Unexplained Death of my Oscar? Help!

[Gibby]

Ok, let me go back and give you guys the whole story, and see if you have any insight into what happened. I have been reading these forums for about 6 months now, but I have never posted, until I found my Oscar dead on Sunday morning.

I have a 75 gallon tank that I took 2 months to prepare in my classroom (I am a teacher). I used a couple starter fish (zebra danios) to prepare the SunSun canister filter I have, I tested the chemicals with an API test kit about once a week, and everything went great. The levels were perfect and I followed the guides on here to perfection. I had two heaters that were keeping my digital thermometer at 80 degrees exactly. Its a nice spacious tank, with one log and some rocks, a fake plant, and Carib sand at the bottom. I was able to find another home for the danios (which all lived through the cycle, btw), and off I went to my LFS a month ago and picked out a Tiger Oscar. He seemed to have a lot of energy and some great colors. He was 3 inches big. The first month I had him, he was great, he ate a lot (Hikari cichlid staple medium pellets and Omega One freeze dried shrimp) and he grew an inch (4 inches now). He was really active and my students LOVED him. On the weekends, I had an autofeeder that would feed him 3 times a day. Often times though, I would come in on the weekend and feed him. I still ran weekly chemical checks, and everything was perfect. I also was doing water changes twice a week. Not big ones, anywhere from 40%-20% so I could take some strain off the pump and pick up his poop. I also added Seachems Prime and API Aquarium Salt (not a lot) whenever I did a water change.

Friday night rolls around and I leave work, with the autofeeder ready for the next 2 days. I also did a little water change on Friday just to clean the bottom, and added some Prime.

Sunday morning I go into work to get some things done, and hes upside down in the tank with that white foamy algae/bacteria growing on him. He has white eyes, but otherwise looked ok. I checked him body and he didn't seem bloated and there wasn't anything wrong with his head.

What do you guys think happened? im pretty upset....

I attached pics of my fish, and setup (I hope they work)

 

[Brookster123]

Janitors sprayed something or you failed the wrong student?? Dead fish get gnarly quick after they die. I've found fish dead that were swimming 10 hrs beforehand looking pretty aweful considering.

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[stooker]

Dang, really sorry to hear about this!

Was there an extended power outage or anything in the school over the weekend? Also, looks like the tank is right next to a window... any chance that had anything to do with it like sudden temp fluctuations from direct sunlight, or a sudden cold snap if the window is drafty?

Another possibility is one of the heaters failed to shut off properly?

I don't know what else besides sabatoge or just bad stock...

 

[rockyofhockey]

Dang, really sorry to hear about this!

Was there an extended power outage or anything in the school over the weekend? Also, looks like the tank is right next to a window... any chance that had anything to do with it like sudden temp fluctuations from direct sunlight, or a sudden cold snap if the window is drafty?

Another possibility is one of the heaters failed to shut off properly?

I don't know what else besides sabatoge or just bad stock...

Don't think it can be a bad stock as it was growing before it died (Op said it grew an inch and eat really well) I would test the water to see if there's any kind of spikes or differences. Other than that I have no idea


Rockyofhockey _/.\_

 

[stooker]

Don't think it can be a bad stock as it was growing before it died (Op said it grew an inch and eat really well) I would test the water to see if there's any kind of spikes or differences. Other than that I have no idea


Rockyofhockey _/.\_

True. I'm not all too familiar with oscars, so wasn't sure if there were issues with them due to imbreeding, lack of genetic diversity over the generations, etc., that some other species have. Some don't turn up until later on even after they seem healthy for a while. Same thing for other animals like purebreed dogs and cats. But I guess if it was something like that, it wouldn't have killed so suddenly, though. Just throwing ideas out for consideration.

 

[rockyofhockey]

True. I'm not all too familiar with oscars, so wasn't sure if there were issues with them due to imbreeding, lack of genetic diversity over the generations, etc., that some other species have. Some don't turn up until later on even after they seem healthy for a while. Same thing for other animals like purebreed dogs and cats. But I guess if it was something like that, it wouldn't have killed so suddenly, though. Just throwing ideas out for consideration.

