Hi guys - I need advice...
My Oscar is about a year old and has been going strong. Yesterday I came home for lunch and I noticed him acting shy, and hiding and sort of laying slightly on his side and also breathing a little harder than normal as though he was stressed with his mouth agape slightly.
He was fine the night before and has been eating well. This is also normally a very outgoing fish that I can feed out of my hand. He'll even jump out of the water to snag small shrimp from my finger tips. So I can tell something is off.
Anyhow, I immediately began siphoning water out to do a water change and while I did that I tested the water's parameters.
Tank is 130 gallon: Water was at .25 ammonia, 0 nitrite ph 6.0-6.5 range, I didn't check nitrates because I know I don't have much built up if any as I stay on top of regular water changes. Also, the ammonia, is most likely free ammonia or false positive because my water system adds chloramines to the water and I use Prime to detoxify.
Anyhow, the other fish in the tank were completely fine and I've had no recent losses.
I refilled the tank with cooler water to increase dissolved O2 content and I also run a bubble disk and 2 small sponge filters in each corner of the tank to go along with a Fluval FX6 canister. So there is plenty of aeration. I typically keep the tank at about 81 degrees or so. With the water change it came down to 79 degrees F.
After the water change my Oscar came out and was breathing better. He seemed alert. I even did a light feeding to satisfy my own curiosity to see if he showed interest in food. He did eat and went after a few gulps of food with vigor, but didn't eat as much as he typically would.
After that I went back to work. I came home that night and it was a repeat of the afternoon. He was hiding, laying somewhat sideways and not acting normal.
I did another water change of about 40%. I noticed he then came out and swam around a little bit, sometimes stopping and looking downward and at an angle. He just seems very sluggish.
I woke this morning to find the same problem. Hiding in a corner, laying somewhat on his side and out of sight.
I came to the tank and he did come out for a bit and seemed fairly alert but very very very sluggish. About 6 weeks ago, I placed a smaller younger wild Oscar in the tank with him who I had in a separate tank for 3 months prior and is very healthy. The two are inseparable. No aggression of any sort. I actually think one is male and the other female. The smaller Oscar is even seemingly trying to comfort the larger one and remains close by.
So, I'm also wondering if perhaps the larger one is a female and carrying eggs or is backed up in some way? I don't know what to think.
This morning I did another light feeding. While the bigger Oscar came out he/she did not feed. He then returned to his new hiding corner. I then walked over to the tank and looked at him and he swam up a bit and looked at me. I noticed somewhat heavy breathing though and the mouth a bit agape again.
I'm really confused and concerned. I moved about 6 weeks ago to a new place and had to move the tank, but everyone has been fine and he was totally fine until yesterday, feeding vigorously etc. I typically do 1-3 water changes a week and have an established media bed so I'm not sure what could be happening.
To make matters worse, I'm going out of town on vacation for the coming weekend and I don't know what to do. Do I isolate him in a separate tank while I'm gone? I'm even considering packing him up and bring a 20 gallon along for the trip and setting him up in my hotel room with me so I can keep an eye on him but I'm scared that the 2-3 hour drive, new tank, and move back and forth will just stress him out and only bring harm.
Any ideas what may be going on and/or what I should do about the weekend? Bring him, leave him, set up a separate tank?.... In the meantime, what can I do for him and what could be wrong?
Thanks!
My Oscar is about a year old and has been going strong. Yesterday I came home for lunch and I noticed him acting shy, and hiding and sort of laying slightly on his side and also breathing a little harder than normal as though he was stressed with his mouth agape slightly.
He was fine the night before and has been eating well. This is also normally a very outgoing fish that I can feed out of my hand. He'll even jump out of the water to snag small shrimp from my finger tips. So I can tell something is off.
Anyhow, I immediately began siphoning water out to do a water change and while I did that I tested the water's parameters.
Tank is 130 gallon: Water was at .25 ammonia, 0 nitrite ph 6.0-6.5 range, I didn't check nitrates because I know I don't have much built up if any as I stay on top of regular water changes. Also, the ammonia, is most likely free ammonia or false positive because my water system adds chloramines to the water and I use Prime to detoxify.
Anyhow, the other fish in the tank were completely fine and I've had no recent losses.
I refilled the tank with cooler water to increase dissolved O2 content and I also run a bubble disk and 2 small sponge filters in each corner of the tank to go along with a Fluval FX6 canister. So there is plenty of aeration. I typically keep the tank at about 81 degrees or so. With the water change it came down to 79 degrees F.
After the water change my Oscar came out and was breathing better. He seemed alert. I even did a light feeding to satisfy my own curiosity to see if he showed interest in food. He did eat and went after a few gulps of food with vigor, but didn't eat as much as he typically would.
After that I went back to work. I came home that night and it was a repeat of the afternoon. He was hiding, laying somewhat sideways and not acting normal.
I did another water change of about 40%. I noticed he then came out and swam around a little bit, sometimes stopping and looking downward and at an angle. He just seems very sluggish.
I woke this morning to find the same problem. Hiding in a corner, laying somewhat on his side and out of sight.
I came to the tank and he did come out for a bit and seemed fairly alert but very very very sluggish. About 6 weeks ago, I placed a smaller younger wild Oscar in the tank with him who I had in a separate tank for 3 months prior and is very healthy. The two are inseparable. No aggression of any sort. I actually think one is male and the other female. The smaller Oscar is even seemingly trying to comfort the larger one and remains close by.
So, I'm also wondering if perhaps the larger one is a female and carrying eggs or is backed up in some way? I don't know what to think.
This morning I did another light feeding. While the bigger Oscar came out he/she did not feed. He then returned to his new hiding corner. I then walked over to the tank and looked at him and he swam up a bit and looked at me. I noticed somewhat heavy breathing though and the mouth a bit agape again.
I'm really confused and concerned. I moved about 6 weeks ago to a new place and had to move the tank, but everyone has been fine and he was totally fine until yesterday, feeding vigorously etc. I typically do 1-3 water changes a week and have an established media bed so I'm not sure what could be happening.
To make matters worse, I'm going out of town on vacation for the coming weekend and I don't know what to do. Do I isolate him in a separate tank while I'm gone? I'm even considering packing him up and bring a 20 gallon along for the trip and setting him up in my hotel room with me so I can keep an eye on him but I'm scared that the 2-3 hour drive, new tank, and move back and forth will just stress him out and only bring harm.
Any ideas what may be going on and/or what I should do about the weekend? Bring him, leave him, set up a separate tank?.... In the meantime, what can I do for him and what could be wrong?
Thanks!
