Argh New oscar question

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T

tcarswell

Polypterus
MFK Member
Dec 6, 2008
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Tibet
I got a new small (4 Inch ) Tiger oscar from petsmart 2 days ago. He was healthy when I bought him but he pooped in the bag and it took over an hour to get home. When I introduced him to the aquarium he layed on his side for a while then slowly started acting social again. Since yesterday he has been hiding under my bubblebar wedged in there on his side. He did eat a silverside this morning but there is certainly something wrong it would seem. The only thing I can think of is my light colored gravel and semi bright lighting.
My tank params are
Ammonia less than .25
Nitrate 40-60
Nitrite 0
PH 8.3
 
Obviously you want no amonia. Has the tank been cycled before putting the fish in?

Also Oscars prefer a lower PH. In general Oscars are not too demanding with PH level, but the fact that it is high for an oscar and it is a very sudden change(likely the pet store PH is probably a lot lower) is probably not doing it any good. Is this the PH of your tap? I would not go and try to get it way down at this point, but probably would not hurt to try to gradually bring it down.

Oscars will lay on their side from overeating as well so maybe this could be an issue?
 
lol thanks guys. And yea the tank was cycled until he was added. Now its kinda doing a mini cycle. I just changed 15 gallons and used amquel for conditioner seems he is happier.
And yeah my PH from the tap is around 8.3 and ammonia is usually .25 and nitrates are always 30+ My water sucks :( Hopefully he will pull through and acclimate. If not ill have to stick with the hard water cichlids.
 
Veacane;2670408; said:
My O's go on there side all the time, espacially if I do a large water change or is it gets too bright too fast.
Click to expand...
Thats reassuring thank you :)
 
Part of thier personality,he will sulk like that till he gets used to the tank.But like already said any ammonia is too much,keep up with the daily waterchanges till that drops to 0
 
When I put my tiger Oscar with the albino in the 55, he totally layed on his side on the bottom of the tank. He was just pissed, lol. A few hours later he was fine, swimming with his new mate. Oscars can get PMS at times, lol.
 
LOL thanks so much guys for the reassurance. I was really worried about him. I got his ammonia down to 0 and put some floating plants up so the lights wouldnt blind him as much. He seems happier. Funny little personality he has.
 
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