Help! I have an Oscar who is a few years old (i don't remember the date i got him but he was a baby) who refuses to eat and thrashes about the tank 1-3 times a day. Visually he looks fine, no sores or obvious parasites. I, of course, change the filters on a regular basis. The only thing i changed recently that i can think of is a rock and a log at the bottom of the tank (55gal). He won't even eat LIVE fish! I love him so...can anyone help?

Hello and Welcome... Lets see if we can get this sorted out.

Can you explain the "Thrashing" a little clearer? What exactly does he do?

How big is your filter? And what do you mean by you clean it regularly?

Can you also post water readings for Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and PH...

This info will go a long way in helping him...
Thanks

in addition to Nickie's post, can you explain what you mean on this?

Ok...By thrashing I mean he will dart from one end of the tank to the other, slamming himself up against the glass. Sometimes he hits the lid so hard I think he's going to pop right out. I use an AquaClear 70 and change the carbon and ammonia packs monthly and I change the sponge bi-monthly so that "good" biological filter builds up.

Ok, We REALLY need those water readings!

by ammonia packs do you mean zeolite? Do you have the ceramic noodles used for bio filtration? If so what type of maintenance do you do on them?

not a good practice. we need to keep the good bacteria in the filtering system.
replacing them regularly make your tank experience mini-cycle syndrome.

darting and hitting the wall is a sign that your fish is trying to escape
something inside your tank, thus we need the data on ammonia, nitrite,
nitrate, pH, and temp

I took a sample of h2o today to the pet store and Ph, ammonia and nitrites were normal. However, the nitrate level was sky high! I have no idea why...I haven't changed my cleaning routine since I got him years ago. I bought a bottle AmQuel Plus which removes everything (nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, chlorine and chloramines). Any ideas why the high nitrates and how to keep the level down?

Exact Readings are far more helpful, as most pet stores have not only no idea what they are doing, but they know NOTHING about properly caring for Oscars.

Have you cleaned your filters lately?
Do you vacuum the gravel when you do a water change?
How big of a Water change are you doing?

Your Nitrates are your Beneficial Bacteria at work, but they need to be kept at 40ppm or less.

We need the actual test results please but in the meantime do daily water changes of 25%.

how much water do change a week

Also can you take the new rock out and pour soe vinegar on it, if it fizzes dont put it back