hello everyone
i have a orange and black oscar who we have had 3 yrs and is 9 in long
couple weeks ago he started laying sideways on toop of water he tryes to push his self to the bottom of the tank but its like he can only float he moves his fins and trys to push down splashes water all over in the process hes in a 40 gal tank with only a chinese sucker fish bout 5 in long i would really apprechat any help hes not laying on top all the time some times hes veritcal,fins moving but he cant swimm around he stays in one spot thank you danille

Welcome to ofl

I have got a Jade Cichlid that is doing exactly the same. He spends most of his time pointing vertically down floating just under the water, only occasionally making his way down. However, he seems to want to eat okay which is why I haven't euthanised him. However I don't like watching him struggle which is why I think that I am going to have to euthanised him at some stage.

I think this is possibly due to a swim bladder disorder. If fish have problems with their swim bladder they can't maintain buoyancy and matters when you see them struggling to stay upright and often float to the top of the water. I don't think there's much you can do when this happens because it is normally not treatable.

However in the meantime I think you should test your water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and PH. It would be handy to know what condition your water is in.

i concur with ofl...sound like a swim bladder

ok thanks sad to hear ill ck the water asap thanks alot

I'm sorry that our answers weren't more positive.

yeah, sorry mate that sounds like sbd. There are, however, some remedies that may of may not help.

they are as follows: feed pellets soaked in garlic juice and/or peas. Also, turn the tank lights off and add some melafix if you can get some. Also, at this point they are extremely prone to nitrates, so do a few water changes.

My lutino O got SBD a while back, unfortunately he didn't make it.

Good Luck,
Art

My Jade cichlid has had this condition for ages and it cannot be feeling ill because he always wants to feed, although it's quite difficult for him at times. That's why I have been so reluctant to give him the last rites

ok thanks for all the help atleas we know now and i will take all ur advice,my husband says he hasnt been eating for a couple days so we'll see ok thanks again everyone

Yep. Best of luck mate, hope he gets better

artemis1 wrote:


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artemis1 wrote:



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i may be late but still gonna give some inputs:
there is no cure yet for swim bladder problem but
i would like to share my experience. as long as your
fish still take foods, you have a chance.

if you have hospital tank, hospitalized the sick fish.
put some salt at 1 tablespoon per 25 gal water. raised
the temp to 80 deg. water should be just enough the fish
to swim, not to deep, not to shallow. add some methylene
blue. whatever food it takes, soak them first in garlic oil
before feeding. eventually, the fish will be swimming normal.

hope this will work for your fish.