Someone Please Help

[1411939]

about 3 weeks ago i bought a tiger oscar he is 3", anyways i letted the bag float for an hour, when i letted him go he went straight to the bottom and layed standin 24/7, hes been doing this for 3 whole weeks, nitrites are 0, nitrates are0, ammonia is 0 as well, the tank has been cycled, etc. ph is around 7, no tankmate bullies him or anything the tank has plenty of hiding places as well, it is a 55 gallon tank, i did a water change about 5 days ago, he is doing the same thing no matter what i do, he doesnt look sick or anything, he did have cloudy eyes but they cleared out after a few days of being in my tank so #128### is up with him? nobody seems to answer my question, and yes i know oscars take a few days to adjust not like cichlids which adjust in just some hours, but this one is about to take a month! if he doesnt start swimming and acting normal i will have to bring back my severum from the 20 cuz he was the boss of the tank but i took him out the first day just in case he decided to kill my oscar, my severum is tired of waiting as well.

also he hasnt eaten anything either because hes so lethargic

 

[Sofia]

Your nitrate readings should not be zero, there should be a certain level of nitrates. How long has the tank been established? what other fish do you have in the tank?

Is he your first Oscar?

You say he isnt eating what are you feeding him? does he poo at all?

 

[cosworthlady]

about 3 weeks ago i bought a tiger oscar he is 3", anyways i letted the bag float for an hour, when i letted him go he went straight to the bottom and layed standin 24/7, hes been doing this for 3 whole weeks, nitrites are 0, nitrates are0, ammonia is 0 as well, the tank has been cycled, etc. ph is around 7, no tankmate bullies him or anything the tank has plenty of hiding places as well, it is a 55 gallon tank, i did a water change about 5 days ago, he is doing the same thing no matter what i do, he doesnt look sick or anything, he did have cloudy eyes but they cleared out after a few days of being in my tank so #128### is up with him? nobody seems to answer my question, and yes i know oscars take a few days to adjust not like cichlids which adjust in just some hours, but this one is about to take a month! if he doesnt start swimming and acting normal i will have to bring back my severum from the 20 cuz he was the boss of the tank but i took him out the first day just in case he decided to kill my oscar, my severum is tired of waiting as well.

also he hasnt eaten anything either because hes so lethargic

What have you tried to feed him? Oscars need stimulation too. have you tried a ping pong ball in the tank to amuse him?

 

[1411939]

about 3 weeks ago i bought a tiger oscar he is 3", anyways i letted the bag float for an hour, when i letted him go he went straight to the bottom and layed standin 24/7, hes been doing this for 3 whole weeks, nitrites are 0, nitrates are0, ammonia is 0 as well, the tank has been cycled, etc. ph is around 7, no tankmate bullies him or anything the tank has plenty of hiding places as well, it is a 55 gallon tank, i did a water change about 5 days ago, he is doing the same thing no matter what i do, he doesnt look sick or anything, he did have cloudy eyes but they cleared out after a few days of being in my tank so #128### is up with him? nobody seems to answer my question, and yes i know oscars take a few days to adjust not like cichlids which adjust in just some hours, but this one is about to take a month! if he doesnt start swimming and acting normal i will have to bring back my severum from the 20 cuz he was the boss of the tank but i took him out the first day just in case he decided to kill my oscar, my severum is tired of waiting as well.

also he hasnt eaten anything either because hes so lethargic

What have you tried to feed him? Oscars need stimulation too. have you tried a ping pong ball in the tank to amuse him?

it seems like u dont get it he wont eat or do anything!, if i put aping pong ball it will float(and the height of the tank is 21") and since he doesnt care about going to the top he probably wont even pay attention to the ball, trust me, im gonna try the sinking bloodworms in a few hours to see if he gets stimulated by that, the tank has been running for a year, no tankmate bothers him, except at feeding time since the oscar just stays there staring at the food and my blood parrot kinda tries to get the food which is sitting below the oscar so the bp has to push the oscar a little bit to get the food thats all, and yes i have seen him poo probably from his last tank in which he ate at the store

 

[Davo86]

What else is in this tank and what is the temp?
What test kit are you using to get your water stats?

 

[Sofia]

We do get that he isnt eating but we are asking because he may not like what you are offering so if you tell us what he is eating we can suggest other things.

He may have an internal parasitic infection which can cause sluggish behaviour in fish and they also lose their appetite. I asked if you had seen him poo because white stringy poo can indicate internal parasitic infections.

