At the begining of the week I had 4 oscars. Now I have one. He has been staying at the bottom of the tank. He or should I say it, will not eat. The tips of it's fins have turned white. I don't know what is wrong with it or Why my other babies died. Does anybody have any ideas? It is a tiger oscar about 3-4 inches.

well first how big is your tank ?
what filtration are you using?
and what are your water readings?

these are normally the main cause of an Oscar being upset.

also for now try giving him some worms if you can catch some from around the house.
also do his fins look healthy besides the white on the tips and does he have any sign of hole in the head?

another question... is your tank properly cycled???

Okay my tank is a 30 gal. My filter system is a Aqua-Tech 20-40. I also have another rock thing with air going through it. When I checked the water yesterday it was all good. I don't know the signs of hole in head are. He just quit eating about a 4days ago. When he use to eat out of my hand. I have tried to feed him a worm but no luck. I have blood worms also and he won't eat them. I have skim them back out. All my fish were acting like this now I only have the one.

We just got the new about a week ago maybe 10 days but it was cycled. And yes his fins look fine other than the tips turning white. He looks like sometimes he is barking. I know that sounds funny but he is opening and closing his mouth really fast. Like he is barking.

you should wait at least a few weeks if not a month

meso_tiny wrote:


how was it cycled in just 10 days?

When we set up the tank we waited for 2 days before putting them in the tank.

ok fyi it takes up to 40 days to properly cycle a tank. what i would suggest is 30% water changes daily until you get an ammonia and nitrite reading of zero and a nitrate reading of 20-40. afterwards you can probably reduce the amount of water changes to 30% or so a week.

also a 30 gallon tank is too small for an oscar to call home for very long. usually we recommend a tank of at least 55 gallons for a solitary oscar and larger if there are any tankmates with him.

could you post your actual water parameters for us to futher help with your dilema.

So this fish will probably die also. I guess I wasn't meant to have them. Sorry to bother you guys. I don't know what else to do for my O. It is very upsetting.

dont give up yet. start with water changes and see were it goes from there. you are not the first to have this problem it has happened to many an oscar keeper. just be dilegent and with luck things will turn around for you.


oh ya btw welcome to the site

you still have a chance to save him if you do what necro said i no he seemed a little harsh but hes just very concerned about your fish so ya. do what he said and don't give up on him i had my Oscar in a 30 gallon for about a month until i got my 55 gallon it took some hard work and a lotta help form these guys but hes a perfectly healthy fish now!!