hi i have just gotten a new oscar about two days ago and all he does is sit at the bottom of the aquarium. and it looks like he is gasping for air. im not sure if its the tank or if its the oscar. the tank has just had a water change and everything is normal. but its a tank that i have lost five fish in the last month. all angelfish so i am hoping someone can help me figure out the problem.

Welcome to the website/forum. When you say your fish is grasping for air, I assume that his gills are rapidly moving as well? This certainly could be a cause for concern. Did you cycle tank before adding the fish? Fish also breathe heavily if there is not enough oxygen in the water. So the first thing to do is check your water parameters ammonia/nitrite/nitrate. The readings should be quite straightforward, ammonia and nitrite should be Zero and not any higher. Nitrate could be anything from 10 ppm upwards. If all these are okay, have a look at how the water comes back into your tank from the filtration system. Is it disturbing the top of the water quite a lot? If it isn't, try and reposition the outlet pipe so that the water causes disturbance, this way you are oxygenating the water. I actually keep an air stone running all the time and my tank just to make sure that there is that little bit more oxygen going into the water.

Unfortunately, there are many other factors that could make your fish breathe heavily. I think the best you can do is address the above items first and see what happens. If they make no difference, we can go from there

Also, see if you can have a good look at your fishes gills. Check to make sure they aren't swollen or discoloured. Has your fish gone off its food as well?

thanks for the advice my water is ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20, and the water outlet is disturbing the water but not alot. his gills aren't in flamed but are moving rapidly. i noticed that he moved around a little last night when the tank light was off. and when i turned if on he was moving around but then about a minute later he is now back on the bottom gasping. is it something to do with the light that is bothering him.

I wouldn't have thought the lights would make him do that. You could try monitoring him an hour or so after the lights go out. Some years ago I had to Oscars in a 75 gallon tank and they were both opening and closing their mouths rapidly. After altering be in that pipe where the water comes back into the tank, they stopped doing it so it was obviously an oxygen depletion that was causing the problem, I would have thought. Try and increase the oxygen, just see what happens. However, it is not a good sign that your fish is just lying motionless. This is often done a telltale sign that something is not quite right. So the ammonia level is okay so we can rule out poisoning, that would make a fish gasp. You say there is no inflammation around the gills, if this is the case, we can rule out disease there. Try doing a water change and as you put the water back in, see what happens, if he does stop gasping, then it could possibly be a lack of oxygen, nothing more than that. I sort of doubt it though, he is not moving much, when mine had that problem, they were moving around at least.

There is also the possibility of something going on internally. If this is the case, you may not even know. This is a huge problem with fish, it is very difficult to examine them like you would a dog or a cat. It is very difficult, I'll have a in my fish health book and see if there's anything obvious jumping out.

ok so i did a water change and he is now moving around his tank and he's not gasping anymore. thanks for the help. an i will now be getting a air pump to help with Aeration for the little guy.

Hopefully it was just a lack of oxygen, keep an eye on him because he will probably start doing it again when the oxygen gets down to the same level as before. What sort of filter are you using?

its a filter that hangs on the outside of the tank and pours water into the tank. not sure what brand it is but its not aquaclear

I think you may be referring to a hob filter which stands for "hang on back" quite a few people use them may think they're quite good, never use on myself though. How big is your tank?

the little guy is in a 30 gallon for now till i can save enough money up to get a 75 gallon.

When you say little, how big is little? 30 gallons is really not big enough for an Oscar. However, if we are talking 6inches and under, you will be able to control the water perfectly okay with regular tank maintenance. Keep a close check on the filter media, it will become clogged up very quickly with Oscar crap. What you have got to remember is that Oscars grow at an alarming rate. Let's say you purchase an Oscar at 3 inches in January, that same Oscar will be around 7 inches by June or July. So you should start thinking about a new tank very soon because we all know how time flies and Oscars grow at about the same rate

the oscar is about 2 inchs so he's small still. and i am looking at buying a bigger tank for him i have about 100.00 saved up but still have aways to go to buy the bigger tank and a external canister filter for it.