Help my oscar won't eat

[Sky042]

about 3-4 weeks ago my oscar stopped eating.
(luitino tiger oscar about 9" long)

It decided it no longer wanted to eat the pellets it's been eating for the past year.
This was around the same time as it developed a little fin rot and a spot on it's eye. We also discovered the temp in the tank had gone low like around 72 degrees. Raised the temp up to 82. Treated with melafix.

Fins are now pristine and the spot is gone.

However the oscar refuses to eat. I tried offering hikari pellets that it ate when a baby. I tried offering algae discs(a former favorite) as well as tubiflex worms and just recently even offered it crickets and night crawlers which it took one look at them swam away and hid from them.

The only thing I know it did eat was a couple Ghost shrimp over the past month. This isn't enough to sustain a fish it's size.

I dont' know what to do.
IT swims around like normal and still begs for food like a oscar does. I just don't get it. I'm worried that it'll starve to death.

I just bought it a 125 Gallon home that'll will be ready in about a week or so.

Any thoughts?
Water is perfect and there have been no changes in chemistry. (all the other fish in the house that get water from the same source are doing fine as well)

 

[juanveldez]

have you tried other pellets in addition to the hikari? sometimes just the smell of a different brand of pellet will trigger a feeding response. also you might look into some shell fish for him. my wife often says that the darn fish eat better foods than we do which is true to a point. my fish get regular feedings of cooked frozen jumbo shrimp and raw frozen scallops. and with the exception of the jags who only like pellets and a little bit of shrimp they all go crazy for the scallops.

 

[Sky042]

have you tried other pellets in addition to the hikari? sometimes just the smell of a different brand of pellet will trigger a feeding response. also you might look into some shell fish for him. my wife often says that the darn fish eat better foods than we do which is true to a point. my fish get regular feedings of cooked frozen jumbo shrimp and raw frozen scallops. and with the exception of the jags who only like pellets and a little bit of shrimp they all go crazy for the scallops.

He's eaten glass shrimp.
I've tried tetra and hikari brand pellets but what I don't get is he gobbled them up for a year then one day just decides sorry no more.

I don't want to get into buying him live food. and Shellfish is out of the question(severe food allergy in my house)

See here's the other weird part is everything I throw in the tank he strikes at. He'll keep it in his mouth for a moment then spit it out. Then strike it again then spit it back out then eventually he just stops and looks for more food.

It's getting frustrating.

 

[juanveldez]

sounds like a very picky eater. and a good example of why I don't like to feed live foods other than the occasional earth worm. here are some other suggestions

Plankton, I use san fansisco bay brand it comes in the little cubes the fish love it!!!

Marine labratories cichlid bio blend pellets again the fish all love them, they are also softer than regular pellets and belive me when I say softer I can easily take one out of the container and split it in half just with my finger nails. you can order them for a reasonable price thorugh Drsfosterandsmith.com just make sure that you get the cichlid form of this pellet as there are also others offered.

the other suggestion is to keep on doing what you are doing just try everything and anything and have lots of patience. and avoid live foods it seems that it is what he is looking for.

 

[Sky042]

Update.
He still won't eat
I've tried everything
He was scared to death of Nightcrawlers and crickets.

even tried tempting him with some flake food

Still nothing

So far I've tried feeding him
Hikari Cichild Gold
Tetra Cichlid pellets
Hikari Algae discs
Wardley algae discs
Crickets
Tubiflex worms
night crawlers
Tropical flakes
Mysis Shrimp

it's now been close to 3 weeks since he's eaten.
Sunday he started to shed his slime coat I did a 50% water change raised the temp a bit added a bit of salt and some stress coat and he's looking better though the fins are still a touch ragged.

Seems like this fish is intent on starving himself.

What I don't get is that he'll act hungry.
He'll strike at food and take it into his mouth.
but then after that he'll sorta half chew it for a few moments then spit it out. Sometimes after spitting it out he'll strike it again but eventually everything I put in the tank winds up floating to the bottom or stuck to the filter.

I'm at my wits end with this fish.