I set my 80 gallon oscar tank up about two weeks ago and used filter media from another tank, so it was cycled instantly. Water Parameters are great:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate:10
The day after I got him I noticed that he has a little indentation between his eyes that could be the beginning of hole in the head. Usually though, this can be remedied through good water conditions and a good diet. I have been really good about water changes (twice weekly) and have been feeding him Hikari Cichlid Gold Pellets with the occasional blood worms and brine shrimp. I also ordered some vitachem from Dr. Foster and Smith to add to the tank to boost his health.

Yesterday he came down with ich. I raised the water to 84 degrees and added rid ich. This medication worked well with the case of ich on my neon tetras, so I am hoping it will work with him. This morning I did a 25 percent water change and added a 2nd dose of the medication.

I just walked over to the tank and noticed that Baloo (my oscar) was moving his mouth open and close rapidly (I don't know if this is normal behavior or not, but I thought it was wierd). I then noticed a wierd poop (or parasite) hanging out of him. It was about 2 inches long and white (almost transparent) with a dark red end of about 1 cm on it. I do not know what this was or if it was normal. Please, if you can, help me to figure out what is wrong with him.

I guess I just had bad luck and adopted a sickly fish that was not yet showing any symptoms. I am really attached to him and hope that I can figure out a remedy to his illnesses. His appetite is great and he eats a ton. He is about 5 inches long and I feed him twice daily.

What am I doing wrong? I am thankful to any and all advice I can get.

Thanks, Kate

welcome to the site

Firstly, you will not instantly cycle your tank by adding gravel from another tank. The only way you will instantly cycle a new tank is if you transfer a mature biological filter from an established tank.

What you must do at the moment is a water test every day, the two main toxin to check for ammonia and nitrite.

Now, it is not normal for a fish to breathe rapidly ie opening and closing its mouth. This can be a sign of trouble. It can be something as simple as lack of oxygen in the water, or it could be a sign of stress and water poisoning from ammonia on nitrite. So if your fish is continuing to do this, you need to try and find out why

Now regarding the possibility of a parasitic infection. White faeces is often a sign of parasite. However, the only way you can be sure is to get the faeces tested. Now, this needs to be done not long after the fish has passed the waste. I've never had to do this myself so it would be advisable to find somewhere that could do it. I think vet could do it quite easily but you would have to do make sure they were ready to receive it. Also, it might cost you quite a lot of money.

So, keep checking your water because there is a strong possibility your tank is not cycled yet. This could be the reason your fish is breathing heavily.

Hi. Thanks for the response. I did not use gravel to cycle the tank, I moved a mature biological filter from one of my established tanks over to my new tank. I have been testing the water levels every day with my API test liquid test kit and the readings have all been normal (ammonia=0, nitrite=0, nitrate=10). I will continue to keep an eye on things though. Would it hurt my Oscar to do a treatment with Parasite Clear if I don't get the faeces tested? I have used it on parasitic infections in my other tanks and found that it does the job wll. I have turned up the heat in my tank to 84 degrees to treat the ich, and I am going to discontinue the ich medicine today because I know that a high temp of 84 degrees, for a period of two weeks, will get rid of ich on its own. If you could let me know what you think about using Parasite Clear I would appreciate it. Thanks!

I cant say about the poo and what it is, but did you know oscars poo will change colour depending on what it has eaten. I have never heard of transparent poo. Any chance of a pic

As for the parasite treatment, be careful as some treatments will kill all the good bacteria in your filters, it should warn you about this in the instructions. If this is the case then you will need to remove the filters to another tank until the treatment finishes (dont feed the fish while treating), remove the treatment with carbon in a filter then add the original filter

Alternatively you can remove the fish to another tank to treat it

Or you can treat and re seed your filter (after removing the treatment) from another cycled filter