Hey everyone...

I hate to introduce myself like this, but something is wrong with one of my oscars, Bugsy. I've had him for a little over three months. For the past three days he hasn't been eating any of his Hikari Cichlid Gold pellets. He's tried twice, but spits it all up. He also hasn't been as active lately. The only other symptom I've noticed is that he does this thing where every few seconds he clenches his fins and floats down a little bit. It's like he's flinching or something...

Here's a video of it. Hopefully you can kind of see what I mean. He does it a few times, the most noticeable of which are at 19 seconds and 24 seconds.



(The white spots on him, if you notice them, are just abrasions)

Right now he's in an 80 gallon tank with another oscar and a pleco. It's overstocked, I know...

I change 25% of the water every two weeks, but last night I changed 50% for good measure. Then this morning I tried feeding him frozen bloodworms, and he only managed to eat some reluctantly. Usually he goes crazy for those...

Here are the water specs:
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrate: 10ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Hardness: Soft
Alkalinity: Moderate
pH: 7.3-ish
Water Temp: 79
I always add aquarium salt when I do water changes

Food:
Hikari Cichlid Gold
TetraCichlid Cichlid Crisps
Frozen bloodworms (once a week)
Beefheart (once a week)
An occasional algae wafer

So what do you think is wrong with him?

The mods will know more than I do but from my experience O's will sometimes just not eat for a few days then go back to normal. Everything looks good so for now I'd suggest just waiting it out a little longer.
Welcome to the site, the others will be here soon with much more help, good luck to you

how do you do the salt application? based on tank size or remove water?

chirping is a sign of shaking something in the body. better check.
remember, too much salt could also have implication to the fish.

I add 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt for every 5 gallons of new water I put in the tank (this is the standard dose on the package). The two oscars rough each other up a little bit from time to time, and I thought this might help them heal better.

Do you think I should stop adding it for a while? Also, what do you mean by "chirping"?

chirping is the short vibration act of the tail or body.
what worry me is the action of your o as always staying
at the bottom after strutting.

Do you feed only pellets? If you do you need to try your fish on other foods. If you do feed a variety of foods and your oscar wont eat pellets just feed him only pellets everyday. He will soon get hungry and will start eating them

It is not neccessary to add salt to an aquarium. Its seems a matter of choice. It can be helpful if a fish is sick