Was he active in the shop tank?

 

[1411939]

We do get that he isnt eating but we are asking because he may not like what you are offering so if you tell us what he is eating we can suggest other things.

He may have an internal parasitic infection which can cause sluggish behaviour in fish and they also lose their appetite. I asked if you had seen him poo because white stringy poo can indicate internal parasitic infections.

Was he active in the shop tank?

he did eat the bloodworms, but in a weird way, at first he was swimming like trying to find the bloodworms(there was a bunch), and then he started eating some of them(so yes he eats now), after he ate them it looks like hes just a very lethargic guy, he went straight to the bottom again and do nothing(which my other fishes swim from side to side of the aquarium and beg for food 24/7), the only thing he does is move a little bit just in a certain spot when it sees me and when im not there he just sits in the bottom, like a normal healthy bottom dweller which he isnt supposed to be. i have seen him poo, he does normal brown poo, and he never yawns which is a sign of parasites as well, he just opens its mouth to clear some food from the gill plates like any fish

EDIT: yes he was fine but not 100% healthy, his eyes were cloudy and it some nipped fins in his last shop tank, he swimmed in a lethargic way(just like any oscar does) and then he would kinda rest or hang out in the bottom for a bit of time and then swim again like as if he was begging for food, if this helps i will try to upload a video of his behaviour soon, in the meantime i just observed that he swims towards the other side of the aquarium/top (in a normal oscar way), and then when i come to see him he goes back to the bottom weird but i know this isnt normal this is taking more than weeks now, something must be wrong with him

 

[Bluetooth]

Hi.

What youre describing is normal oscar behaviour, as long as he is eating and his poo is normal and the tank reads normal then dont expect a lot from him/her =-)

By the sounds of it however your oscar isnt in a main room of the house, fish can get used to the nice quiet conditions and forget that humans exist and if something disturbs their silence then you will find they are very scittish till they get used to you.

What i would suggest is doing a certain routine, feeding at a precise time, coming in to watch the tank at a certain time fora certain period etc that way he will get used to you.

Oscars laying down is just something they do, its mostly because they are bored.

I agree with the above suggestion of placing a ping pong ball in the tank, i used to use a fake egg with some lead inside that would make it hover around mid water so it gets them interested in something.

Good choice of fish, oscars are superb fish, you just have to adapt to their likes and such =-)

 

[Sofia]

I was just gonna say what Bluetooth said. I dont think there is anything 'wrong' with him he seems perfecty healthy maybe he just has a very lazy personality.

 

[1411939]

I was just gonna say what Bluetooth said. I dont think there is anything 'wrong' with him he seems perfecty healthy maybe he just has a very lazy personality.

well sorry then its just that i dont like lazy fishes like plecos and stuff, theyre pretty boring, btw he is finally swimming now, i wonder if it will stop though, he will just focus in swimming, not in anything else like tank re arrangings, etc. and i dont think he will focus on the ping pong ball cuz like i said it seems he is kinda blind, and focuses only on swimming up and down.. btw is it normal if tiger oscfar have red eyes?

 

[Truck]

0 nitrates isnt bad...

plants and anaerobic bacteria will use nitrates as a food source.

 

[Bluetooth]

I was just gonna say what Bluetooth said. I dont think there is anything 'wrong' with him he seems perfecty healthy maybe he just has a very lazy personality.

well sorry then its just that i dont like lazy fishes like plecos and stuff, theyre pretty boring, btw he is finally swimming now, i wonder if it will stop though, he will just focus in swimming, not in anything else like tank re arrangings, etc. and i dont think he will focus on the ping pong ball cuz like i said it seems he is kinda blind, and focuses only on swimming up and down.. btw is it normal if tiger oscfar have red eyes?

There is honestly nothing to apologize for, everyone who keeps oscars for the first time literally paps themselves when they see a 13" monster fish laying down and they start going haywire with testing and water changes till they ask about them =-)

Once he settles in youll see more activity from him cause hell start making a home and digging about looking for things to do, its the normal way with cichlids they just need some time to adjust i would still suggest feeding at certain times to get him used to a routine =-)

I have seen albino tigers with red eyes but thats usual for albinos, when you say red are you talking about the outer ring of his eye or the pupil? if its the outer ring then its just his colouring =-)

Good luck with the oscar, they are very independent fish and are quite fun too, dont hesitate to post if you need some info im sure people here are more than happy to give advice!

B