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Oscar Sitting on ground.

3220 Views 10 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  cichlidgirl1, 
M
Hi Guys,

My 30cm oscar may not be happy and i was wondering if i could get some advise off fellow oscar owners.

Tank = 6x2x2
Other fish = vieja and another smaller oscar
Bullied ? = he doesnt get picked on.

So my oscar is camped at the bottom of the tank and not swimming about, the other fish seem fine and if i put food into the tank he will come up and eat it. Not with the same zeal as he would previously though.

Any ideas?
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C
I have seen or read about that somewhere years ago. It is a sign of a parasite i believe. I cant remember which one since i never had it but i want to say gill flukes. I will try to check it out again and get back to you. I know i heard of that. ..

Edit : found it, i was right, gill flukes. Parasite. Here is a link :

http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/disease_medications/external/gills_flukes.shtml

Here is a link for the treatments they recommend. I believe there are other treatments available now as well. I knowi have seen some paraite treatments over the counter that treat body and gill flukes.
http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/disease_medications/external/gills_flukes2.shtml

Hope you can clear this up quickly. Good eye about the using one side only on the gills and paying attention to your fish. :thumb: BTW : if you feed feeder fish or it was around fish that had been with goldfish, flukes are commonly found on goldfish and related species.

CG
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Keep up on the water changes, your readings are that of a tank not completly cycled. You should be totally cycled when nitrite and ammonia are at 0 ppm and you have nitrate readings. You have some nitrate readings all ready and lower nitrite so hopefully you are almost done. If its not a new tank then it appears your tank might have crashed and your having a mini cycle now (antibiotic drugs can do that, you have to be very careful using them and read the labels and inserts carefully to make sure it wont kill off the bacteria needed to keep the tank cycled)

CG
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Im not a filter expert but i dont think so. It is likely what i said about not being cycled all the way or something happened to disrupt the cycle. Adding alot fish at one time (doubling the number of fish or adding in some really super dirty fish etc.. and adding meds (especially antibiotic meds)are two common reasons for a tank that was good to suddenly crash the cycle and then you have to start over. Your tank can also go through what is called a unexpected mini cycle (that also resembles your readings) Just do a couple 10 percent water changes each week (2 or 3) till you get readings of 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrite, then maintain less than 20 ppm nitrate with your regular maintence. doing those 10 percent changes will help to prevent the levels from reaching toxic levels. Do daily testing to monitor when you need to do the water changes. Your oscar could have been sulking cause of a mini crash or because nitrite levels spiked after he went through the ammonia spikes. Adding salt will help with gill function and oxygen absorbtion. Hope that helps.
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