Hi....Again!!! this is such a good site for finding things out i'm so glad i found you coz I didn't expect so many problems wid my oscar.

Right he's 6 yrs old (and very big) we had him about 4-5weeks now, at 1st he was off his food totally, then he started eating a little (only pellets and garden worms), then he started changing colour, twitching and jumping out of the water, as if trying to escape.
I've done 3 water changes since having him (every 7-10 days) 25% twice and 70% today, I buy my water from my local family run fish shop who are very good with me they do all the water testing for me even i take my water from ozzy's tank down for them to test, they say everything is fine, amonia, nitrates, nitrites, ph, gh, kh everything is in the correct range, so i know it can't be water quality (well i'm advised its not.)
So here we go.. as i say he is eating a little maybe only 5-6 pellets on a morning, and every couple of days i give in and feed him garden worms which he loved at 1st but now if they are quite big he won't touch them, and has even been known to refuse them totally. I have also tried him with potatoes, cucmber, lettuce, apple, pear, bannana, frozen Gamma's and tesco FINEST cooked and peeled prawns all of which he point blank refuses!!! litterally will not touch them, so inevetibly i end up having to fish it all out. He tries to eat bloodworm but oviously has a struggle as they spread all over the tank.
He has been dramatically changing colour over the last few days black to grey and back again maybe 3-4 times a day, his twitching getting worse and he seems to be eating less again. I have also noticed this evening that his stomach is quite fat/swollen... not dramatically but its not as if he should be fat as he doesn't eat and i think its worrying enough to mention it to you folks to see what you think.

thanks for your time.

well oscars randmoly stop eating sometimes its normal my oscar didnt eat for two days this week and was laying down (not breathing heavy) and today he was all swiming and eating a boat load like normal and with the stomach when its big it means that he ate and is full i can tell you that wat it is cause when i first feed him the stomachs small when hes done its big so there ya go about the twitching i dont know i had a fish once that twitched and thats it didnt do anything after lol

Well, one small thing is I wouldn't change more than 50% of the water at one given time...if you did 2 x 25% water changes in 7-10 days I would have did another 25% for the 3rd, not 70%....

If he's sulking, changing color, not eating, it sounds like he's stressed about something so I would investigate the water myself first.

I recommended doing the test yourself with the API test kits and posting the results. Pet stores don't necessarily 'give the best information' sometimes. Did they give you test result info? Or did they just say everything was ok?

ya i would only do a 50 change unless a fish dies i would do like a 25 percent change every week if i were you im having fin rot problems and ive been doing about a 1/3 water change every day so they dont get infected

hi thanks everyone, I didn't get the test results they jus told me everything was fine. I'll get some more done today and post them here. The thing wid the twitching and the swollen belly is bothering me the most he just doesn't seem right at all, i wouldn't be worried about his stomach if he was eating properly but as i say its far and few between and when he does its hardly substantial.

hi got water results today, here is as follows:- Ph-6.5 - 7, ammonia-0, nitrite-0, nitrate - below 50mg, unfortunatley they had ran out of kh and gh test kits. hope this helps with the dianosis. cheers folks.

Water sounds ok, I would keep up with the water changes, and keep getting those nitrates down.

Keep an eye on his stomach and don't offer him any food for a day or two. See if after that he is willing to eat. I know not feeding him seems counterproductive if he's ill but it's the only way to be sure if he's just off his food or there is a more serious underlying issue.

Can you post a pic of his abdomen?

A swollen stomach could be any number of things. At worst it could be a tumor, or constipation, or a bacteria or viral infection. It might not be anything at all...We would have to get a look at it to see if it's abnormal.

Oscars sometimes sulk when they are first put in a new tank for anything from a couple of days to a couple of weeks but this is usually for babies. Im not sure on larger fish, maybe they sulk for longer. Hopefully someone with experience of buying large oscars and how long they sulked for will chime in

Sometimes if an oscar is fed on only one sort of food, they wont take other types of food. Can you ask where you bought the oscar from what they were feeding him and try the same food. If this is the case and you get him feeding, then feed him that for a few weeks then repost and we will help you with regard to getting him eating other foods

He also may not be used to water changes so regular so do a 50% water change in the next day or so and then dont do another one for a week and see if he settles down

Hi Kie welcome.

This, "twitching and jumping out of the water as if trying to escape" is very worrying.

When the fish does that then there is something definately wrong.
As Johhny says get a test kit (the liquid ones) and do it for your self. They are much more accurate.
His abdomen is swollen is worrying also. Its been posted on the site that they can become bloated. Maybe this is the reason for his behaviour as going of food is very normal for them. Oscar's can act just like kids and pout the lip very easily.
I am having a look at the top of the home page for you about health etc see if there is any helpful articles on the matter...
I'll keep you posted........ Jamie

Found this in the health section at the top of the home page.
Here is the link.

www.oscarfishlover.com/oscar-fish-health

Quote "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" unquote.

I remember someone posting about a severe bloated abdomen. Think it was one of the moderators that posted it.

Just hang on until one of them has a read of your thread.... Jamie

JamieM wrote:


it wasn't me ,so i can't help you out.
But i can only aggree with Delboy and Johhny...
Best bet is stress and trying to get the same food as he was used to.
Mine only ate worms and bugs for over a year, and pellets were a total waste on him.
But my SD's love the Hikari gold pellets very much too, luckily!

What does his poo look like?
The twitching is not normal, if it's a continuous thing, and we gotto find out what can be wrong!

Yes but stress would'nt bloat the abdomen.

If I remember correctly, I think it was Penn that posted it. Someone else posted their fish had an bloated abdomen. In a real bad case he stated that they had to remove the fish and use a Hypodermic syringe to releave the gas but that was in an extreme case.