Hi all, I have been reading this forum from time to time, but this is my first post.
One of my oscars seems to have a big belly. It looks to be slightly bigger on the right, but not by much. Initially I thought he just ate a bunch, but when he was still like that after a week or so, he got moved to a 10 gallon hospital tank and started on kanaplex, on suspicion of dropsy. None of the other fish in the tank show any signs of distress.
My tank set up is as fallows. 110 gallon tank with South American cichlids. Currently stocked with 2 oscars, jack, GT, convict (i think that's what it is..), mayan, texas, and a bushy-nose pleco. Has 2 anubias plants that are refusing to die, despite being constantly nipped. The tank is well-established and a new fish has not been introduced in about a year. It is filtered by a Fluval FX6, supplemented by two Aquaclear 110. The filters get cleaned about once a month, staggered between HOBs and the canister. The temperature is set to 27.5 C. I feed almost exclusively Hikari Gold pellets.
So right now, the oscar has been in the HT for 4 days, (meaning 2 water changes and 3 doses of kanaplex), and I can only keep it on kanaplex for 2 more days according to the instructions. I am also supplementing it with a little bit of Epsom salt, 1/4 tsp per 10 gallons. The thing is, other than the big belly, the fish seems absolutely fine. I suspected constipation, but no, there's definitely poop, a whole bunch of it. Eats like a pig, or, errr, oscar. Plays with the rocks and such, to the point where I had to remove my little glass HT thermometer from the tank because I was legitimately afraid it was gonna crack.
So the gist of my question is, can oscars just get fat? Can it be pregnant? (both oscars are around 9", and I saw some behavior that looked like mating earlier, but nothing ever came out of it..). Or is it actually sick, and if so, what am I supposed to do two days from now, when I have to take the fish off kanaplex?
I will try to take a picture tomorrow when I get to the camera.
Thanks in advance, guys.
One of my oscars seems to have a big belly. It looks to be slightly bigger on the right, but not by much. Initially I thought he just ate a bunch, but when he was still like that after a week or so, he got moved to a 10 gallon hospital tank and started on kanaplex, on suspicion of dropsy. None of the other fish in the tank show any signs of distress.
My tank set up is as fallows. 110 gallon tank with South American cichlids. Currently stocked with 2 oscars, jack, GT, convict (i think that's what it is..), mayan, texas, and a bushy-nose pleco. Has 2 anubias plants that are refusing to die, despite being constantly nipped. The tank is well-established and a new fish has not been introduced in about a year. It is filtered by a Fluval FX6, supplemented by two Aquaclear 110. The filters get cleaned about once a month, staggered between HOBs and the canister. The temperature is set to 27.5 C. I feed almost exclusively Hikari Gold pellets.
So right now, the oscar has been in the HT for 4 days, (meaning 2 water changes and 3 doses of kanaplex), and I can only keep it on kanaplex for 2 more days according to the instructions. I am also supplementing it with a little bit of Epsom salt, 1/4 tsp per 10 gallons. The thing is, other than the big belly, the fish seems absolutely fine. I suspected constipation, but no, there's definitely poop, a whole bunch of it. Eats like a pig, or, errr, oscar. Plays with the rocks and such, to the point where I had to remove my little glass HT thermometer from the tank because I was legitimately afraid it was gonna crack.
So the gist of my question is, can oscars just get fat? Can it be pregnant? (both oscars are around 9", and I saw some behavior that looked like mating earlier, but nothing ever came out of it..). Or is it actually sick, and if so, what am I supposed to do two days from now, when I have to take the fish off kanaplex?
I will try to take a picture tomorrow when I get to the camera.
Thanks in advance, guys.
