# Old man oscar acting strange



## DawgZ (Jan 19, 2006)

Inbox :: Message
From: DawgZ
To: DawgZ
Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:29 pm
Subject: Wierd Behavior Quote message
Hello All... hope everything is going swimmingly !!! (pun intended)

I have a rather odd acting cichlid and need some input, if you please.

I have a red Oscar (named... u guessed it.. Oscar de la Fisha) who is now approaching 7 years old. He is in a 120 gallon tank, and has grown to about the size of a football (though not as round). He interacts (normally) with my children ages 2 & 5, by swimming to the glass where they are standing and makes "kissy faces", as my 2 year old says (personally I think he wants to eat them). He is usually pretty active and raucous as fish go.

Now comes the weird behavior.... He now sits in the corner, slightly bent to his left, and has an almost unperceptable twitch. He can be easily pushed around, and seem lackluster and semi-dead. He doesn't appear to be eating, and has several of the bait fish swimming around. They have grown quite a bit and I suspect they are the ones eating the pellets we drop in for Oscar. He has begun to try to violently exit the tank by rushing up at the top and has broken the plastic light holders on top of the tank. He is in good general appearance excepting the scars and tears he is getting by doing the "Houdini". I have picked him up twice off the floor (no small task I may say) and replaced him into the tank (thank goodness we were in the room when he jumped, else I wouldn't be writing this).

I keep his water clear and warm.. I do a 30% change every so often.. or just let some evaporate and clean and refill. He gets attention, though less now that summer is here and we are out at the pool more than in the family room where he lives. I have recently treated the tank with an anti-algae treatment.. the pills that look like alka-seltzer.

So.... has our beloved Oscar begun his approach to the the pearly gates (as do all God's creatures)..?? Or am I just missing something..??

I beseech you all.. please help us..!! My daughters, Annie and Kaitlyn (who are helping me write this) don't want to lose their favorite glass encased friend...  :-? :-?


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## under_control (Jan 9, 2008)

Anti-algae produces are the devil. They don't work, aren't very safe, and can easily cause problems.

I would do several things--keep up on water changes, they are very important. Oscars poop. A lot. And that poop leaves a lot of organics in you water that just can't come out except during water changes. How is the tank filtered?

I would do a large water change now. 50%, making sure to add prime or another quality dechlor agent.

Then I would look into feeding new foods. Add some freeze dried(or frozen) krill, shirmp, shrimp pellets, etc, as they will all stimulate his appetite.

Don't feed feeders unless you breed them yourself.


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## DawgZ (Jan 19, 2006)

I will try immediately. He gets raw water fresh out of my well, so I do'nt think Chl is the problem.


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## cichlidgirl1 (Sep 17, 2007)

I always advise a big water change when fish start behaving odd. I would start off by doing a 75 percent water change,(vacume substrate good when you do water change) then observe him closely for a few days. This is especially true when using algecides, they can be really toxic sometimes. Even more so if you used water clearing product with the algaecide.

Oscars are super messy fish (as im sure you know) you should be doing 30 -50 percent water changes each week and vacume the gravel weekly too. Dirty water can appear clear, its often the unseen stuff that causes problems such as bacterial infections , eye cloud, and funguses. These things get into the gravel and hide...

Weight down the lids of the tank ASAP. (I like to keep two shoe boxes with a bag of flour or sugar in them on the lids.) works good.

Your oscar can live for many more years than 7.

I would also treat for internal and external parasites since you feed live food, he could have easily picked up a parasite and is off his food and feeling badly now. Once again observe for improvement .

A picture of him would help too.


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## DawgZ (Jan 19, 2006)

Oh yeah.. the tank has twin Aqua-Clear 300's running with sediment and Charcoal anti-ammonia pouches. i think they turn the tank over 3-4 times an hour. i also have below gravel filter.


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## DirtyBlackSocks (Jan 24, 2008)

This needs to be moved to the disease/illness forum.

Head over to that forum and look at the sticky's, answer all questions posed in the sticky's in this thread to better troubleshoot the problem.

Include any recent changes - i.e. anything new you've done over the past 4 months or so.


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## BlackShark11k (Feb 16, 2007)

Moved


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