Hes prob not sick. I have a 9in oscar who is just a very messy eater. Even eating pellets sometimes he spits a few up and stuff comes out of his gills. They are just sloppy. As long as he is getting food down its ok. You may want to re-home the pleco. That is a high load for the tank size. I have a hard time with my Oscar in my 100 gallon. I do 50 percent change every week.
Thanks everyone. I will look at re-homing the oscar or pleco as I dont want the tank to crash when the oscar gets bigger and messier. Ive had the pleco since it was an inch long and the oscar ive had for about 4 months. It was a silly impulse buy to get rid of 100's of guppies but I really like the guy now. My problem is I dont trust anyone to look after my fish and dont know how to find them a decent home where they are cared for. Id like to be 100% sure they are going into a suitable aquarium, somehow. I could ask the LFS if they know anyone but last time I went there they had three 9" RBP in one of those 3ft by 1ft tanks!
I like the idea of rehydrated the crickets (beetles in the pot, too). Ill also try feeding less pellets as he does do that thing where he spits out one to grab another.
