hi, ive had my oscar bout a year and a half, he stoped eating a bit over a week ago i wasnt worried because hes done it before just being fussy with food so i changed his food but he still hasnt eaten. ive tried all the frozen foods pellets and live food but hes not intrested at all. also every now and then he has a spaz in the tank and headbuts the sides and the top and he did it and got a big gash on his head. that was a week ago i put in some mela fix and that usually clears him up in a couple days but this time it hasnt.
i usually do 50%water changes every couple weeks but because he has been like this i put him in a small tank and cleaned his tank out completly and started it again.

he is about 7 inches long in a 3ftx 1ft x1.5ft tank hes out growing it
water at the moment is good only because its all new
ph 7
nitrite 0 mg/L
nitrate 0 mg/L
ammonia 0 mg/L
before i changed it amonia was off the scale
now hes back in the clean tank just sitting in the corner laying half on his side not moving
i dont know if hes sulking because of the change or if hes really sick and dieing.
even in the dirty tank and with his bump on his head and havent not eten in a week he was still swimming around before i cleaned him.
what can i do any coments would be greatly appreciated
thanks

Your test reading show your tank as not cycled.. No Nitrates = no cycle..You are going to need to keep a close eye on your water readings.. I suspect that you will have a problem very soon with Amonnia and Nitrites, and will need to do alot of water changes..

Please retest your tank so we can be sure about those water readings...

If they are in fact as you posted you will need to read the section on cycling. www.oscarfishlover.com/helpful-articles/cycling-an-aquarium

You will have to cycle your tank, this will require DAILY 30% water changes, and NO FILTER CLEANING during this time.

I hope this helps, but please recheck your water and get back to us!

BTW Welcome to OFL!

Welcome to the community

When you say you have had the fish for a year and a half, is it in your existing tank with the filters you are using at the moment? Also, your Oscar is not very big for an 18 month old Oscar.

What test kits have you got? You have given us a Zero readings for an ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Ammonia and nitrite should always be Zero, nitrate is kept under control with water changes and unless you do a 100% water change, you're not going to read a Zero when you test for ammonia. So as Miles has already pointed out, either your biological filter is not working properly, or you're not testing for nitrates properly. If you are using a liquid test kit then you normally have to do shake the bottle for around 30 seconds, and the vile for a minute, failure to do this may well give you false readings, quite often a Zero.

Have you been cleaning your filters? Also, is your fish breathing heavily? What we need to do is get an idea of how you have been maintaining your aquarium. You have got to be a little careful. Never turn your filters for too long, always use a water conditioner to remove chlorine. Do not wash any of your filter media out in tap water. Anyway, get back to us and we will try and help. The fact that your oscars wound is not healing would indicate poor water conditions, or maybe a damaged immune system

hardcore wrote
cleaning the tank completely???? did you clean the filtering system too???
if you did... then your tank is no longer cycled. your fish/es needs to cope
with uncycled tank.... moreover, melafix will make your fish refuse foods for
a while that would aggravate the situation. as suggested, please read articles
on tank cycling to save your o.

hardcore632 wrote:


Well, I'd say that explains a lot.

how is yr fish now?

hi thanks for the coments,
nigel is up off the bottom and swimming around again but still not eating.
i did change the whole lot of the water and cleaned out the filter. now i read about cycling my tank is not cycled. i have always washed the filter out when ever i do water changes because its only a small intank one and it clogs up within a couple weeks.
i tested the water again today
ph- 6.5
ammonia- 0.4 mg/L
nitrite- 0.1 mg/L
nitrate- 0 mg/L

i havent changed any water yet should i do it every day or wait till the nitrates come up and the bump on his head has like white slimey stuff on it.
should i stop putting in the mela fix

and i forgot to mention my test kit is a
interpet easy test liquid master test kit.