I have two Oscars in my tank. One of the two appears to be choking. S/he has been opening and closing its mouth for hours now. It seems as if there is no air to breath. Yet the other Oscar the same size is not behaving in this way. The tank is 76 degrees steady and the tank levels are coming out normal. I am not sure what is wrong here... Do the act like this sometimes for no reason? Or is there a serious underlying problem?\


Thanks

do u mean its Yawning a lot? Oscars Yawn a lot when the water conditions r not right.
but my one also opens and closes its mouth a lot sometimes but not always, i think its normal.

S/he has been doing it now for about 8-10 hours. Non-stop. Just opening and closing... It really worries me. It doesn't seem right at all.

Ok, so I did an approximately 80-85% water change. Hoping it would help. Well it did... but only a little. S/he is still seeming to gasp but slower than S/he was before. What else can I do?

well, do u have airstones in the tank? lots of oxygen may help, is the water temperature ok? worm water means less oxygen so check the temperature. my oscar sometimes gasp after a heavy meal.

im not sure its choking coz mine had a piece of beef heart stuck in his mouth for half the day the other day and he kept doing this untill he finally got it down the gullet.

keep an eye on him and post the water test for to see

It sounds to me like your oscar is breathing heavy. This is usually a sign that something is wrong and can be serious

You tank temperature is ok at 76 but i would increase it to about 79. However i dont think this is the cause of the problem

Can you test your water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as poor water quality might be the cause. Also how big is the tank, how long has it been set up and other than your 2 oscars are there any other fish in the tank

I agree with the above. It may also be there are low oxygen levels, in which case raising the temp will be bad because less oxygen will be present. However, before you do anything to the tank other than water changes, get a testing kit and see what the ammonia, nitrate, nitrite and ph levels are. If their fine i would suggest adding another aerator and airstone.

Just some additional thoughts to what's already been said: Water quality or a too high temp can of course be a problem, yet since you said it is only the one Oscar behaving like that, I'd think of something else first (doesn't mean it wouldn't be a good idea to test the water).
I've also experienced already what Vbaby said, in that case it should get better on its own again in a while though. Can you look into its mouth by chance if you can see anything that might have gotten stuck, just to be safe? And another stupid question probably but just to make sure: Are the fish getting along well? Fish that are stressed for whatever reason - like being bullied - tend to gasp as well.

I purchased a new air pump and water stone and everything seems to be alright now.

Thanks for all the advise!