Oscar Refusing To Eat

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idlefingers

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I'm starting to get worried about my Oscar. He's been having white stringy poos and has not eaten for a few days now. I know I need to get him to eat peas to try to flush his system, but he won't go near them. He won't go near any food I offer.

I've only had him a week and he still seems quite wary of me which is making trying to get him to eat much harder.

I'm really at a loss as to what to do?

*edit* Just checked my tank stats:

PH: 7.2
Ammonia & Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
 
have you spoken to your LFS to see what they used to feed him and if they had noticed any problems before they sold the fish on?
 
have you spoken to your LFS to see what they used to feed him and if they had noticed any problems before they sold the fish on?

Yeah, I did ask them and try that food with him (TetraMin Flakes), but he didn't wat any of it.

While at the LFS yesterday I was speaking with someone about my plans for getting some silver dollars as dithers at one point and he suggested perhaps I do it now in hope it'll encourage him to be a bit more active and eat more. So I bought 8 and left them to settle in. And it worked!.. This morning at feeding time, he was jealous of them eating all the food and had to chase them away and get it all for himself! Yay!

I just wanted to see if it worked before updating this thread. I know it's a bit of a risk buying more fish when one's acting up, but it seems to have paid off and fixed the problem.
 
white stringy poo is worrying, sign of internal parasites, glad he's eating now just keep an eye on the poo for a few days
 
white stringy poo is worrying, sign of internal parasites, glad he's eating now just keep an eye on the poo for a few days

:crazy: That's not good. How can I know with more certainty what the problem is? (is there any way?) Should I get some meds?

I'd only seen the white stringy poo a couple of times and a few days ago.. Haven't really seen him poo since.. I hope I just keep missing it.. I'm really worried now..
 
monitor the situation for the next few days, if he's perked up and is eating now it may get back to normal, it could just be because of him not eating properly for a few days. research the diet for oscars (also remember it may change as they get older so be specific to his size) and make sure he's getting proper nutrition. if after a few days of proper eating he's still got stringy poo then you can start to worry. I believe flubenol is a good med for parasites although i've not used it myself, best place to ask is the emergencies forum
 
Thanks, Miss Wiggle.

Do you have a link to any good information on the internet about Oscar diets? I'm trying to get my hands on a book from my LFS but they keep having issues getting a copy and everything I find online pretty much says "they'll eat anything". I can't find anything much more specific.

I've been trying to give him a good, varied diet consisting of cichlid pellets (Tetra Doramin), tetra prima, peas, bloodworm and frozen cichlid mix (bits of fish basically). Basically, in the week I've had him, I've tried him on pretty much everything I've got.
 
sorry no links, from what i know your main staple should be a good quality cichlid pellet, occasionally give them vitamin enriched ones (get a human multi vitamin, dissolve it in a little water then soak the pellets in it before feeding him them), meaty treats like crickets, shrimp, prawns and earthworms are good along with occasional veggies like peas.

when mine was younger i gave him daphnia, bloodworms etc but i can't anymore as he's too big for them, he either swallows the frozen cubes whole or if i melt them first is simply confused as the bits are too small fo him to catch
 
I just saw him have a normal looking poop so fingers crossed..

Thanks again for the help Miss Wiggle. :good:
 
sorry no links, from what i know your main staple should be a good quality cichlid pellet, occasionally give them vitamin enriched ones (get a human multi vitamin, dissolve it in a little water then soak the pellets in it before feeding him them), meaty treats like crickets, shrimp, prawns and earthworms are good along with occasional veggies like peas.

when mine was younger i gave him daphnia, bloodworms etc but i can't anymore as he's too big for them, he either swallows the frozen cubes whole or if i melt them first is simply confused as the bits are too small fo him to catch

Interesting as I give mine frozen cubes and she just gobbles them up fine.
 
how big is s/he?

mine was fine until relativley recently but as he's got on for full adult size he'll just swallow the thing whole, i'm reluctant to let him do this i dont think having a big chunk of frozen food in his belly is gonna do him much good..... really don't know if i'm right in worrying over it or not but there's plenty of meaty alternatives you can get that are more appropriately sized so I'd just go with things like that instead
 
she is fully grown at 13".
She holds it in her mouth for a minute to let it defrost then swallows the cube whole. She has set the record at 4 cubes in her mouth at one time, managed to grab everyones food while the other Oscar was busy digging. Cheeky little hungry monkey!
 
see mine won't even let it defrost, it's straight down in one gulp (greedy piggy!!)

dunno what it is but i just don't like the idea of him having a cube of frozen food in him, think it'd not be very good for him
 

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