My name is Lori and I have had an Oscar for 5 years. I love him(Ernest T Bass) very much. Recently though, the last four days he has stopped eating and is sort of a white color and just lays around. His water tests are nitrate20,nitrite 0, hardness 75, alkalinity 120, ammonia 0, and PH is 7.8 Water temp is 77 Please help me figure out what is wrong with him. He shres his home with two 12in Pochosamus and a 4inch catfish. Ernest is 12inches and they live in a 150 gallon tank.

hi Lori, welcome to the site.
what do you mean white color? the body is covered
with with cotton like substance? it may be a fungi infection.
can you post a picture pls.

PAUL wrote:





X2............

Its very difficult to say whats up with fish when all the water tests are fine. I have had the same myself where the fish just lost colour, laid around and stopped eating. sometimes they bounce back and i hope this is the case for you. I would say its most likely an internal infection. but it could be a heap of other things to. Its almost impossible to treat cos you just cant say what to treat for. if the fish has an incurable problem you have no chance and this is also likely.

if its as Paul has guessed and the fish is covered in white rather than lost colour it would be helpful to have a pic. and I would say your chances are better than the above. best of luck with him/her.

PS can you confirm is it lost colour/pale or fungal like cotton wool white??

Hello Again!!! Here are some pictures of Ernest. Hope this helps to help me!

oops first time with posting pics

there's a thread in the photo forum on how to properly post pics.

btw, what is a pochosamus? never heard of those.

also, this sounds weird, but check out his poo. if it's bloody, or stringy and/or white this could point to an internal parasite.

-art

Hope this works I get a message about pixels so lets see if I fixed it

Hi Art I haven't seen him poo, but if he is not eating there isn't going to be any right/

here we go again

HOW TO POST PIX:
www.oscarfishlover.com/index.php?option=...atid=18&id=21724

hth