I believe something due to water conditions played a major rules. Such as a pneumonia or nitrate spike maybe the filter got clogged all these ideas could have occurred


Rockyofhockey _/.\_

 

[Gibby]

thanks for the replies guys! The tank is next to a window, but we have had varying temperature changes here in Illinois, and I have an electronic thermometer that I check on daily, and I haven't seen any fluctuations. Also, I checked with our janitors that are here until midnight and people in our building early on Sat morning (7am), and none of them reported a power outage. It is still a possibility, but I asked a neighbor to the school if they had to reset their clocks or anything on Saturday, and they said no.

I just did another chemical check, and I have 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrites, about 10 ppm nitrates, the PH is at about 7.6.

Question: How low can the temperature be before an Oscar dies? I am asking, because lets say there was a power outage, I think the lowest my room could have gotten was about 50-60 degrees. can an Oscar live in 50-60 degree water for a couple hours, or would he die?

 

[rockyofhockey]

thanks for the replies guys! The tank is next to a window, but we have had varying temperature changes here in Illinois, and I have an electronic thermometer that I check on daily, and I haven't seen any fluctuations. Also, I checked with our janitors that are here until midnight and people in our building early on Sat morning (7am), and none of them reported a power outage. It is still a possibility, but I asked a neighbor to the school if they had to reset their clocks or anything on Saturday, and they said no.

I just did another chemical check, and I have 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrites, about 10 ppm nitrates, the PH is at about 7.6.

Question: How low can the temperature be before an Oscar dies? I am asking, because lets say there was a power outage, I think the lowest my room could have gotten was about 50-60 degrees. can an Oscar live in 50-60 degree water for a couple hours, or would he die?

I would say an oscar could tolerate that those temps. Oscars are actually pretty hardy fish and I would assume the outage couldn't have lasted that long with out anyone knowing


Rockyofhockey _/.\_

 

[Brookster123]

Did you ask the janitors If they cleaned around the tank? Was the glass streak free?

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[Gibby]

I did talk to the janitors extensively about it. I am very lucky, I have a janitor that owns his own aquarium at home as well, so he does know a little bit about the hobby. He did not clean around it.

I'm kind of hesitant to buy another fish until I figure it out. I am going to tear the filter apart next, clean it out a little, and see if I should change things up or if anything happened to it.

 

[AliGee]

I did talk to the janitors extensively about it. I am very lucky, I have a janitor that owns his own aquarium at home as well, so he does know a little bit about the hobby. He did not clean around it.

I'm kind of hesitant to buy another fish until I figure it out. I am going to tear the filter apart next, clean it out a little, and see if I should change things up or if anything happened to it.

Are you adding the proper amount of conditioner to your water? Are you using conditioned water to clean all elements of your tank?

Also, three times a day, even for a growing Oscar, is a lot... Unless you are giving very small amounts of food at a time. If you were checking your water levels frequently that probably wasn't a problem, but could be in the future.

One young adult Oscar in a 75 gallon is definitely under stocked. There are precautions you need to take for both under and over stocked tanks. The water changes could have been a little overkill and not allowed the tank to stay properly cycled.


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[Patty1980]

Are you adding the proper amount of conditioner to your water? Are you using conditioned water to clean all elements of your tank?

Also, three times a day, even for a growing Oscar, is a lot... Unless you are giving very small amounts of food at a time. If you were checking your water levels frequently that probably wasn't a problem, but could be in the future.

One young adult Oscar in a 75 gallon is definitely under stocked. There are precautions you need to take for both under and over stocked tanks. The water changes could have been a little overkill and not allowed the tank to stay properly cycled.


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You always want frequent feedings for juvenile Oscars. Its a must. Once they get over 8 inches you want to cut feeding back to 1-2 times daily. Fully grown, once every other day is sufficient. Your tank size is great, easier to keep nitrates low (as op says theirs were at 10). I disagree that the water changes were too large. Oscars grow faster and bigger the cleaner the water and better the diet. Oscarlovers.com is a great resource from folks who keep these fish exclusively. I'd recommend going there for better insight. I'm not sure about adding salt to an Oscar tank. I personally don't. Hopefully one of the big cichlid guys can comment on that. Sorry for your loss I'm growing my juvie out in our 55g alone for now. He's about the size yours was. I'd be way upset too.

 

[Patty1980]

Oscarfishlover.com to be exact