new oscar-help

[Easydoesit]

sry for the long post in advance, looking for some much needed advice.

okay, got a tiger oscar today, about 4 inches. hes in a 20 gallon(i know i know, temp home.. getting either a 55 or 75 gallon next week)
I didnt cycle the tank and am fully prepared to do the every other day/every day water changes. I am using filter media and some gravel from an established tank, and also added stress zyme(dno if it works?). I have an ammonia monitor in the tank. This isnt the problem right now though, since the water is completely ammonia+nitrite free, chlorine/chloramine free/stress coated(temp also matches pretty perfectly, maybe 1 or 2 degrees off, ddnt test pH of the LFS water, but mine was either 7 or 7.2)..

When I got the lil guy, the lady at the petstore kind of mangled my fish in the process of taking him out and bagging him up. She was pretty much wrestling the fish like it was a WWE finally, only a lot less choreographed, not to mention she almost lost.
Anyways, it looked REALLY stressful for the fish.
So, I got my poor fish, and headed home. He stopped swimming gradually on the ride home in her screwed up bagging.
I put him in a 2'ishx2'ish&4"ish high container, and started adding the tank water little by little, mixing it with the LFS water. He wasnt moving around much, most of the time just laid there.
When I got him, he was the big fish of the tank and his color other than the orange/red was a very deep dark gray/black. After about half an hour of the slowly adding water, i put him in the tank. He swam a little, but now he pretty much just sits at the bottom and sometimes like.. leans over, barely moving at all. He was doing this right when I got him out of his bag too, so i dont think its my water.
I also noticed that his color is much lighter now, more of a sandy bronzy color, kind of the tannish greyish color that some ppl get mustangs in, instead of his dark grey/borderline black

Sometimes he will swim around normally, but not for long. I dont know if hes gonna make it, but I dont know what happened either. Im going to bed now, hoping that hes okay in the morning. will check back when im babysitting early tomorrow morning.

Help me out please, i really like this fish and want him to live. I dont kno what happened.

[Easydoesit]

okay, he got his deeper color back and hes swimming around fine. noticed that he only goes to the bottom when i turn the light on. everytime i turn it back off, hes swimming around.

hes not eating his cichlid pellets or FDdbloodworms though

[Coler]

sounds like a stressed (from the bagging and travel) and sulky Oscar.

keep ammonia, nitrite at 0 (test at least daily) and keep an eye on him.

[Easydoesit]

thanks for ALL the help guys

nah jk thanks for the reply coler.

[Easydoesit]

just got home and checked on him and hes lying down on the bottom again. he changes positions easily when he wants to and isnt breathing rapidly or gasping at all. he still isnt eating.
i dno. does he just need time or does it sound bad?
is there anybody out there?

[krytan]

sounds like a stressed (from the bagging and travel) and sulky Oscar.

keep ammonia, nitrite at 0 (test at least daily) and keep an eye on him.
:iagree: A 55g tank will still be to small for him, a 75g tank will be ok if he is the only fish in it. Don't take to long setting up a new tank for him as oscars grow very fast.

[krytan]

just got home and checked on him and hes lying down on the bottom again. he changes positions easily when he wants to and isnt breathing rapidly or gasping at all. he still isnt eating.
i dno. does he just need time or does it sound bad?
is there anybody out there?
Oscars do behave like that sometimes, i would keep a close eye on him though.

He probably dosen't like the tank he is in at the moment and is having a sulk.

[Easydoesit]

okay, good. well, not good but better than what i was thinking. i wonder why he doesnt like the tank. probably the size, but its about 2 times bigger than the little cubicle he was in with another oscar who he was beatin up whenever he felt like it at the LFS. oh well, i hope he cheers up when i get the bigger tank in.

[Sploke]

Yeah oscars can be serious drama queens. You'd think they're dying if you do something to tick them off a little bit. I don't know how accurate those in-tank ammonia monitors are, but if they're anything like the dip strips, its probably trash. I wouldn't trust anything but a decent liquid test kit. Keep doing water changes and get that new tank ASAP. I got my oscar at about 2" and it grew almost an inch a month for the first 5-6 months. Its slowed down considerably but still growing at 2 years.

