Hi everyone

I have a problem, one of my oscars is breathing quite heavily. and not to interested in food, he isn't at the surface looking for air because the water is well oxygenated, he is hanging around in the corner of the tank not doing much, at first i thought he was just being sulky but he's been doing this for four days now. The tank is a 55 gal (i know it's small but so are the two oscars ...the 125 gal comes in february.

the water parameters are thus;
ammonia = 0
nitrite = 0
nitrate = less than 5
ph = 7.6

Help me OFL Kenobe......you're my only hope.

Oh yeah, water changed 30% per week with re-min RO.
.

when you did your last water change did you rearange the tank decor???

Hi Warlock

Yeah i did change the decor by moving a piece of bogwood towards the back of the tank. I have done this before and he did sulk for two days, but he wasn't breathing heavily like he's doing now. I hope it's not some sort of bacterial infection, i've just treated two Channa bleheri for cloudy eye in the same tank with Melafix.

I know Oscars are moody, i thought after years of oscar keeping i could read them, obviously....i can't.

Do you have an air bar or something producing oxygen in your tank?

Hi Nickisue

Yeah, i have 2 big stones pumping loads of air in.

Ok because treating the tank with anything can cause a loss of oxygen in the tank...

Good point, but if he was struggling for oxygen, wouldn't he be at the surface.

Not necessarily! I am trying to remember what all causes gasping, let me search a minute.

What is your water temp? How old/big are your O's? And have you seen it poop?

If the temp is too high that can cause gasping, if they are big mature O's it could be eggs, and if you have seen odd looking poo... Your O could be constipated... Just a couple of possibilities I have found.

Lack of oxygen will cause fish to breathe heavily. Make sure that the water coming from your filter is creating surface agitation.

Carry out more water tests until you are absolutely sure that your water is okay. Toxins in the water can make fish breathe heavily. However from my experience the toxins have to get quite high before fish start showing signs of trouble.

Unfortunately breathing heavily and not eating is not a good sign. Look for any signs of disease/parasite. Check to see if any swelling in the abdomen.

Stress can cause fish to breathe heavily so they sometimes do it after all water change,or if they have been fighting.More seriously they do it if they are ill.

Apart from that I think it's just a case of waiting. If he is back to normal in the the next day or two then you should be okay. If he's still doing it in a few days time, it could be a little more serious because they really should not breathe heavily.

The water temp is 79 farenheit, oscars are 4-5" long, and his poops are a mix of thick ones and sometimes thin ones, or like a string of sausages, but because he aint eating i cant tell.

Hi OFL

The tank is well aerated and filtered. I've had a good look at his body and he seems to be really clean, healthy fins and skin. There isn't any swelling in his abdomen cos he aint eaten in the last 2-3 days.

Do you think it's because i have just finished treating the dwarf channa with Melafix (tea tree derivative)?

The oscar seemed to start gasping when i stopped the melafix treatment.