What's Wrong With My Fish?

[Raven11]

I purchased two Tiger Oscars (as least that's what I think they are?) the day before the 8th this month, and my black and red one has been laying at the bottom of the tank on his belly as well as his side. My white and red one seems to know something is wrong with the black one and has been staying down there with him to keep him company I believe because the white one has been acting just fine. If anyone can help it'd be much appreciated.

 

[yorkshirelassuk]

Have you got any pics?

 

[fluttermoth]

We really need more info from you, Raven.

How big are the fish and how big is the tank? How long has the tank been running and is it cycled? How many and how big are your water changes? Can you get the water tested?

Pics would be a great help; you'll need to upload them to a hosting site first.

In the meantime, do a large water change, making sure the new water is warmed and dechlorinated, and see if that helps at all.

 

[Raven11]

I got them at Wal-Mart, and the fish are I'd say an inch long. I have them in a five gallon tank right now. I cleaned out there tank yesturday. Fed them this morning and the black one got up for a minute and for some reason he started spinning around in circles on his nose, and the white one has been pushing him as if to say "get up" as well as been staying with him and curling his tail around him. I haven't seen this behavior in fish before so I don't know. I tried to upload a pic of them on here and it wouldn't upload. Don't know why. I always clean there tank when it's cloudy, so that's every three days I'd say. And I don't have anything to test the water.

 

[fluttermoth]

You need to upload your pics to a hosting site, like Photobucket or Flickr and paste the IMG code into your post

I'm afraid there's a lot more to keeping fish than just cleaning them out when the water gets cloudy

How exactly do you clean them out? Have you got a heater and filter?

 

[Raven11]

I basically empty out the tank and use warm water to clean everything even the filter and pump, then I replace the old water with new water that's cold and put aqua safe and algie preventive solution in the water and put the fish back in.

 

[Tuxyu3]

I basically empty out the tank and use warm water to clean everything even the filter and pump, then I replace the old water with new water that's cold and put aqua safe and algie preventive solution in the water and put the fish back in.

Are you using warm TAP water to clean the filter? If so you should use tank water a chlorine can and will harm the bacteria colony in the filter.

Oh and did you say that they are oscars? In a five gallon tank!?

 

[slimeneo]

So your tank isn't cycled? That's probably why... And also I've bought fish from Walmart and they died in hours.

You'll definitely need to get a test kit to test your water, I recommend API master kit. It's around $20 but hey, if you want healthy fish you gotta have it.
For now, do a big water change and that should get rid of some of the ammonia. Please read the beginners thread in "your first aquarium" section.

 

[colleen0309]

Aren't oscar babies cute?!! And what you have are little babies. These will grow very fast! They will be bigger than the 5 gallon tank you have them in in probably less than a year. They are very messy fish that need very good filtration and a heater, preferably not a glass heater. These fish will cause massive ammonia spikes in an uncycled tank. You really should rehome these fish if you don't plan on providing them with a much larger tank (75 - 100 gallon min), good filtration, and a heater. You will also need a liquid based test kit. For right now, you need to be doing daily water changes to keep those little babies alive.

 

[Raven11]

I basically empty out the tank and use warm water to clean everything even the filter and pump, then I replace the old water with new water that's cold and put aqua safe and algie preventive solution in the water and put the fish back in.

Are you using warm TAP water to clean the filter? If so you should use tank water a chlorine can and will harm the bacteria colony in the filter.

Oh and did you say that they are oscars? In a five gallon tank!?

Yes I use tap water to clean their tank and for them to live in, that's where the aqua safe comes in, it makes tap water safe for fish. I figured for now the 5 gallon tank will do until it is time to get them a bigger tank.

 

[fluttermoth]

So, is the water you use to clean the filter already dechlorinated? If it is, then that's ok.

You really do need a bigger tank ASAP, those fish can not stay in that tank or they're going to get sick and die, I'm afraid to say.

A four foot/55g would do you for the next few months, but even that won't be big enough as a permanent home.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

I purchased two Tiger Oscars (as least that's what I think they are?) the day before the 8th this month, and my black and red one has been laying at the bottom of the tank on his belly as well as his side. My white and red one seems to know something is wrong with the black one and has been staying down there with him to keep him company I believe because the white one has been acting just fine. If anyone can help it'd be much appreciated.

I would think about asking the store where you got them from if they would take them back. If they are good enough to do this, then they should be good enough to properly recommend you suitable fish for the tank you have.

Terry.