Oscar will not eat anything!!

[henrysdad]

I rescued an oscar as some of you fish nuts know(henry) he won't eat anything at all? He's active as always the water is well within parameters nothing has changed in the tank... help?! It started a few days ago he seemed to be picky wouldn't eat pellets or krill but meal worms and crickets he would eat a little..but now nothing

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[Brookster123]

Well that's bot good. How does he look physically? Color? Shape? Finnage. Is his stomach sunken. Anything hanging out of his bum? Has he been pooping normally for intake.

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[henrysdad]

He has been slowly rubbing his body on the gravel and tries to go completely upside down to do the same to his head?

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[Brookster123]

Have you been testing the water? How often you wc'ing

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[henrysdad]

I test the water once a week at the lps and I do 10% wc once a week

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[Brookster123]

Need to change more water man, plain and simple, that guy is a waste machine. You should be doing 2-50% a week. If he's flashing and scratching than his gills may be irritated. Try a couple larger water changes. I'm not just preaching wcs. It needs to be done for these fish.

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[henrysdad]

Thank you I did one rn

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[54seaweed]

another thought try enticing him with a few gold fish

 

[Brookster123]

another thought try enticing him with a few gold fish

I don't think that's the best course of action in the given scenario. Like go to the store and buy some disease laiden feeders??

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[54seaweed]

somehow I missed this but
I do agree if he is flashing larger water change could help the remedy , ammonia will burn out his gills fast , this could be the main reason he stopped eating but now it's up to you to get him eating again . get better Henry

food chain

 

[Brookster123]

without causing debate if all else fails go back to it's natural feeding habits, feeding feeder fish / shrimp ect sometimes are a last resort . just like people getting bored fish do too.

Debate you say?? Crustaceans, worms,bugs, bubble gum.. they eat whatever gets into their mouth with the least amount of effort. Chasing fish takes the most effort.

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[TMaier]

I had an Oscar that refused to eat anything besides garden snails. And I offered many options. He did not subscribe to the whole variety idea. He liked consistency.


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[Tbox]

Nightcrawler worms are good food. My Oscars loved them. Possibly easy to catch in your backyard depending on where you live. De-poop the worms first.
"Feeder fish" are all bad news like Brooks said.

 

[Potluck]

I don't really know anything about Oscar's but could the scratching and flashing be parasites?