So last night, Ash (black tiger) decided not to eat. He started acting lethargic. Kinda staying low on the bottom. I wouldn't exactly say his breathing is labored, but it is not normal. This morning breakfast time, he decided not to eat either. Then I noticed the clamped fins on top and bottom. The tail looks perfectly normal.

His color is excellent. If he were a child I would say is acting depressed or dejected, maybe he isn't getting his way (with Snow(Albino)) enough? Snow is not spending as much time with him as he was and has opted to be a loner.

The pH has changed in the tank a little. It has been neutral (about 6.9-7.0) and now it is about 6.5 or so. What causes pH to change? I have no ammonia or n2 or n3.

Is he just being moody or is there a reason for concern?

PH can fluctuate depending on when you do your tests, sometimes doing a test at night can throw up different results than during the day. Quite a few things can affect pH, fish waste especially, so if you haven't carried out a water change for a few days, you might find your pH drops. However, why yours has dropped is something I cannot answer, all I can say is it's perfectly okay, actually spokeswoman for Oscars

As for your fish clamping it fins, this can be a sign of water quality problems, infection of the skin, parasitic infection, any number of reasons. You say your water is fine? Does the fish looked okay, anything on the skin?

If a fish breathe rapidly than this could be again, a number of reasons, toxicity causing poor water conditions, lack of oxygen, very low pH [we have already established yours is okay]. Difficult to say really, can you actually test ammonia nitrite, plus my traits and give us the readings please

Ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0, nitrates = 5. I did a water change Satruday morning. Other Oscar (snow) is acting just fine. Visually there are no signs of structural damage on Ash. He 'looks' just fine. He is just acting like a fish I have never seen before.

Ummm.... Difficult to say then, your water conditions seem excellent, no signs of external skin problems?. If you look at where the water enters the tank from the filtration, is it causing surface agitation? What is the temperature of the water? Is it possible to take some photos, all best of all, maybe a video? I am a little concerned about the labored breathing, is this the only fish that is doing it?

The quality of the youtube video seems to suck. I attached it.

Ash is the only one breathing hard. Everyone else in the tank is happy. Temp in the tank is 82.

I do have 2 Canister filters, and 2 HOB filters + an air stone. There is penty of surface agitation for oxygen.

If the video ends up being decent enough for you to see, you can see from the side angle his color is great and his body looks good. Breathing is just labored.

Cheers,

Joshua

I think you are just going to have to keep an eye on the fish, hopefully he will return to normal very soon. I've exhausted everything I can think of that may be causing this as you tell us everything seems okay. If it was a problem with water conditions, the other fish will probably be showing signs of ill health as well.

I appreciate your effort in helping me. I am sorry he was hiding in the video. He likes his treasure chest.

Now that I mention it, ~3 days ago, I noticed a very white gash near his top fin, but it was still on his body, not on his fin. It is not dots/spots and its not a heavy slime coating. It also doesn't look like the type of gashes he gets from playing/fighting with Snow, or from rubbing up against stuff. Its not getting bigger, its not spreading, and there aren't any other gashes anywhere else. Color is great.

Just have a very close look and make sure that there are not any tiny white dots that resemble grains of salt. However, fish normally rub themselves up against objects in the tank if they have skin problems, they might also dart around erratically if there are problems with water. If your fish continue to clamp there fins then we will have to look closely at what might be going on. What test kits are you using?

Thanks OFL,

Ash went through ich. I treated him for that. He has been clear of the ich for a week or so full. He is fine in that regard. That is why I made sure to mention its a gash, and not dots/spots

I use a combination of different test kits. I use the aquarium pharma ones you suggest, i also use a quick test strip, which is pretty much always in sync when i do a bench mark against the aqua pharma ones, and for ammonia, I have a hang on dial inside the tank that always shows me ammonia readings. Currently, it is 0 on all tests.

Cheers,

Joshua

Ash is still lethargic tonight, but his fins are no longer clamped, so maybe a step in the right direction. Breathing is still labored but at times looks more normal than it did. I have also noticed he will swim some when the lights in the tank are off. Just an observation.

that sounds good, let's hope he starts improving more. Try leaving the lights off for two or three days and see what happens, you don't really need lights so don't worry

OFL, if you can send me an email address in PM or on here, I can send you the video of how he looks and is acting. The full quality video looks much better.