Hi,

I purchased 6 Oscar babies all are 1 to 1.5 inches about 20 days ago, all were doing well roaming around the tank eating, but suddenly i notice one is hanging in one corner and hardly eats and it looks like breathing heavily as the gills close and open rapidly and also his mouth opens and close too, now 4 got this problem, i am really scared what to do now.

I change water once in a week also vacuum the gravel as well, i have one power head filter and two sponge filters. If any one could help

mazhar.ahmed wrote:


greetings,

6 oscars?!? Yikes. You would need about about 350 gallons for that many....

How big is the tank? and did you 'cycle' the tank before putting them in?

55 gallons should be the minimum for ONE oscar.

Make sure you read the PAQ's and Helpful articles section above asap. Most likely you are going to rehome either 4 or 5 immediately, depending on the size of your tank

6 oscars is ALOT you dont want that many in you tank and plus you would need like a 300gal tank. is your tank Cycled? your gong to want to rehome some of the oscars but wait till some one with more xp tells you what to do because im a new oscar owner my self i have 1 baby tiger oscar about 3 inches and its in a 30gal tank and thats to small for it..

johnnyphoenix wrote:

lol you beat me to it

My tank is about 84 to 90 gallons 4 feet long, it is a running tank and i do clean it as mention i change the water and do syphon the gravel, i try to find some testing kits but could not find in my area

What was wrong with them, tell me how do i treat them, they are very small just 1 to 1.5 inches.

mazhar.ahmed wrote:


Ok I would say most likely your fish are becoming lethargic because they are being poisoned. Even 2 oscars would be alot for 90 gallons, 6 would be impossible. Unfortunately, rehoming 4 of them asap is essential in keeping the remaining oscars alive.

We need some info as quick as you can give it to us:

--Do you use tapwater when you do water changes?

--How do you declorinate the water before putting it in?

--how much and how often do you do water changes?

--what kind of filter and what size do you have?

--was the tank 'cycled' first before putting the fish in?

--what temperature do you keep the tank at?

We need some info as quick as you can give it to us:

--Do you use tapwater when you do water changes?

--How do you declorinate the water before putting it in?

--how much and how often do you do water changes?

--what kind of filter and what size do you have?

--was the tank 'cycled' first before putting the fish in?

1- Yes
2- Yes i use anti chlorine i purchased it from my local pet shop
3- In a week or in maximum 10 days about 10 to 15%
4- I use one power head not the very big one but medium sized and two sponge filters
5- Yes, but i could not find the testing kits in my area, i searched a lot but no success.

Today i will put 4 of them in my other tank, but 1st i have to fill that tank as it is not running

Also i discuss it about my local pet shop person, he told me to put some salt. but i think salt is not good for fresh water fish

mazhar.ahmed wrote:


sea salt works for ich. you would be surprised at how much salt oscars can tolerate. 1 tablespoon per gallon, and NOT done all at once and no longer than 10 days. but salt may not be the cure all... water readings are usually what people here recommend first.

mazhar.ahmed wrote:


this means the tank is NOT cycled and could make things worse.

mazhar.ahmed wrote:


Like Dwencl said that wouldn't be a great idea b/c that tank is definitely not cycled. We'll have to deal with all six of them in the current tank for right now, although how many you could keep permanantly would also depend on the size of the other tank. I doubt the salt is the real issue here as you would have to have been adding very, very large amounts.

Few more quick questions before we discuss the water changes:

--How long did you run your current tank to cycle it before adding the oscars and what did you use (i.e. fish/fishless)?

--Without a test kit, how did you know when the cycling process had completed?

--Also, whats the current temperature you keep the water at?

The temp is around 25 i have fishes in this tank silver sharks and tinfoil barbs but they are not many around 4 to 6 but not very big, i don't know about whether the cycle is completed or not b/c i don't have any kit,i try my best to make water chlorine free i read the instructions and then use any thing,i am running the tank for about 2 months, but other fishes are fine and they never found of any disease or illness they never have problems like not eating or over eating.