[Easydoesit]

wow, didnt know they grow that quick!
but yeah i have the API liquid dropper+tube ammonia checker too, getting a nitrite and nitrate one when i get the bigger tank next week. i have the test strips- no2, no3, GH, KH, pH, and chlorine.. but i found them not to be very accurate, like you said.
of the 2 fish i got this week, i have a pink(pink male fighter fish. i thought it was funny) betta who isnt afraid of anything that i can hand feed already, and a drama queen oscar.. who is beautiful by the way, but keeps me nervous!
thanks though for letting me know. if u didnt tell me i would probably be doing more water changes and stressing him out more.

[krytan]

Once he has settled in a bit try feeding him some prawns, my oscar goes nut's when i put a prawn in for him.

[Easydoesit]

heard of prawns, dno what they are, about to find out now

[Coler]

you really need the nitrite test asap, and use it and the ammonia at least daily.

have you got plenty of cover in there for him - sulky little beggar probably would appreciate somewhere to go off and sit in a huff for a while

[Easydoesit]

oh i see, kinda like a shrimp but a lil different. how about frozen cooked (or uncooked?) shrimp from a grocery store? could i thaw them out n drop them in? break them into smaller pieces?

[Easydoesit]

the nitrite test asap? will do. thought it could wait a week since tanks usually atleast take a week for the nitrites to appear/rise. i dont have any caves or anything like that in there because of the size of the tank, but i have a good sized plant pot that i will rinse and put in there now. and i plan on testing daily. i have a water parameter notebook set up with times to test and space to record the results. do you think i should do a 10% water change every day and a 25-30% once a week, or should i do it every other day with a larger amount? i planned on the 10 once a day, but now that i see how easily disagreeable he is, dno if thats the best route to take.
also thinking about making a tank with wood so i can have it bigger for him for less. this would also provide him with more cover. i could get the wood monday and start constructing it with my dad and get the rest of the supplies that week. the tank could be done in about 2 n a half weeks, have a lot of floor space, and be cheaper than a regular tank of the same size. idk though

[Sploke]

You could buy frozen salad shrimp for him, they are small enough. If you thaw them out and toss them in I'm sure he'll love them. Frozen mysis shrimp and frozen bloodworms are another good option, but I wouldn't feed this stuff every day as a staple, more as a once a week treat or something. Get a decent cichlid pellet (not an african cichlid pellet - these are mostly spirulina) for your dailly staple food.

As fas as building plywood tanks, its not too hard and gets pretty cheap once you get into larger sized tanks or custom shapes. Here's the build thread for the one I did for one of my turtles.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108365&highlight=plywood

[J double R]

Yeah oscars can be serious drama queens. You'd think they're dying if you do something to tick them off a little bit.



boy aint THAT the truth... remember the almost-crisis? :D

[Vizzerdrix26]

Yeah like everyone here has said you just got a reallt pouty fish, when I first got my Tiger Oscar I hovered over the tank for a week because she barely ate and laid on the of the bottom of my quarentine tank on her side, but all is better just be prepared for this to happen when you switch his tanks to, they get real upset and lay on their side when you change their surroundings that they have gotten comfortable with

[J double R]

my two oscars get pouty any time there's even someone new in the house.. ask sploke. they got so mad at me for bringing him in that one of them acted DEAD.

[Sploke]

Haha yeah, my first time in Jdub's house and there's a dead fish floating on the bottom of his tank. Wow, sweet tank man. No, the oscar was fine, I just wasn't on the approved guest list.

[Vizzerdrix26]

Haha yeah, my first time in Jdub's house and there's a dead fish floating on the bottom of his tank. Wow, sweet tank man. No, the oscar was fine, I just wasn't on the approved guest list.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Easydoesit]

phew, lol. i guess these fish do have personality.. that story is funny, theyre pretty observant fish too, huh? ive seen him checking me out with his funny eyeballs. i wouldve never guessed that he was just being dramatic, hes really good at it!
sploke im gonna check out your plywood tank. Im thinking im gonna silicone the corners, drylok over, silicone some pond liner in place, then silicone the corners once more to be safe. that's my pre-rough draft to water proof it. the only thing im unsure about is where the glass meets the wood. im gonna check your tank and some others to get some more ideas

[MIKE D]

Oscars are the dogs of the fish world. you can teach them to play fetch, eat out of your hand and even pat them. They are really smart fish. To get your Oscar to eat try adding garlic to its food. The garlic is a natural appetite stimulant. If you add the plant pot make sure its a clay pot and it's not glazed. My Oscar sulks after every water change.

