldn't be ignored. The pigmentation which is responsible for colour is controlled by such things as hormones within the fish. So if the fish is ill, it will often change colour, quite often going very pale. Moving your OscarI thought I would say a little bit about moving oscars from their tank. The best thing to do is take water straight from the tank so that it is at the correct temperature. Now, getting a sizeable Oscar out of the tank can be a very wet job if you dawdle and take your time. Make sure you've got a big net for a start. If you can't catch Oscar in the first three of four minutes, rest up for a while because you don't want to stress the fish out. Once you have cornered him and he is in the net, be very careful when you lift the fish out, they will thrash around like nobody's business. The best thing to do is when you've got the Oscar in the net, lift it out of the water straight away. Most people start panicking, instead of lifting the Oscar straight out of the tank, they hold it half in and half out of the water. Doing this wil almost guarantee a soaking for anyone within 6 ft. of the tank. The chances are, you will have water up the walls as well. You also have to be a bit careful that the fish doesn't bash itself as you are lifting it out of the tank. Just take your time and everything should run smoothly. I've often heard of people using towels/pillowcases that they place in the tank and then heard the Oscar into the towel/pillow so the fish can then be lifted out. Other people use small buckets that they lower into the tank. They then manoeuvre Oscar into it. I haven't tried either of these methods, I find using a suitable net about the easiest way of transferring Oscars Removing an Oscar from the tank
Hospital Tank If one of your fish becomes ill, it is recommended that you quarantine it where possible. Quarantining the fish gives it some space on its own which could be beneficial if it isn't feeling too good. Some medications can also disrupt the biological filtration are so using a separate tank is advisable. There are various diseases such as whitespot (Ick) that can be highly contagious. The last thing you want is nasty diseases spreading to the rest of your stock. A quarantine tank doesn't have to be anything special. It just needs to be fully cycled so that it is ready at the drop of a hat. It's no good setting up a quarantine tank once your fish has become ill, this will just add to your problems. If you have the resources to house a hospital tank, choose something relatively small, something between 20 and 30 gallons (80 L to 140 L) will be perfectly okay. If you don't want to keep a separate tank running all the time, you could keep a spare filter running on your main tank, the filter doesn't have to be a big hefty one, just big enough to deal with a small tank. if you do need to quarantine the fish, just take some existing water out and put in the hospital tank. The majority of medications last for around four or five days, your nitrate levels may rise a little within that time, but they shouldn't get to a dangerous level. It is also probably best to either stop feeding your fish within this time, or limit the amount of feed you give them. Doing this will greatly reduce the amount of waste the fish produces which should help with the water quality. To keep the tank cycled, it will be a good idea to keep a few fish. I have a 20 gallon hospital tank running all the time. I keep the tank cycled using six guppies and three lemon tetras.
There is also another very good reason for treating a fish in a small environment. If you do keep Oscars then you should have a reasonably large tank. The bigger the tank, the more medication will be required, and since some medication does cost an arm and leg, you'll be surprised how much money you can save. I also think that treating the fish in the small environment gives a medication more of a chance to get to work. I need to put my Oscar to sleep, how do I do it? At some time in our lives, most of us have had cats, dogs etc that either become ill, or reach the end of their lives. Sometimes they die a natural death, on occasions you have to help them on their way as this is the kindest thing to do. Oscars can live for 15 years so you will become very attached to them. Their time will come and sometimes euthanasia is the only way out of a horrible situation. Most of us have heard stories of flushing fish down the toilet. This is totally inhumane so don't ever do it as the fish will not die very quickly. Anyway, even the largest turd won't come close to a large adult Oscar so don't try flushing these down the toilet. You'll only end up having to call out Dinorod to get your drains unplugged. Those of you who fish for the table will no doubt have knocked a few fish on the head in your time. Obviously, if you've got the confidence, a swift blow on the back of the head will dispatch a fish very quickly, but it must be done precisely or you just might stun the fish rather than actually kill it. Having said that, I would be hard-pressed to be able to do this to a long standing pet, but that's just me. A sharp knife through the back of the neck is also a proven way of killing fish but again, very gruesome. Breaking the neck, liquidising the fish, freezing, chopping the head off. All will kill fish but would you want to do it? Probably not. Probably the best and humane way of euthanising a fish is to give it an overdose of anaesthetic. Now, this is not as straightforward as you may think. Attempting to euthanise a fish without the proper experience could result in unnecessary stress to the fish. When I had to euthanise my large tiger Oscar, I called upon the services of a good friend of mine who is an experienced koi carp enthusiast. He has used anaesthetic many times and knew exactly what to do. My tiger Oscar was put to sleep quickly and humanely without any stress whatsoever. Now, if you are not able to find anyone who can do this for you, there is another option. Clove oil can be used to euthanise fish when used properly. Please read this section carefully. It comes from a qualified veterinarian So if you follow the instructions properly, you shouldn't have any problems. Since the Internet has come along, hundreds of different fish forums have sprouted up. The majority of them give good sound advice and help a lot of people. I hope that I can include this website To treat many fish diseases properly, you need to know what you are dealing with. There is an unbelievably large amount of different viral/bacteria/fungal diseases in the world, many of which will affect aquatic creatures such as fish. In a lot of cases to find out exactly what your fish is suffering from would mean taking samples of skin and even blood. These samples would need to be to be tested. It could then be determined what kind of treatment is needed. A lot of medications have to be injected, not the sort of procedure many hobbyists would be willing to undertake. So you can see that it is not always as straightforward as asking a question and getting a reliable answer from us. At the end of the day it all boils down to how much you love your fish, and how far you want to go to, and how much money you are prepared to spend to cure it , and hopefully save its life. Finally, I would strongly encourage any aquatics enthusiast to purchase a really good fish health book. Even if you do you consider yourself to be very knowledgeable, you can't possibly know everything about fish health. I myself have a copy of The Interpet Manual Of Fish Health. It is a very informative book with lots of photos which are always very helpful. These are absolutely invaluable and often save you the bother of getting totally confused by dozens of different diagnosis given by people who at the end of the day, are just guessing in many cases, and I mean no disrespect by that comment. This page is intended to give you advice and help on how
to keep your Oscar healthy. Any health-related advice on this websit
is intended as a guideline only. I and many of our members are not
trained professionals. For a reliable diagnosis on a health issue,
please seek professional advice from a trained vet.
|
