5 Year old Oscar Dead!!!!

[method0075]

I have a pair of breeding oscars and the male, who is 5 years old was dead when I came home from work yesterday. There was no signs of any visible sickness other than... He has been swimming at the top of the tank for a while now almost like he was trying to get air! I noticed a couple other cichlids doing this and they are all still alive, but appear to be doing the same thing that the oscar did.

I recently had a fish die that was really old, he had no signs of disease or parasites. I removed him and did a 50% water change. I also went out and bought a closed sump filtration system for the tank and removed the old HOB filter.

If anyone has any input I would really appreciate it

 

[BrianNY]

I'm concerned about the fish still struggling for air (as you say). That's a sign of ammonia poisoning as ammonia does gill damage. It might also be gill flukes, but they generally aren't fatal to adult fish.

I'm curious about your bioload as oscars are bug waste producers. I would test for ammonia and nitrites, and do daily 30% water changes just to reduce the stress level in the tank.

 

[method0075]

I`m planning to do the water changes and test the water... I`m wondering if having him in the tank dead all day while I was at work was enough to spike the ammonia! Thanks for the feedback... I`ve never eally had any problems with the tank it is very mature along with the fish

 

[BrianNY]

Never good to have a dead fish of that size in the tank. Good Luck and keep us posted.

 

[DeFeKt]

o2?

 

[DeFeKt]

have a pair of breeding oscars and the male, who is 5 years old was dead when I came home from work yesterday.

have u bred them personally?
I was wondering if u found a way to tell the sex?
also how big are they when they 'start' breeding on average.

 

[Zagz]

Sorry to hear about your Oscar. It is always a sad day to lose a fish, esp one you have had that long.

 

[method0075]

I`m bummed because they have bred a couple times... The offspring I sold to local fish stores. Anyway, I`m thinking of getting rid of my cichlid setup and just going saltwater. The oscar that died was kind of the staple for the tank.

On a side note the fish don`t appear to be gasping for air anymore and seem depressed? They aren`t eating much and aren`t active as much as before...