I HAVE HAD MY OSCAR FOR ABOUT A 18 MONTHS. HE IS IN A 30 GALLON TANK BY HIMSELF RIGHT NOW AND IS APPROX 4-5 INCHES LONG. ABOUT A YEAR AGO HE WAS IN THE TANK WITH A SHARK WHO ENDED UP BECOMING SICK (SPINE CURVED AND WAS UNABLE TO SWIM OR EAT) I REMOVED THE SHARK AND NOTHING SEEMED TO HAPPEN TO MY OSCAR. LATELY THO HE HAS BEEN SWIMMING WEIRD. ALMOST LIKE HE CANT KEEP HIS BALANCE FLIPPING SIDEWAYS AND UPSIDE DOWN. HE ALSO HAS A ROUND HOLE (NOT INFECTED) IN ONE OF HIS BOTTOM FINS UNDER HIS BELLY. IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO TO HELP HIM? IF YOU NEED MORE INFORMATION LET ME KNOW.

welcome to oscarfishlover

Okay, there are a couple of things that concern me. The first is your tank size, it is quite a lot smaller than it should be. A single Oscar should be at least in a 55 gallon tank, if not bigger. Secondly, your Oscar is a very small for its age. Your Oscar should be at the least 9 inches if it is growing probably.

Could you tell us what filtration you are using. Also, have you tested the water?you need to know what the ammonia is doing, what the nitrite is at and what nitrate at.

I don't know what is wrong with your fish, the symptoms do point to the swimbladder however, unfortunately, this isn't a good sign. As for the small hole, I would like to see photograph if possible.

How often do you carry out water changes?

HE KEEPS THE FIN TUCKED MOST THE TIME SO IT IS HARD TO GET A PICTURE OF IT. THE LEVELS ARE ALL GOOD, I CHECK THEM QUITE FREQUENTLY. I USUALLY DO A WATER CHANGE EVERY 1-2 WEEKS. I HAVE A WHISPER FILTER 20-40 AND OBVIOUSLY THE AIR FILTER. IM AWARE OF THE TANK ISSUE-IN THE PROCESS OF THAT. HE MAY BE A LITTLE BIGGER THAN 4-5 INCHES, HARD TO MEASURE HIM EXACTLY. IM INCLUDING A BASIC PICTURE OF HIM. HES HAD THE HOLE SINCE HE WAS A BABY. JUST PERFECTLY ROUND HOLE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIN.

HERES THE PIC

NEVERMIND I WONT LET ME UPLOAD IT CAUSE THEY SAID THE FILE IS TOO BIG. ANOTHER THING I WANTED TO MENTION IS I TALKED TO A COUPLE FISH PLACES AND THEY SAID HE MIGHT EVEN HAVE NERVE DAMAGE FROM BEING IN THE TANK WITH MY SICK SHARK. DO YOU THINK THATS POSSIBLE?

to upload pics its best to go on photobucket. there is more info on the picture forum about how to do this.. your little oscar really needs a bigger tank and im suprised you dont have water problems with 1-2 weeks water changes. your oscar probably has stunted growth and that might make him not a happy fish. i have had my oscrar for 5 weeks and he is all ready over 5 inches..try again to upload pics as these really do help with trying to find out exactly what is wrong with him...

good luck with him

i think the main problem is your tank size. After a yr your oscar should be around 9" to 12" twice the size you say. as you found with the shark, a small tank will stump your fish growth this is very common with big pound fish in small ponds too.... it dose sound like swinbladder infection but a picture cant show use this. it will tell use a little about the fin problem. 1st you will need to watch your fish for a while. dose it stay upright when not swimming??( should be yes) is it near top of water floating or staying close to the bottom one sided??(should be NO) dose it swim straight at all??(should be yes?) your fish will lay on its side to rest but should move around the tank at all heights in water, staying balanced. If these sound like your problems chance is its swimbladder and you will have to decide if to treat for this?? your local fish shop will sell a treatment but i have used interpet 13 and this worked. you could have more than one problem and this is worth keeping in mind. But to solve both you are likely to need 2 differant treatments. I would keep an eye on water condition as this is most likely suspect as the shark died about 8months(thats right??) ago and wouldnt be the problem now. thats my thoughts anyway.

YES WHEN HE IS NOT SWIMMING HE STAYS RIGHT SIDE UP HOWEVER WHEN HE IS AT THE BOTTOM HE TENDS TO GO TO THE CORNER VERTICALLY AGAINST THE CORNER ALMOST LIKE HE IS RESTING. HE SPENDS TIME ALL OVER THE TANK SOMETIMES AT THE TOP AND SOMETIMES DOWN BY THE PLANT(HE LIKES TO HIDE). HE DOES SWIM STRAIGHT WHEN HE FIRST STARTS OUT THEN HE WILL GET UNBALANCED AND FLIP AROUND A LITTLE BIT. THE SHARK DIED ALMOST A YEAR AGO-I WAS TOLD THE SHARK HAD SOME GENETIC PROBLEM THAT I COULDNT DO ANYTHING ABOUT (CURVATURE OF THE SPINE) AND HE ALSO SAID IF IT WAS GOING TO AFFECT MY OSCAR THAT IT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED ALREADY BUT I DIDNT WANT TO LEAVE THAT OUT BECAUSE I REALLY DO WANT TO HELP HIM IF I CAN. WHAT TREATMENTS CAN I USE FOR THE SWIM BLADDER?

Curvature of the spine can often be caused by tuberculosis and sometimes parasites.

is your fish still breathing heavily? you set your water was okay, ammonia & nitrite zero and no higher, nitrates no higher than 40 ppm? What about pH?

if your water conditions are perfect then it's very difficult to give you an answer to why your fish is behaving like this. Is there a chance you can take some kind of video for us to see ?

HE DOESNT BREATHE HEAVILY, HE IS ALSO EATING NORMALLY. THE WATER LEVELS ARE AMMONIA ZERO NITRITE AND NITRATE SAFE(BETWEEN 20-40), PH IDEAL.I TOOK A VIDEO OF HIM ON MY DIGITAL CAMERA BUT HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM I HAD WITH UPLOADING THE PHOTOS OF HIM.ANY IDEAS ON HOW TO UPLOAD THOSE?

Hi ya, if you look in photo & video on 1st page and almost at the bottom there is an articale about how to upload to photobucket (using photobucket) this should help. I take it you are are uploading in this. you join free,upload pics, then link pic to your message. it should be the same with videos too.and if you are trying this already you could try using less pixels on your camera settings or making video smaller??

yeah photo bucket seem to have problems with large images..i have a 10mp camera and my browser crashes every time i upload pics so i have had to buy a 7.2mp camera now..