aside from peas what else can i give an oscar that appears to be constipated?

Oh dear. I had a constipated oscar once. Didn't turn out well

Here's what I would do:

Turn off lights.

Add melafix. When the fish breathes in, the melafix will enter his system and ease his insides

And, of course, water changes. I've also heard epsom salt also eases it, but never tried it myself.

LIke i mentioned, i've messed with this problem, and I didn't win. What i think happened it the fish swallowed too much air while feeding and it built up, then clogged his intestines/stomach. I tried everything, peas (which she refused), melafix, no lights, etc. Eventually I euthanized her with clove oil, she appeared to be in a lot of pain.

Hopefully you'll be more lucky.

Art

here what ive done so far . im treating with melafix, have been for seven days now. im keeping my nitrates below 20 at all times. i have raised the temp from 78 to 82 degrees.

now my female oscar at first refused to eat and stayed on the bottom of the tank for about 3 days. at time she was seeming to gasp. after 3 days she started swimming about the tank again not a lot at first but after a day she was back to normal. now 7 days later she is acting like a regular oscar always wanting food, swimming around, as much as oscars do, and being frisky with the male.


the problem mow is her abdomen. it looks like she ate a golf ball. i am going to try to get her to eat peas again and hopefully that will work.

here's a pic of her golf ball stomach






side view



all input is welcome as i would really hate to lose her

Something you REALLY have to watch out for is this-

your oscar trying to swim to the bottom of the tank and then floating to the top. If you start to see this happening, you need to take evasive measures immediately!

I would also cut down on feeding, and keep nitrates down especially.

hope this helps,
Art

if your oscar is still aking their food, one effective way of treating
constipation, aside from green peas, is to soak any feeds that your oscar
loves most in a garlic oil before freezing, then when semi frozen, give them
to your oscar. once taken, the following day, the oscar will be relieve of
constipation.

if i may add, in my fan tail gold fish who had constipation,
i accidentally throw-in some oatmeal inside the tank. gold fish
had feast day on it and the following day, they are all relieve,
no more bloating. from there on, i used to toss some oatmeal for
them. (i haven't try it with oscar since no incident yet of
constipation)

sorry necro that you have this problem. Not much I would add but the water changes are a cert. mine seem to poo more if the new water is a little cooler, You could try cucumber(cut skin off, pinch it to make it sink) i give this to my clowns but my oscars would take it when hungry or to stop the clowns getting it.

well the peas were a no go with her. she would take them in and then spit them back out just as fast. next on the hitlist will be the garlic oil. hopefully this will work for her.
her appetite is good and she is showing no signs of distress with her swimming habits. in fact she is behaving like a healthy happy oscar and this iw what has me so confused. i am trying not to feed her much but my hospital tanks are full of jag fry right now and so she is still in my 180. will keep you updated on her progress or remission whatever happens.

i would still insist to soak any thing she would with
garlic oil before feeding. this will help your fish re
relieve with the gas bloating.

any movements yet???????????

funny you should ask. i jsut notice that she had a movement about 30 mins ago(even though it was small for a fish her size it was something. i am going to wait and see if the swelling subsides or not and ill keep you posted.

my fingers are crossed for you............what method did you use ????????