Fish disease?

Question

Hi,

Recently my fish has been acting up. He is a 1 year old oscar, about 7 inches long. He does not have pit-face like commonly seen in oscars. He's been laying on the bottom of the tank all morning. His eyes are foggy but he can still track my movement. Just recently he's been VIOLENTLY darting around the tank running into the glass, mostly trying to jump out of the water. He's already broken the lid of the tank, and his face is all messed up. he has calmed down now but is going from floating on top on his side to laying back on the bottom calmly. I need help ASAP please.

I bought the fish as a present for my wife's birthday and she would be heart broken if he died.

I'm not sure if a year would make him an adult Oscar. He is currently in a 20 gallon tank.

The water is fine as far as ph goes...

Answer 1

The symptoms you describe sound like the water is causing him a lot of stress. The foggy eyes may be a symptom of high ammonia levels burning his corneas. Do you do regular (weekly) partial (25-30%) water changes to keep the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates at 0 levels. An oscar will grow about an inch a month unless the water conditions are not good.

You say the water is fine as far as the pH goes. Have you tested the other levels that I just mentioned? A 20g tank is way too small for even a 7" oscar. A full grown oscar should have a 55 gallon tank all to himself. A pair would need at least a 75 and a 100 would be better.

Oscars put out a lot of waste and both the fish waste and uneaten food will decay into ammonia which is the worst of the 3 toxins that I mentioned earlier. Water changes, water changes, water changes....

The pit-face you refer to is actually a disease called HITH (hole in the head). It is caused by poor diet, poor water quality and a small parasite called hexamita that takes control when the fish's immune system is compromised by the poor water quality.

Do not feed live feeder fish, they bring all kinds of problems with them from their outdoor breeding ponds such as parasites and diseases. Many, many large freshwater and saltwater carnivores are killed every year by feeding live feeder fish. Go to "Cichlid-forum.com", they have a forum that is devoted to nothing but oscars. You will be able to learn anything you want to know from the moderators and people who post there. It is free to sign up for and then you can post any questions you still have.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Honestly, I'm wondering of this behavior is common with Oscars. I knew someone who had an Oscar and his did the exact same thing. The foggy eyes was NOT one of symptoms....just the violent part and trying to jump out of the tank. I could see he was way to large for the tank he was in and I think he was just miserable in there. The owner put him in a bucket (with some of the water) and gave him to the local pet store. I would access the size of he tank. Usually, fish (in my personal experience) do not get larger than the tank they are in but I believe Oscars are the exception. Can he turn around in the tank fast 5 times if he wanted to? If he cannot or not at all, I would invest in a larger tank. If he is longer than the front-to-back depth of the tank, he cannot turn around and is probably suffering. I would ask the local pet store about his foggy eyes. Is the water foggy too? Perhaps you need to clean the tank or at least some of the water. (see my source info)

Answer 3

U Should Puy Another Oscar with Him Most Probably If Is a Male Get A Female and If It Is A Female most Likely A Male. The Other Fish Will Calm Him Or Her Down And Might Mate. Don't Worry Though Oscars Protect There Babies Not Eat Them. Good Luck=)

Answer 4

Your tank is WAY too small for starters. Here is a link for you on general info on Oscar...
http://www.aquariacentral.com/species/db.cgi?db=fresh&uid=default&ID=0247&view_records=1

Regarding his foggy eye and darting around - he has a parasite of some sort. I will not go so far as to say it's Popeye or Dropsy (it could be Ich/Ick for all I know in the Trophant stage).

Here is a good link for aquarium meds. I never use anything other than Virbac Animal Health - Mardel - products. They have good information describing symptoms to the meds themselves. Give this a look over, and see if you can match the meds with the symptoms. If it were me I would be looking first at Maracyn-2 for Freshwater systems...
http://www.virbacpets.com/mardel/product.php?pid=182&PHPSESSID=ed66308101e86271580b7dafd3b183fb

Best of luck to you!

Answer 5

nicely without photos it fairly is annoying to declare what variety they are? How vast are they? in the event that they are too vast for the tank they are going to crash into the climate attempting to swim speedy to get air replace into their gills. verify the ammonia ranges. If it fairly is severe that would cause them to act strange too. The snails probably got here into your tank with a stay plant you in all risk bought for the tank. it rather is how maximum get there. I do't understand alot approximately them, so the different answerer is in keeping with risk precise with regard to the parasites and you will might desire to get drugs to handle that. get rid of the snails the faster the extra suited. you would be wanting hundreds of thousands quickly in case you do not. they are no stable for something so in simple terms flush them. in keeping with risk putting some aquarium salt interior the tank could kill them? maximum, yet not all fish income from a splash aquarium salt. It helps with the slime coat, for one. Plecos do not tolerate it, nevertheless, and that i'm particular there are different fish that isn't additionally, you may might desire to understand what variety of fish you have as a fashion to be certain if salt could be effective to them. i understand as quickly as I catch snails interior the backyard I placed them in salt and it kills them. it would artwork that way interior the aquarium additionally. I dunno, you may might desire to attempt it.