Hi,

I've had 3 oscars for about 3 months now, in a 50gl tank. One of them is not looking too well since yesterday. It appears as though he is sticking his tongue out and keeps his mouth open all the time. He is not eating and not swimming around much anymore, staying near the bottom and pretty still.

At first, we thought something was stuck in his mouth (he almost seems to give you the impression he is choking) my hubby took him out of the tank and we looked in his mouth, but sould only see his tongue and a flap type thing?

There is no other sympotoms... any ideas?

Thanks
New Oscar Owner

What are your water peramitors?

And btw welcome!

Sorry, I dont know the peramitors. Could it be something wrong with the water even if the others are not bothered?

Thanks btw for your quick response!

Something could definitely be wrong with your water... Do you have a test kit? When was your last water change and what filters are you running?

I have two Hagen Aquaclear filters. One 70 and one 50. Both use foam, carbon & BioMax Filter inserts

The last water change was about 10 days ago, we changed about 25% of the water, and added the chlorine detoxifier and bacteria supplement

Poor little guy... I wish I had my camera (daughter took it for the day) to show what he's doing. The easier way to explain it, is he looks like he's choking...

I would do a large water change now... Better safe than sorry. The best defense against problems is clean water...

You also need to get a liquid water test kit... Your local fish store will have them, or ebay... Then you can test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and PH so we know if you have a water problem...

Please do about a 50% water change, with gravel vacuuming asap...

Also. How big are your O's and how long have you had the tank set up? Did it cycle properly?

nickis got you covered ....

sticking out tongue is similar to lockjaw. when a fish had
grab a food and stays inside the mouth for a while before
totally swallowing it, sometimes it dislocate the jaw or
cause the tongue to stick out. but with pristine water and
good health, it will heal in not time.