Hello. Don't want to be a paronoid android but my oscar seems off colour. I have a Rio 400, two large externals doing the filtering. In the tank is Oscar,3 Silver Dollars and a Texas. They all get on like a house on fire but the last week or so Oscar seems, errmm, just not right. He has a varied diet of pellet, beef heart, blood worm and worms. I tend to mix it up to keep him on his toes. Recently he is just not interested. Normally drop a worm in and he is on it but now he just leaves it. His breathing know and then seems labourered, like hes gulping. He looks as though he has lost alittle weight and he is not as active. Also on cleaning the tank, where there used to be huge lumps of poo, know there is nothing. Could that be the other fish eating it off the bottom ?

Tank routine is 25% change each week and clean the externals a week about. Water levels ar nitrate 0, amm 0 and nitrite 0. Just checked it.

What do you think ? Maybe a parasite infection.If so, what could I use to pick his pecker up ? Any advice would be great.

Many thanks.

a nitrate reading of zero is next to impossible to get. if i were you i would recheck the water and if you get a nitrate reading of zero again maybe get a new test kit.

oscar do not digest their food very well and some fish do eat their waste but im sure if it is sd's that do that. for the laboured breathing is would check to see if the inlet on your canisteris rippling the water well. this provides nor o2 for the fish by increasing the surface area of the water.

retest and post the results and maybe we can eliminate some of the variables

hello ozzy! necro is ight. impossible to have zero reading in nitrate.
oscar sometimes disregard foods when still full. gulping? maybe not enough
oxygen; high toxin in water; or maybe just yawning. with thin oxygen in water,
your oscar will gulp air on the top level, dive & release air that produces
big bubbles in their mouth & gills side.

re-test your water and post it, only then we can help properly.

Hello. Purchased a new test kit. Amm is 0, nirite is 0 and nitrate is 20. Oscar is still not 100%. Still off his food. I have now noticed that his tail is looking ragged around the edges and it seems to have white blotches on it. It dosent look like white spot, had that before. Also his colour looks alittle strange around the head area. Sort of green/grey. I have observed the tank for long periods and there is no agro from the Texas to cause the ragged tail.

Any help would be great. Cheers.

Your water parameters are quite good.

Do you have a Hospital tank? If so provide your Oscar shallow water, keep good levels of dissolved oxyegen (I would combine filtration with less water agitation + large airstone(s)). Keep the lights out and temp steady at 80F.

Watch over for his/her behavior. Attempt feeding, but if food is left untouched, remove it from the tank. Try using peeled boiled peas, usually it helps with indigestion.

When you say Texas, do you mean as in Texas Terror Cichlid? If so I don't think they can be tankmates. Your Oscar might get hurt, even from running away from perceived danger.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

Hello Pepe. Thanks for the reply. I do not have a hospital tank. Realy need one. The texas is fine with Oscar. Been togeather around 8 months, and they get on really well. If I had a hospital tank,what is the minimum size I could get away with. Any other suggestions please. His tale seems to be getting more ragged, if thats the right word. Picking alittle at his pellet food, which I suppose is a good sign, still eating abit.I havent got an airstone in the tank, just the drip bar off the external which creates alot of surface water movement. Would an airstone help matters ?

Thanks for your help.

It could be fin rot but to be sure any chance you could post a pic. are other fins looking ok?? Keeping very good water conditions will improve fin rot but there are also medications to speed this up.only add meds if you are sure this is what your fish has because if you add fin rot med and then find its not this you maybe delayed in treating with another med. there are time spans between mixing meds. is your fish breathing heavy, if so a air stone may help but if breathing ok you may not need.

you can use plastic container for a hopital tank. the kind you have in a loft for drinking water are good. some fish shops sell these and are cheaper and easier to store and move about than a tank. you could just treat the whole tank as most fin rot meds will not harm the filter. this will depend on your tank size too. most oscar owner have large tanks and the meds will cost an arm and leg. most meds will treat 120g £5-ish $10-ish and may need treatment a few times. way up the cheapest for you.

I just read the first post. I would retest water first.

I believe you should rule in or out fin rot. Do a web search for pics of fin rot. Compare what you see with what you have.

I would use at least a 20gal long tank for Hospital.
I have a 30Lx18Wx12H (Perfecto Breeding 30" tank)running 24/7. It's the growing home of my school of nine juveniles Silver Dollars. That's the tank I got for Hospital use with my Oscars and Severums. Any plastic container might do the work as long as you provide good filtration, secure hood (Oscars can jump easily out of their tanks), and enough room for your fish to recover.

My Oscars tails have been "damaged-torn" by their business as usual behavior. In a couple of weeks you can't tell they were harmed at all. So far most bruises are superficial. None of your fish seems like a fin nipper to me, but I could be wrong.

Pepe
Santo Domingo