sick oscar

[jedi2208]

help,1 of my oscars is lying at bottom of tank,can't see any disease on it,lting on side,back end seems to be inactive,can move about but sinks back to bottom,any ideas please.

 

[wuvmybetta]

How long have you had him? What size tank? And how many oscars?

Most oscars lay on the bottom in a dramatic fashion like that when they're stressed. Any new changes?

 

[jedi2208]

i have 2,its a 180 litre tank,39"x18"x18" approx,had them for a few months,no new changes.

 

[WILDER]

Can you post water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph, once a fish lays on the bottom all the time and sways to one side there isn't much hope for them, has the fish stopped feeding, and also that tank is way to small for those fish.
http/species.fishindex.com/species_3093a...atus_oscar.html

 

[jedi2208]

don't know water stats,just try to keep water fresh,never really had prob before,but have noticed that the water gets an oily film on it all time,i think its the tap water,also have a brown algae that grows evrywhere.i'm just an amateur.

 

[kaz petts]

Could it be swim bladder? Has the oscar stopped feeding? Have you got any pics of the oscar. As Wilder said the tank is too small for 2 oscars, fish that size need loads of room, I would advise upgrading to a bigger tank, your oscar could be stressed due to the lack of room, if you have two they could be fighting and this one needs some room to get away which it doesn't have in that tank. Is the tank planted?

 

[jedi2208]

im waiting on my local aquarist phoning me back,tank isnt planted,but something i was planning doing,it has stopped feeding,it struggles to pull itself off of bottom of tank,i have never seen them fighting,they are only about 3 inches long at moment,so didn't think tank size would be a prob at moment.

 

[WILDER]

Do a water change, get your water tested for ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph, tell them to write the readings down for you, what do you feed the oscars.

 

[kaz petts]

Sounds to me like it is a swim bladder problem. How often do you feed them? What do you feed them on and how much in a go do you feed them.

When I first started out I started with gold fish and worked my way into trops and I now have 2 oscars myself.

I had a gold fish with the same problem a while back, it couldn't swim up the tank and stopped eating. I removed it and put it in a hospital tank with reduced water level to reduce the amount of water pressure on the fish. I managed to get it to eat again, when it did I fed it blood worm and also frozen peas, these are excellent at reducing and helping swim bladder.

Do you have another tank which you could use as a hospital tank? If so I would remove him and see if you can nurse him back to health with loads of TLC

 

[WILDER]

If you feed to many dried foods it can cause problems like dropsy and swim bladder.

 

[jedi2208]

i have been giving them dried food lately,just fed once a day,bout 6-10 pellets,have got bloodworm as well,have given them prawns in the past,do you defrost peas first?my water levels were fine,took samples in to shop where i got oscars,the guy gave me a couple of solutions to put in tank.sounds like you guys have highlighted a few things,thanks alot for your help.fingers crossed.

 

[kaz petts]

I would defrost the peas but obviously not too much where they are warm before adding to the tank.
Good luck