Feeding an oscar, then big problems....

[Bleeding]

My brother has a 55 gal tank with a 9" oscar and 1 firemouth. Its been established for about 2 years, and he does 2 wc a week to maintain.

My 55 gallon tank has a bunch of guppies and platys...and there were too many platys, so i got about 15 of the "genetically inferior" (if you can even say that about platys) ones and took them over to his place. We put them in (and we didnt even combine the water from my tank to his) and watched him go.

Within an hour they were all gone....i get a phone call today and he says the oscar is laying on his side on the bottom of the tank, and his eyes look clouded over, breathing very slowly. He said his firemouth is doing the same thing.....

He usually does feeders from the lfs, just feeder goldfish, not platys from my tank....

Any ideas what has happened??

 

[WeeNe858]

just gotta sit it out.. maybe you feed him to much

 

[Bleeding]

he just messaged me and said that his eyes and scales are turning white....and this is an albino oscar, so he is an orangish color normally.....

He also mentioned that the firemouth acts dead, then goes spastic, then acts dead, goes spastic.....etc

 

[Mentzer]

Add some Epsom Salts to the tank (magnesium sulphate) and increase the temperature by 2 degrees (F) for 3 days. Dose the Epsom Salts at 5ml per 5 gallons. This should increase their rate of elimination and speed up metabolism a little. After 3 days decrease the temperature again and do a 25% water change.

 

[carolinafishkeeper]

Add some Epsom Salts to the tank (magnesium sulphate) and increase the temperature by 2 degrees (F) for 3 days. Dose the Epsom Salts at 5ml per 5 gallons. This should increase their rate of elimination and speed up metabolism a little. After 3 days decrease the temperature again and do a 25% water change.

 

[BigPleco]

They could have just eaten too much and are having a hard time digesting...also, they are probably just sleeping at the bottom. Fish, especially Oscars like to sleep at night. They kinda lay on their sides and go spastic if they sense something around them. My .02 is just let them be and they will eventually digest the platys and wake up.

 

[Bleeding]

Well, my brother did as you guys suggested....and both fish expired last night......i cannot imagine what would have caused this, and it really makes me wonder if there was or is something wrong with MY fish/tank?!?!?

 

[Mentzer]

Sorry about your fish. I would not be too hard on yourself however.
Try a process of elimination. Firstly test all your water parameters and note them. If they are fine you could say perhaps the fish they ate were diseased, but it very unlikely to have killed them in such a short period. Normally when predatory fish eat far too much they throw up, normally, not always. One of the features that endears oscars to many people is their gregarious nature, both figuratively speaking (behaviour) and literally (feeding). If your water perameter checks are fine then there is a chance simply that they stuffed themselves so much due to greed that they died due to it. Oscars are well known to eat to this extreme given the chance. I have had many juveniles (and adults) over the years that would literally keep eating until the food was hanging out their mouth, if the individuals concerned were that greedy then I made sure it was little and often.
Let us know what the water tests show.

 

[Bleeding]

I appreciate the feedback....HOWEVER, I watched the oscar eat most if not ALL of the 15 platys that I put in his tank....the Firemouth that is his tankmate did not eat any...mainly because he hides in the "castle" centerpiece decoration because (or at least this is my opinion) of thier size differences.

Having said that, both fish began showing signs of being sick at the same time, and both expired at nearly the same time. We tested the waters in BOTH tanks....his parameters were very normal, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 20 nitrate. My parameters were a little worse, but only with nitrate (it was 40 in mine, and i have trouble keeping it down anyway, having to do many many waterchanges.) I still, however, have no ammonia or nitrite.

I am still not convinced that this was an overfeeding issue....and i am seriously concerned about MY tank...although like i said, we did not mix the water from my tank into his, we poured over a net into a bucket and seperated the fish. He kept 2 of the platys i brought over for his son's small tank...and they are still thriving.

Are there possibilities of disease in my tank? The only thing i notice with my tank is that i lose a fish here and there, but these are all guppies and platys, which are (from my understanding) more sensitive to water condiitons, and if i dont change my water ever 3 days, my nitrates hit the roof.......and also i dont feel that my guppies/platys breed like they should (like rabbits)

I just really want to know now what to look for now, and if i need to tear down my tank and nuke it...or not worry about it (you know i really have had this urge to switch to african ciclids.......)

 

[jus1time]

the water changes you do are great but what kind of water do you use? do you use the hot water from the tap? Do you use a water conditioner? how often do you clean your filter and what type of filter is it? there are alot of questions to be answered before it can be determined what went wrong!!