# Help- 2 1/2 inch tiger oscar: growing or sick?



## Ozzkar (Apr 24, 2008)

I have owned oscars in the past but they were large hand me downs from a friend that I agreed to take care of. They died a while back and I haven't had an aquarium for a hile now. I finally broke down and bought an aquarium and a couple small oscars. One of them, a tiger oscar, has started showing very wierd behavior. I remember from the ones I used to own that oscars are moody and seem to like sulking at teh bottom of the cage, unless of course they get hungry or see me. But this new one has started laying completely flat on the gravel. It's skin is gray and has little fluttery pieces coming from it. It's eye's are glazed over as well. I would think that this would be serious if the thought that it was shedding hadn't entered my mind first. The dull color and clouded eyes remind me of the snakes I own when they are about to shed. So please, if anyone has made it this far through my excessively long explanation, do I need to be concerned for my fish, or is it just getting bigger?


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## Stina (Sep 23, 2007)

I have only owned one oscar. i bought him when he was 1 & 1/2 inches. He is now 10 & 1/2 inches. I have never seen my oscar do or look like that. I would PM thefishguy on this forum ASAP. He helped me keep my alive & well.

Good Luck :thumb:


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## Ozzkar (Apr 24, 2008)

Well he's dead, covered in a yellowish film. I had moved them from my apartment(where I go to college) down to my parents house. He was perfectly healthy looking before the trip began, and less than 4 hours later he's dead. I can't tell if my albino has it because of it's skin color, and my large 4inch red shows no signs. The question is what do I do now. Do I need to get some kind of water treatment to kill off whatever this is, do I split apart my remaining 2 fish, and so forth. Also, the both show little white specks on them, especially on their translucent fins. It's the same color as the gravel so I'm wondering if it';s tiny grains from teh gravel or some other death algae bloom starting. I don't remeber taking care of these guys to be this hard .


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

My feeling is that he was suffering from something mild that would have ran it's course and you would have never even known of it if he weren't moved. As we all know oscars hate change and it will usually stress them out, some to the point of death. I feel that's what's happened here. Do a big water change to rid the tank of whatever mild issue their was and add 1/2 cup of epsome salt per 50 gallons and things should be fine from here on out... Sorry for the loss


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## the General (Aug 26, 2007)

> Also, the both show little white specks on them, especially on their translucent fins. It's the same color as the gravel so I'm wondering if it';s tiny grains from teh gravel or some other death algae bloom starting.


That sounds like the parasite ich, does it look like this?








(google image searched ich, from http://www.cureforich.com/images/poorfish.jpg)

If so then you will need to start medicating for it ASAP as it can be lethal if not taken care of. It's not really too hard to eradicate, mainly an annoyance. Check out some of the stuff in the Illness/health forum and the articles in the health section in this site's library, they're very helpful and will give you several treatment options.


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## BlackShark11k (Feb 16, 2007)

What are you water parameters? (e.g. ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph). Have any other oscars showed these signs? How big is the tank and how many oscars do you have?

Hope nothing happens to your other Os,
Art


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