Sick Oscar - Help Please

[esoxlucius]

The Oscar looks stunted it should be bigger than what it is after 5 years. The high Nitrate level caused this and what the Oscar is going through now. The water changes were probably not large enough through those years. The other Cichlids don't show signs of health problems due to them being hardy enough to tolerate the high Nitrate.

Tom, i'm reading the situation that the OP's nitrates are typically ok. They were only extremely elevated when he'd been away for two weeks and obviously no water changes had been done in that time. That, to me anyway, and how the OP has worded it, suggests the fish have never been exposed to constantly high nitrate. Could be wrong.

d3adlydesignz can you confirm that your water change schedule is good so we can rule out long term nitrate exposure as being a possible component of your oscars problem?

As soon as I saw the tattered fins I thought "aggression" could be part of the problem, either that or the oscar is simply old. But he ruled out aggression, and old age, I reckon the oscars about 6 or 7 maybe, mid life for an Oscar??

That said, the OP was away for two weeks so even he himself can't fully rule out any aggression as he simply hasn't been there to witness any aggro. duanes , if it is aggression related and the aggressor "won" the duel between them, could it be the oscars submissive cowering at the bottom of the tank means the aggressor will leave the oscar alone, for now anyway. As soon as the Oscar gets his confidence back and becomes active will it happen again?

Also, i realise it's only a part shot of his tank but I don't see anything that could act as a hiding place or something to break line of sight.

 

[kno4te]

Would move to a qt tank for now. Reduce stress. Dim lights. Provide some plants. Keep nitrates down. Doubt it’s internal parasites but would wait. Sometimes dumping meds just on a whim may hurt than help. Update as it goes.

 

[d3adlydesignz]

Thanks everyone for the responses! The high nitrates isn’t a constant issue generally my nitrates are fine with this being a one time instance of high nitrates. Agreed on the larger qt tank and not adding meds for now. It’s really confusing to me because I never witnessed aggression towards him or towards other fish.

I will note that in the last couple days I’ve seen him try to swim and it’s as if he is struggling on getting off the bottom. As well as when trying to get back off of his side.

 

[d3adlydesignz]

Also he seems to be breathing heavily as well. I moved him to a qt tank not a 50 gallon but I was able to do a 30 gallon.

 

[kno4te]

Also he seems to be breathing heavily as well. I moved him to a qt tank not a 50 gallon but I was able to do a 30 gallon.

Probably still stressed.

 

[d3adlydesignz]

Probably still stressed.

He was doing the same befor the move. I forgot to mention it prior. I will keep a eye on him and see if anything changes. Re checked the water in the qt tank and looks good. Slowly working on raising the temp now. I’ll keep a eye on him and post any updates that I see. Thanks again for the help.

 

[The Morning]

I have asked this question in other threads and never really got a great answer. The OP stated that his nitrates are 8 PPM. How does anyone get this precise? Is there a testing kit available out there that shows this? My API test kit shows 0,5,10 etc and I have a tough time differentiating between the shades. I never have yellow but try to keep it as close to 5 as possible.

 

[d3adlydesignz]

I have asked this question in other threads and never really got a great answer. The OP stated that his nitrates are 8 PPM. How does anyone get this precise? Is there a testing kit available out there that shows this? My API test kit shows 0,5,10 etc and I have a tough time differentiating between the shades. I never have yellow but try to keep it as close to 5 as possible.

View attachment 1410885

Let’s just call it 5ppm to make it simple. But the color looked like it was in between the two. That’s what made me say it was 8. Did a water change since then and now it’s at 5.

 

[LBDave]

Looks like a tankmate problem to me.

 

[d3adlydesignz]

Update! I moved him and now he is up swimming around. I'm keeping him on a special diet for now just in case. And then debating on just getting a personal tank for him.