Why does my Oscar get blocked up all the time?

[Tim Wheatley]

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.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

...and some new behaviour. He's 'hovering' in the middle of the tank now and has gone totally pale... Like I think I can see through his fins right now...

 

[amesdrew]

My LFS sold me some bloating medicine by Seachem. They said they just started using it on their qt tanks and they think it works wonders at getting intestinal parasites and other issues out of the fish. I can't remember the products name, but they said fish couldnt resist a pellet mixed with the seachem product and garlic. it didnt work for me, i was to late. If you do this product, do it in a qt, i don't think my plants liked it.

Good luck with your fish, hopefully he pulls through again for you!

 

[amesdrew]

It was called seachem focus.

 

[HUKIT]

I would start him on Metrozoidale which is sold in Hikari's Metro+ and even cheaper is Parasite clear by Jungle which by us is sold at Walmart. It could be parasites from when you were feeding live. I only use NLS jumbo and x-large which is 4.5-7mm pellets for my breeding pair which are around 14", and nothing else besides the occasional cricket or nightcrawler. Metrozoidale is easy on the fish and won't harm your biofilter.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Thanks folks. I've dosed the tank with Clout, which should help if there are any parasites causing this. I couldn't find either of the products mentioned in my usual LFS stops today... So far no huge change. He seems a little more responsive, but is swimming less. Hasn't eaten, either.

I am really upset about this. He's always been a bit of a 'problem' fish but this is the first time I've gotten that knot in my stomach thinking I was going to lose him.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Yep. He has lost his ability to stay upright. He was laid on his side when I got up this morning and right now he is upside down on the gravel (still breathing).

Anything I can do to ease his passing?

 

[DA fisherman]

Did you ever have ich in the tank??? I ask cause when ich gets in the gill of a fish, it is like a different cycle it doesn't show as white spots, the fish will gasp at the bottom of a tank like if it needs air....

I say some freshwater aquarium salt for his gills, other then that I really hope he pulls thru :-/

 

[HUKIT]

Sorry to hear that Tim, that sucks really bad. I would be upset if one of my oscars went. I have a fairly brutal way of putting fish down which is instant but not for the faint of heart.

 

[Homedog98]

Oh man. So sorry about that. I hope he pulls through, but it doesn't seem likely at this point. How old is he?

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Did you ever have ich in the tank??? I ask cause when ich gets in the gill of a fish, it is like a different cycle it doesn't show as white spots, the fish will gasp at the bottom of a tank like if it needs air....

I say some freshwater aquarium salt for his gills, other then that I really hope he pulls thru :-/

He has never had it that I can remember, neither has that specific tank, but a tank he was in was treated with salt once when I had it in the other tanks and had just swapped a load of plants around. So if he did get it from that transfer I would have hoped the salt treatment I gave him (which cured the Ich in the source tank)... Possible though, I certainly can't say it's not possible. I never saw any of the fish in that tank flashing, either, do they do that if it's in the gills?

Sorry to hear that Tim, that sucks really bad. I would be upset if one of my oscars went. I have a fairly brutal way of putting fish down which is instant but not for the faint of heart.

I thought about ways to aid him and I don't think I could do it. But I know what you probably do and that really was the only thing I could think of which would cause the least suffering, but I still couldn't do it.

Oh man. So sorry about that. I hope he pulls through, but it doesn't seem likely at this point. How old is he?

I got him at one-two inches in September, 2010.

He passed away just now. I knew it was coming as I went over to the tank about an hour ago and his eyes were still following me (even though he was upside down), but about thirty minutes ago although he was still breathing, he had a 'vacant stare' and I knew he was basically gone. Then I looked up as I was reading this thread and saw he had stopped breathing.

I think the constipation/bloating probably caused organ damage and I didn't see it quick enough. But unfortunately it could also be a hundred other things. I would probably find it easier if I knew why he had died, right now I just feel a bit lost as to what went wrong really... He'd always seemed to have some re-occuring problem but always pulled through. I changed his diet so many times to try to get at what I thought the problem was and I can only assume it wasn't any of them.

Since I feel like I have had a handle on the hobby this is the first fish I've had die.

 

[Homedog98]

:'( :'( :'( :'( I'm so sorry. I wish I could help!

 

[HUKIT]

Sorry again, if you would like I'd be happy to send you a couple from my next spawn. Your close enough priority would arrive the next day. I haven't been keeping the last couple batches but your more than welcome to some.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Thanks guys.

Hukit: Na, that's OK. But I really appreciate the offer. I'll just let the other fish in the tank age out a little (Silver Dollars) and see if any other fish catches my eye eventually.

I won the March Freshie photo contest with a photo of that guy, too. How things change!

 

[HUKIT]

I also started trying to breed Red Terror's or Festae which are extremly rare if you're ever interested in a beatiful insane fish. The males will get around 16" and the females usually 8-12. These guys are living up to their name so far. I have 7 now trying to grow then out some more.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

I do have another Oscar, I wasn't going to keep it (it had HLLE when I got it and when my old Oscar died I was going to give it back to the LFS, but I changed my mind now. HLLE healing up nicely). Those look like awesome fish though... I wish I had another tank available now!

 

[Shetland James]

Peas help constipation.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

As stated in the post, he wasn't eating and has always avoided eating anything green.