We bought a 12 inch oscar and two juivies that had been abused. We are now on day3 of trearing for some white stuff on eyes and body which seems to be going away but are ready to put filter charcoal back in. Is this a bad idea?Will the big 1 start to eat again? Will they stop gasping? !!!!!!!!hepl

Have you checked your water? Gasping means they don't have enough air or the water is too polluted for them, check for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, PH and let us know. The white stuff is fungus, I just cured one of mine that had it by raising the temp to 80 but if he's sick from something else too he will meds. Try Melafix, it works great.
He's a great looking fish, make sure you keep his water fresh.

at the very top of this page click on Health, that will tell you a lot. Tank setup is important too especially if you're new to Oscars.

Thanks, we are about to test the water and let u know.