hi, i think my oscar called sharron is sick, lke most oscars she loves her food and has alwyas been the biggest and most competative of my two 4-7inch oscars. but over the last few days she has been really lethargic, hiding in a pot in the tank, and not really eating, and ozzy, the other fish has grown bigger. ive done some simple water tests and all my water chemistry is ok. the tank is big enough, and they share it with a large clown loach and a medium syno. they have always been a happy tank. i feed the oscars mainly on mealworms, ocasionally frozen and thawed bloodworm and/or arteamia. please help i really want to get her happy and healthy again. (i do not know if 'she' is male or female, and i dont know for her compainion either.)

What are your water parameters? Tank size. Sometimes Oscar aren't as interested in food as normal...It's like a phase they go through. Do you feed them a pellet as a staple? Hikari Gold is great...That comprises 80% of my Oscar (Leos) diet. Any pictures? Any changes? Sometimes Oscars sulk over the smallest change, they can be quite dramatic.

Firstly, welcome to our community

now, I'm afraid nobody is going to be able to help you until we know exactly what your water readings are. Could you also give us a little bit more background information, how big is your tank, what sort of filtration you have got. What if the temperature of the water?

Are any visible signs of illness on the fish? Is he breathing heavily? How are the other fish behaving, normally?

Sorry about the questions, but we really need more information from you before we can really help. It would be like ringing off the doctor and telling him you've got a rash on your arm and expecting him to diagnose it just my that description.

And welcome to the site, we will do our best to help with any problems. The forum covers a wide range of information, and we have a very vast and knowledgable member base. Take advantage of all the great benefits of your membership with Oscarfishlover.com

OFL wrote:


X2

We also need the exact results of a water test

Clown loaches are social fish and dont do well on their own. You need at least 2 but ideally at least 3 for them to be happy

delboybully wrote:


i concur with the boss and delboybully. the water ok is nothing unless they
are ammonia=0, nitrite=0 and nitrate=not hiigher than 40, pH= ranges from 6 to 8
but must be stable

hiya, ok, my tank is 120 liters (i dont know what that is in gallons) i keep it at about 25degrees, and there is a regular carbon, in tank filter in it. ive done another water test today, ph is about 7.4, NO2 is zero, but my NO3 levels are slightly high, so i will do a 25-50% water change. it alos looks like there is a slight film on top of the water, im not sure what this is, but i only noticed it just after id feed them so i might be to do with that.
i the diet im giving them ok? theyve been fine on it for so long, but then again, if it ate the same thing forever id be ok for a while, but not for long i guess.
ive got some pictures but im not sure if i can attach them to this???
thanks for your time and thoughts.

Hi, your tank is 33,1 Gl and that will not be be enough even for one O.
We recommend at least 55Gl per Oscar.
O's will grow pretty big.
Your bioload may be causing the high nitrates.
That may be the reason for your fishhes discomfort.
Any chance for an upgrade?
I think you should do very frequent waterchanges to keep your nitrates down.
Carbon is not nescesary in your filter unless you have been treating the tank with meds.
I'd take that out of your filter.

If you want to copy a pic into your post , please use Photobucket to copy/paste the [IMG] code

I concur, I believe an upgrade should be in order.

I think your problems are linked to the fact that your tank is too small. You need to do large water changes every 3 or 4 days. Keep your feeding down to a minium and get a bigger tank ASAP. You need at least 75g for 2 oscars but 90g would be better and easier to keep the water quality good