Tim Wheatley
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2011
- Messages
- 1,342
My Oscar constantly seems to suffer from bloating/constipation issues. There's been a few times where I thought I was going to lose him and unfortunately he's going through it again right now worse than ever.
I feed mostly Hikari Cichlid Gold, but also occasional flake, brine shrimp and bloodworms. He is a picky eater and always avoids eating the flake and shrimp, but gobbles up the bloodworms. The other fish in the tank eat what he doesn't.
As I said I have been through this a few times and I've cut back on the bloodworms, he gets them less than once a week now as I used to believe they were the cause of his issues... But now that his staple is Hikari Cichlid Gold I'm disappointed to see he actually seems worse than ever. I actually stopped feeding live fish entirely too because I thought that was the problem.
My usual treatment has been to stop feeding and he would always pass the problem. This time he hasn't 'instantly' recovered like normal, so I added some Epsom salt and he evacuated his bowels shortly afterwards, but continued acting the same way.
So, what can be the cause? Is it possible he has a deformity or reoccuring condition? If it's the food, what should I be feeding??
My main issue with any conventional treatment (green peas) is that he will NOT eat them even when he's starving hungry. And right now (like I said, this is the worst he has ever been) he won't eat anything now - I even tried with bloodworms and he let the Silver Dollars get them (not like him)...
Anyway, right now I think I may lose this fish. He's 9-10 inches. Water parameters show no ammonia, nitrites and only 10ppm nitrate (I do water changes every other day as I have another Oscar - who is fine - that I rescued with HLLE, healing up).
His symptoms are gasping with mouth open (doesn't fully close his top of mouth to his 'tongue' right now), sitting on the substrate and not eating. His color is good, he can definitely swim fine (he swims towards me very slowly when I go near the tank). That makes me sure it isn't swim bladder as he doesn't seem 'heavy'.
The other Oscar, who like I said was a rescue with HLLE, shows none of the symptoms except that when the sick Oscar lays on the gravel the HLLE Oscar will go and sit right by it. The sick Oscar will shake it's tail at that point and then they'll sit there together for a few minutes before the HLLE Oscar gets bored and starts to swim up and down the glass begging me for food. (I've actually heard of this 'sympathy' behaviour before, check this out: Oscar laying on the bottom [Video] - Oscarfishlover.com )
Not sure what else to do. I don't think I can get another Oscar if this guy dies as I feel way more connected to them than any other fish.
I feed mostly Hikari Cichlid Gold, but also occasional flake, brine shrimp and bloodworms. He is a picky eater and always avoids eating the flake and shrimp, but gobbles up the bloodworms. The other fish in the tank eat what he doesn't.
As I said I have been through this a few times and I've cut back on the bloodworms, he gets them less than once a week now as I used to believe they were the cause of his issues... But now that his staple is Hikari Cichlid Gold I'm disappointed to see he actually seems worse than ever. I actually stopped feeding live fish entirely too because I thought that was the problem.
My usual treatment has been to stop feeding and he would always pass the problem. This time he hasn't 'instantly' recovered like normal, so I added some Epsom salt and he evacuated his bowels shortly afterwards, but continued acting the same way.
So, what can be the cause? Is it possible he has a deformity or reoccuring condition? If it's the food, what should I be feeding??
My main issue with any conventional treatment (green peas) is that he will NOT eat them even when he's starving hungry. And right now (like I said, this is the worst he has ever been) he won't eat anything now - I even tried with bloodworms and he let the Silver Dollars get them (not like him)...
Anyway, right now I think I may lose this fish. He's 9-10 inches. Water parameters show no ammonia, nitrites and only 10ppm nitrate (I do water changes every other day as I have another Oscar - who is fine - that I rescued with HLLE, healing up).
His symptoms are gasping with mouth open (doesn't fully close his top of mouth to his 'tongue' right now), sitting on the substrate and not eating. His color is good, he can definitely swim fine (he swims towards me very slowly when I go near the tank). That makes me sure it isn't swim bladder as he doesn't seem 'heavy'.
The other Oscar, who like I said was a rescue with HLLE, shows none of the symptoms except that when the sick Oscar lays on the gravel the HLLE Oscar will go and sit right by it. The sick Oscar will shake it's tail at that point and then they'll sit there together for a few minutes before the HLLE Oscar gets bored and starts to swim up and down the glass begging me for food. (I've actually heard of this 'sympathy' behaviour before, check this out: Oscar laying on the bottom [Video] - Oscarfishlover.com )
Not sure what else to do. I don't think I can get another Oscar if this guy dies as I feel way more connected to them than any other fish.