Oscar on hunger strike (Not eating)

[femmeartist51]

Hi everyone,
My oscar is not eating. Cannot figure out why. He looks good, but hangs out in the back corner of the tank. His usual habits about eating is, when you hand feed the blood parrots, he is right there pushing his way in. Now he just hangs out, doesn't rush over to eat at all. We did a 40% water change two days ago. He was eating before that. Our heater did break, but we caught it before it could damage the fish. But our tank is 80 degrees without a heater right now.
PH 7.4 (which is unusual, usually we have 6.3 when we change the water)
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 40
Nitrite 0
Hardness 70 approx.
Alk 60
So we cannot figure out why he stopped eating. His color is good, meaning no white stuff, not wounds,

Can the 7.4 ph with the nitrates of 40 be a problem with this fish. I know that a high PH and then the nitrates is bad. But if the ph is lower then the nitrates are not so dangerous. Let me know if anyone has ideas about why this fish has stopped eating.

Oh we just added a larger and new filter. Tetra tech pumps 500 gallons an hour good to up to 100 gallons. We did keep our older Top Fin 60 in there also. Do you think that is way too much filtering for the tank and we may of upset the fish?
Thanks Lynda

 

[colen]

Sounds like there has been a few recent changes and maybe he is just a little stressed.

 

[Kopix Nation]

Poor oscar!My oscars are pigs when it is feeding time!I can't get them to stop begging...

claire

 

[Fella]

Sounds like there has been a few recent changes and maybe he is just a little stressed.

[snapback]909702[/snapback]​

Yeah I'd go with this. They're prone to having a sulk every now and then as well.

 

[Tolak]

How big is the oscar, & how many days has he been behaving like this?

Tolak

 

[femmeartist51]

How big is the oscar, & how many days has he been behaving like this?

Tolak
Hi, thanks for the input. It has been since yesterday, that's when the oscar stopped eating. I guess it may just be the new filter, water changing and just plain ticked off. I hope by tomorrow he/she will eat. I really looked at it closely, no visible signs of any damage to his body. When I purchased him, someone beat him up in the fish store, his bottom fins where kind of chewed on. But he seemed fine and ate like a pig. Oh oscar is about 2 1/2 to 3 inches. Guess I will have to watch him/her and maybe if it comes to it, wonder how one force feeds a fish. I know he loves bloodworms. Maybe that can make him/her have something to eat. Well thanks, and I hope it's just stress, or a big sulk.
Lynda

 

[Adistar]

when i first got my oscar he did not eat for close to 5 days... i would drop some pellets and scoop them out eventually when they got soggy. but now he jumps out of the water to get to my hand. he is such a pig.

Just give him time tho, maybe turn out your lights and tyr not to disturb him that much for a couple days, just add food whenever he is out and about and see if he eats it...

HTH

Josh