It has been about 2 weeks and the fish seems to stay in one part of the tank and doesn't move much. It will not eat yet his colour is normal, looks good, but very lethargic, almost like it's in hibernation. He does not seem to be sick, his eyes are bright and he is a good colour. Can anyone suggest something? He is in a 30 gallon tank by himself. We feed him pellet food and he was fine with it

hi Billie, welcome to the site
how big is your oscar? how long have your tank set up?
have you tried to give it some live foods like worms or cricket?
can you provide us details of water:
ammonia?
nitrite?
nitrate?
temp
pH
and type and capacity of filtration?
for a full grown oscar, 30 gal is way to small...
easy to get messy.

x2 What Paul said. Usually dirty water is the first culprit. But then again, Oscars are total prima donnas and will sulk for whatever reason. Mine was sulking day before yesterday and I'd done a water change the night before. I think he was just ticked off at the Pleco and having a pouty-tissy fit.

Check your water parameters and go from there. If you don't have a test kit yet, get one, or if you can't afford one see if your LFS will test your water for you.

-Check for ICH
-Do a water change
-Is your water aggitated?
-Is the Oscar hiding in a hiding space or is it just on the gravel
-Try and anti-bacterial medicine
- raise the Temp to 80 F
- Adding salt might help

My oscars become really active as soon as i remove heir hiding spaces... but then they start fighting too.

v_2rahjo wrote:


Please answer Pauls questions... We don't encourage treating the tank or the fish until we are aware of what is going on with the all the info. We NEED those water readings.