hey guys,
i got home from work about 5 hours ago. my normal routine is turn the lights on give him a little bit of time to adjust to the light and then i feed him. today much the same as every other day i came home and turned on the light. My oscar was just sitting at the bottom on the tank motionless. I figured that it was nothing and left him to adjust to the light being on. Its now been 5 hours and the fish has moved further back in the tank but is still displaying the same behavior. he wont come up to eat, and wont even move his eyes. the only indication that he is alive is his gills moving. all water perameters are good and the temperture is steady at 25.2c. hes about 5 months old and has never acted like this. just wondering if anyone has ever had this happen before. he wont even swim hes been in the same spot for 5 hours....

any info would be greatly appreciated.

thanks.

hi darryl, since you had posted this 11 hours ago,
i am just wondering if your o remains motionless
up to this time?

what is your time there when you observe this. asking
that because if it is night time over there, wait till
the morning and observe. my o usually remain inactive
at night time.

Since original post oscar still is the same and hasn't moved won't eat... Doesn't make sence. Can moving things outside the tank stress out the fish??? Lol... Like furniture?

Original post was at like 3 pm. Oscar remains the same. Won't move or eat. Stays balanced. Can moving things outside the tank stress the fish out? Lol... Like furniture?

x2 with Paul, If he has not moved I would slowly put a hand near him to see if he can swim or if he has a buoyancy problem. if he swims off monitor if he swims straight or has trouble staying at a given height in the water. dose he roll from side to side, sink or float? dose the colour look pale?

yes moving things outside the tank can piss them off. they sometimes consider out still to be theirs. what was the water reading?

I used my hand to make him move... He swims on his side . Does that mean a swim bladder problem?

I used my hand to make him move... He swims on his side . Does that mean a swim bladder problem?

Tried this a few times with same results..

I got this from the home page Darryl, I'll look for more info for you.
Sometimes you may notice your Oscar sitting on the bottom of the tank , you may also even see your Oscar laying almost on its side. I'm not going to pretend I know why they do it. What I can say is that in most cases, this strange behaviour doesn't last very long. Oscars are not the most active fish, in fact, they can be really lazy sometimes. However, they normally respond when you are anywhere near the tank.

However, fish that suddenly become lopsided, or are having problems swimming can sometimes be suffering from a swimbladder disorder. There are factors that can cause this condition including sudden changes in temperature and internal infections. If they start doing it after a water change, you may have to be more careful about matching the temperatures of water going in and the water in the tank already. If your fish keeps lying on its side, or doesn't quite sit right in the water, you could try taking it out of the tank and putting it in a hospital tank with the water around 5°C warmer that the main tank. Keep the water quite shallow . Medicating the tank with an antibacterial treatment is also an option. On a more serious note, swimbladder disorders can often be permanent. In cases like this, euthanasia is the only option

www.helium.com/items/1274652-swim-bladder-problem-in-fish

My fish are upside-down/ can't swim

This is a common problem whereby fish lose their equilibrium and are unable to maintain their position. This can result in the fish swimming awkwardly, laying upside-down either on the bottom or top of the water, or unable to maintain a horizontal position in the water. This is often attributed to swim-bladder problems and indeed this is the most common cause of loss of equilibrium. The swim-bladder is an air-filled sac laying just under the backbone at the top of the abdominal cavity. By inflating / deflating the swim-bladder, the fish can adjust its position in the water and maintain neutral buoyancy.

The swim-bladder can be affected by bacterial or viral diseases. In addition the swim-bladder may malfunction, leading to over or under inflation. Clearly anything which affects the proper functioning of the swim-bladder will also affect the fish's equilibrium.

However, before diagnosing all equilibrium problems as swim-bladder disease, we should be aware that there are other conditions which can cause buoyancy problems. Disease in other organs such as kidneys and intestines for example can also cause problems. This can happen if there is any swelling of the affected organs leading to either a change in organ density or pressure being put on the swim-bladder. This is often a problem with fancy goldfish whose abdominal cavity is tightly packed.

Treatment is difficult, mainly because it is virtually impossible to diagnose the cause and secondly there are only a few conditions that will respond to treatment. It is always worth considering a course of antibiotic injections in case a bacterial infection is involved. An attempt should be made to see whether the fish is defecating, in case the problem is being caused by an intestinal blockage. If this is suspected it is worth either trying to feed the fish a few frozen peas, which act as a laxative, or else try baths in Epsom salts (70g / litre for 5 minutes) which has the same effect.

If these treatments do not work, there is little else that can be done. There is some work being carried out on exploratory surgery, but there are very few veterinarians undertaking this "cutting edge" procedure.

There are a few reports of fish recovering from balance problems, so it is worth giving the fish some time. One report suggested "wedging" the fish upright between two objects was helpful. If there is no sign of recovery after 7-10 days, the kindest thing is to euthanase the fish.

Not the answer I wanted however its nice to have the info. I appreciate your help a lot and will give some time before making a decision. I think it may have been a bad water change as it was the last thing I did before noticing this problem. Hopefully he will pull through.


Thanks.