i got my albino oscar 3 weeks ago he has been very active up till 2 days ago now he is acting stressed and laying at the bottom of the tank ALOT, i have done my water changes and tested the water and that is fine. i just have no clue as to why he would be like this. pluse he will not eat pellets at all. he will take them in his mouth then back out they come. thanks for any and all help. could he be lonley? oh and i am sorry for all the bad spelling i know i fail at it.. lol.. thanks

first of all, welcome on board!

now with your problem.... can you brief us with your tank set up:
tank size; filtration type and capacity; stocking; and how long have
you running the tank. the only thing i can think of is that your tank
is not cycled and your fish is now taking the toll....

I am with Paul. did you cycle the tank before putting fish into it? most beginners misunderstand and believe a fish tank with water is fine for fish. the tank and filter needs to build up a bacteria process known as cycling. please read the link below if you are not aware of the cycle process.
www.oscarfishlover.com/helpful-articles/cycling-an-aquarium

the tank is a 35 gallon it has a hang on back filter made by top fin it is rated for a 60 gallon tank, there are no other fish in the tank other then 5 or 10 guppies that i have breed and raised myself for my pirahna but they wont eat guppis anymore so i am now useing them for the oscar. lighting is from the room there is no light hood on the tank at this time. the water temp is 76 and holding , and there is hiding spots. i truly cant figure out what is going on.

oh and hte tank has been cycled and ran for close to a year. befor i got my oscar. this is a tank that i would keep the pretty guppise if there ever was any. so the tank is very ready to have what ever i want in it. i just dont get it at all. oh and for everyone i am not new to the fish world. i know about cycleing tanks and all that. i have a 125 with 5 pirahna that i have had for about 3 years and many smaller tanks with other things in them. how ever this is my first oscar and with all the fish i have ever had i never have had one lay on the bottom. it is a little freaky to me. now i know that very soon that the 35 gallon wont be big anuff. that is why i already have a 55 gallon set up and it is cycleing right now. with 25 of my guppies in it. i am not sure if i will want more then one oscar but if i get another i have already planed to get another 125 for them. i just didnt know if he could be lonley. i dont know.. thanks guys for all the help.

fine enough... but there are time where people used to clean everything under
tap water and complain the same.... washing the filter and media under the
tap compromises the beneficial bacteria, thus cycle can not be completed.
can you post the date of: ammonia? nitrite? nitrate? pH? putting an oscar
in an un-cycled tank will make them sulk after a few days... that is when their
resistance succumbed to bad water condition....

ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0.1ppm, nitrate 15ppm, pH 7.4 so after doing this water test i see that my nitrites need to go down seeing as ammonia and nitrite should alwys be 0. so i will do a water change and see if that helps. as far as washing things under tap water. i have well water there isnt any chemicals in it. my well water comes out at ph 7.4, ammonia and nitrates and nitrites are all 0. but i still use the right stuff when i am doing water changes. it is better to be safe then sorry. thanks for hte help guys

well, your water seems to be perfect... can you post a picture to see
if it is really something to worry about!!!!

perhaps, your fish is just resting down under LOL

ill try to take a pic and post it.. here is a video on him i put together. this is how he has been up untill 3 days ago.



the lighting is from another tank and is no longer on the his tank. i just did a 15% water change on pipsqueaks tank and the water test is all green lights ahead. while i was doing the water change i took the java moss out of his tank and he sames to be a little more happy. he chased a guppy and he hasnt done that in 3 days. so that is good. i just worrie alot. i treat my fish as if they are my kids. pluse my youngest son loves pip and he is even worried. so thank you very much for all the help guys. it realy means alot.

We tend to worry too much about our beloved fish, it's pretty common.
I read up on oscars a lot before getting my first oscar, but then the worries came too.
Nowadays i just trust my testresults for the water, and know my fish are happy.

Lately there was a member who stated: You're not truly oscarfishkeeping,, if you haven't posted your own "Is this HITH-disease"-thread. (or something like that)

btw the name Pipsqueak suits him right, although that may change a bit once he hits the 12" mark in some years.

oh, i almost forgot, can we see some footage or pics of the Piranha's?
I'd love that very much!

He is a cute and adorable fish.

Oscars I find are quite temperamental. Like spoiled children. He may not like a plant you have in the tank for all you know.

He may be bored with the food you are feeding him.

He may be mad because you don't spend enough time fawning over him.

If you trust your testing routine, and you are sure there is no chlorine in the tank, and you are not over feeding him, it should be fine.

When I first started out, I killed two baby oscars by overfeeding them

Finally, when he does hit 12" you should still call him pipsqueak. I like oxymoronic names. My mom has a teacup chihuahua I suggested she named Brutus. Tough name for a dog who weighs 5 pounds on a heavy day!

Noddy, I guess I am an official oscar keeper, since I started my own HITH thread last week. YAY

i cant wate to see him all big and bad at 12" huge.. lol.. he is my little friend i sit at my desk playing wow and he watches. its like he is my dog. i do worrie a little to much at times. but i see that as a sigh of truly careing. thank you all so very much for all the help it has helped calm my fears alot. you all rock. i only have one video of my piranha they were 6 months old at this point and i sound all stupid in the video.. but i will post it anyway sence i took this they now are 1.5 years old and in a 125 gallon ill try to get a vid of them in that tank asap but here is the 5 piranha.




no laughing at me.. lol..

so i ran to the pet store to get a different type of food for pip and saw a very nice looking gold severum in a tank by its self. for like 2 dollors and thought i would try that as a friend to pip and see if that might be the problem is that he is lonley. omg he hasnt left the gold severums side sence i put him in the tank.. they are swiming together and pip have started digging hte gravle out from around a rock that i placed in the tank. i havent seam him this happy in 3 days. i think that he was just lonley.