hello again folks its been some time, hope you are all well

For the last 4 days my Oscar fish has not eaten a thing and the strangest thing is he always goes crazy for wax worms and voila not a damn iiota from him.
There is no life in him at all. He seems to keep sitting at the bottom of the tank during the day and at times only at the top at night.

To say he is totally out of character is an understatement. The only fish that is in with him is 2 widows, 2 barbs and 2 angels (small)
As you can tell from the above fish he is not aggressive as such and never has been.

I have checked all chemical reads the whole shabang as i have the full hagen kits. PH 7 fine, no nitrit, nitrate nil and ammonia perfect, phosphate tiny bit nothing major as i do weekly water change. PH was a bit low 2 days ago and so i put in some coral sand which seemed to take it back to the level it should have been at. Think there had been a PH crash during last water change which as far as i am aware can happen.

There is not a mark on the oscar either which is making it hard for me to figure out what is what, but i have never seen him as bad as this for this long. Yeah he can be moody but this is beyond that.

I know i cant give you much info here but above is exactly what is the situation.

I do hope someone can advise if possible. Concerned ma wee bud aint gonna make it.

Hster

your water readings seem a little odd to me. a nitrite of 0 is good but when you say nil for nitrates well that is virtually impossible to achieve. another prob is see is a perfect ammonia reading. any reading for ammonia is bad this is one of the reading that must read 0 at all time. if you can retest your water to make sure the readings you posted are correct and get back to us if there is any variation in levels it would help in any diagnosis.

when say nil to nitrate i mean a slight hint of pink nothing to be concerned about at all, and no ammonia problem at all as said.......

If as you say the water is OK then there is very little to go on. you will need to take a good look and see if you can spot any other problems. Is it breathing heavy, dose it look pale, bloated??

I would take time to make sure your readings are correct by retesting. In all of the kits I have used to test water nitrates are shown in yellow,orange,reds. not pink. This kit maybe different but in any-case I would retest.make sure you are looking at right card. again in all my test kits nitrites show in blue,purple,pink,deep purple. PINK is 1% nitrites!!! this would be very bad.

It could just be your fish has become sick with no tell tale signs. if this is the case there is little anyone could do as treatment would be hit and miss. I would maintain your water for best hope.

a unstable PH is not good for any fish and this could be why yours has become ill. you could try small water changes just incase any thing was added with the subtract that shouldnt have been, I say small and ofter as this will keep PH more stable.

hi there and thanks, its a full hagen test kit and results are right and fine more than triple checked to be sure, colours are correct. There are so many diif test kits out there.

Have spoken to someone that keeps oscars and they have said that its may be possible if the ph was that low it may take a few days for things to level out, or should i say for the oscar to feel better again even although the ph is fine now. When his lights go out in the tank he seems to sit at the top of the tank now, not right at the surface all the same. Breathing heavy hmm nothing major at all and no gasping at surface,colour ok as well.

If you suspect of pH instability (crash would be sudden fall to 4.5-5.5 range) then you should check your GH and KH. Only if you need to, use crushed corals. If you add unnecessary minerals to your water, it might become too hard for your Oscar. They usually tolerate well a wide range of hardness, but their natural zone of comfort is towards somewhat soft, slightly acidic water.

Other water conditions, despite the very important nitrogen cycle related (ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates) can make a fish uncomfortable or unhealthy.

Lack of certain trace minerals, e.g. calcium and magnesium, could make your water REDOX potential quite hazardous for your fish.

A few years ago, it was considered that a slightly positive REDOX potential was a good thing, nowadays, it's the opposite. An easy way to rule this in or out is to take some water out of your tank and add some Methylene Blue ( MB ). If the MB color fades to a lighter blue, even if only a bit, then your water REDOX is likely OK.

Hope your fish recovers soon.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

thanks for that not sure here where i would get the MB from. Put in the crushed corals small bits did that 2 days ago and today he is still the same. Spoke to someone that works with oscars and he has said it could take a few days foe him tom pick back up from the ph crash as such. Should have changed by now i think. Checked all other water things out and they are fine, not sure wither to put a general tonic treatment in to be sure, he said it might help in case there is something thats not visible to the eye. Thats 7 days he aint eaten now

7 days is a short time. a large Oscar could last many weeks so don't worry to much at mo. you could add aquarium salt. this will help with breathing and stress. earth worms seem to work well with Oscars when all else fails

thanks for that going to do a water change tomorrow and hope for the best keeping fingers crossed...........