OSCAR FEMALE SICK

[PZDEBEER]

Good day

My oscar female has not been eating since last week. She now is swimming weird, yesterday I thought she was dead she was just hanging in the water when I touched her she swam franticly up and down in the 450 litre tank. There is a male oscar with her in the tank - he is not acting aggressively towards her at all. Please advise I do not want to loose her? She does not swim at all just hangs in the water as on the photo

 

[foxgirl158]

That looks like a swim bladder problem.
@Colin_T @Slaphppy7 @itiwhetu

 

[PZDEBEER]

Is there anything I can do to help her? She was fine last week just did not eat but since yesterday she has been hanging in the water as on the photo?

 

[Slaphppy7]

How long has this tank been set up? How long have the fish been in the tank?

Is the tank cycled? What are your readings for ammonia, nitrate, and nitrIte, using a liquid test kit?

 

[itiwhetu]

This fish could simply have taken a head knock. Once a fish loses orientation there is usually not a lot you can do for it.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

How long have you had the fish?
How long has the tank been set up for?
What do you normally feed the fish?

-------------------
Check the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until the problem is identified. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Post a video of the fish. Upload the video to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.

 

[PZDEBEER]

How long has this tank been set up? How long have the fish been in the tank?

Is the tank cycled? What are your readings for ammonia, nitrate, and nitrIte, using a liquid test kit?

The tank has been set up for 2 years now. The pair was in the tank for about 4 months. The tank is cycled.

Hi and welcome to the forum

How long have you had the fish?
How long has the tank been set up for?
What do you normally feed the fish?

-------------------
Check the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until the problem is identified. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Post a video of the fish. Upload the video to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.

Thanks for all the advice, she died last night I am definitely going to keep the advice for future problems.

 

[GaryE]

She looked to me like a fish that had either been hit in the head or in the swim bladder. Oscars are nice fish, but they are also rough characters, and that fish looked like a few of the sub-dominant males and females of predatory or really territorial Cichlid species I've seen (and sadly lost) who have been hit hard by alpha tankmates.
Sorry that you lost her.