Gulping Oscars

[Scrole]

Help!!! My Oscars have started gulping...that is the only way to describe it, for a day and a half now they have been continously gulping, opening and closing there mouths, sort of flaring their gills...what could be wrong? What do I do?

 

[Alien Anna]

Could you give us some more details please?

What size tank do you have?
How long have you had it?
What are the water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, pH, temperature)
What sort of filter do you have?
What tank-mates have you in the tank (if any).

The most common reason for this kind of behaviour is poisoning from ammonia or nitrite, due to a tank not being properly "cycled" (that is, no beneficial bacteria breaking down the poisons to nitrate).