Hi

My 450 litre 6 foot tank is home to 2 Oscars and a Gibbiceps - all a few years old so good sizes.
I was away for the weekend and left the food on an autofeeder (it feeds small amounts so they are on a diet when I am away)
Came back yesterday to find Angelis (my oldest Oscar) swimming nose down tail up and not looking too happy. His tummy is swollen on one side. Checked my books which suggested indigestion or constipation, so I turned off the lights and have not fed the fish.
Today he is no better. I am going out now to get some Epsom Salts which I have read may help if he has a tummy upset, but I am really worried about him.
Tank is normal conditions for them
Temp 76
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 50
GH>21
KH 3-6
ph 7.2

Anybody any ideas?

Thanks all

overall your water seems in good condition. you should do a water change to lower your nitrates. your ammonia reading is missing from water stats if you can give that reading it might clarify some ideas im having. epsom salt i have read is a good cure for constipation so it wont hurt to give him a bath in it. another option you could try is peas. this also will help if constipation is indeed your problem. keep us posted on your attempts.

good luck to you

Ammonia is 0

How would I bathe him in epsom salts pls?

hospital tanks are the best way to go but if you do not have one a bucket will suffice depending on the size of your oscar. if that is not an option then you can treat the main tank since the epsom salt will not harm your other fish.

nec seems to have u covered, one of the best sources of info on here!

Matt

No result from the epsom salts so far Treated the whole tank rather than take him out and stress him more.
Fingers crossed for an overnight improvement....

askhammatt wrote:


X'2

Add a couple drops of garlic juice to his pellets and/or try and feed him some peas. Keep the tank dark and get your nitrates below 20 ppm. In some cases, hugh nitrates seem to encourage constipation, and when the fish is placed in water with lower nitrates, it often helps.

Good luck,
Art

angelis wrote:
epson salt dosing do not give immediate result. it will take time before an effect could be observed. pls wait. you had been covered by the guys and gals.

one more thing, raising the temp to 79 to 80 deg F could help but increase the aeration to augment oxygen depletion.

Thanks for your advice guys. Sadly Angelis did not make it. He was lively last night so altho still swimming head down I had hoped he would recover.
Got up this morning to find he had died. Gutted. The epsom salts I put in the tank to treat him have turned the whole tank milky. Have done a 50 % water change and put a new carbon filter in. Any tips on how to get the water clear?
Poor ole Angelis. Have had him since he was a 2 inch baby.

Iam so sorry that you had to find him like that. was he sick before? Or did he over eat with the auto feeder? I don't have one of those so I don't know how they work..

Don't think he over ate with the autofeeder - I know what pigs they can be so they only get tiny amounts of food when I am away - a diet for a couple of days does them no harm. Don't know what it was. He wouldn't eat peas. Just gotta try and sort out the milky tank now!