[Sploke]

There was a thread in the marine forum recently by scooternerd, who built a plywood tank sealed with drylok. After a week it started leaking - he said he found that the drylock did not bond to the plywood at all. Much safer to use a good quality epoxy resin (www.masepoxies.com) or epoxy paint (aquaticeco.com).

[Sploke]

Here's scooternerd's build thread

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142839

[Easydoesit]

okay, so MAS low viscosity epoxy& hardner in a 2:1 ratio. sounds good.
1 question.. the only way i see the glass area to be waterproof is to epoxy completely, then silicone the glass. how well does the silicone adhere to the epoxy?

[krytan]

Heres another good plywood tank build thread to look through as well as sploke's tank thread. http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110933

[Lady G]

oh i see, kinda like a shrimp but a lil different. how about frozen cooked (or uncooked?) shrimp from a grocery store? could i thaw them out n drop them in? break them into smaller pieces?

I buy the frozen, shelled shrimp....I use uncooked. Of coarse my O is about 11" now, but I cut it up smaller and add it for my other fish too. Mine gets picky sometimes and only likes to eat the same thing a few times then I have to wait a while to feed him the same thing again. He eats the pellets, shrimp, krill, silversides, and loves beefheart. He will eat out of my hand too, and when he is mad he shakes his body at me...reminds me of a dog, they are right when they say they are like a dog. He likes me to "pet" him..swims over to my hand when I put in in the tank, but hates to have his tank cleaned...everytime I do, he starts swimming around, shaking his body at me...smaking into the syphon hose, moving rocks around and driftwood, he really does not like cleaning day LMAO!

BTW, glad to see you didn't really leave!!

[Sploke]

I used about a tube and a half attaching the glass in my tank. You're right, you seal the wood, then silicone the glass in. Its not something I thought about beforehand, but seems to have adhered very well.

[Easydoesit]

ok, thanks guys. thought id update you on how hes doing.. hes eating, though kind of half heartedly, and he is swimming when only im in the room. anyone else and he sinks. i also gravel vacuumed yesterday and did a water change, so im surprised i saw him eat after all that "trauma" lol. hes also biting the heater(!) and i saw him yawn yesterday.

[wataugachicken]

oscars can be real jerks. mine hasn't eaten in a couple days. . . i gave him an earthworm and now he's on a hunger strike until he gets another one. too good for pellets now, i suppose.
when moving day came around and we were trying (failing) to catch him, he looks up from the tank (lid is off, tank is on the floor), gets a bead on my evil, net-wielding boyfriend, and WHAP! uses his tail to send up this wave of water, hitting my 6'1" boyfriend in the face. it was very funny.

[MIKE D]

oscars can be real jerks. mine hasn't eaten in a couple days. . . i gave him an earthworm and now he's on a hunger strike until he gets another one. too good for pellets now, i suppose.
when moving day came around and we were trying (failing) to catch him, he looks up from the tank (lid is off, tank is on the floor), gets a bead on my evil, net-wielding boyfriend, and WHAP! uses his tail to send up this wave of water, hitting my 6'1" boyfriend in the face. it was very funny.
:rofl::rofl::rofl: priceless

[Rbishop]

My two have gone from 2" to 8" since the end of October. I moved them from one 90 to another when they hit 4" and they both sulked for a week and were barely seen.
They stay away from the vac tube but play in the new water spouting in on the refill.

They also hide when anyone but I, are in the room. They also like to stare down and flare at the Jack Dempsy in the 70 gal right next to them.

[Easydoesit]

lol. unfortunately i was looking at him with a flashlight lastnight and i think he has ick. i have light sand in my tank, buti dont think sand would stick to him. i have quickcure but idk wha i should do. he couldve very well had it at the LFS cus it doesnt look like just a spot here and there

[wataugachicken]

is it on his fins too or just on his body? ick will usually attack both parts of the fish, while sand just sticks to the body. if he is still a little stressed and lying on the bottom of the tank, excess slime coat production will make sand stick to him. mine sleeps on the bottom and is usually a little dirty when he first wakes up but it goes away once he starts swimming around.

[Easydoesit]

its on his fins too and his head. he starts swimming around a lot at night when i shut the light off, so tonight ill look at him after hes been swimming around for a while. should i up the temp now just in case? because i think it is ick. it looks very fine though like my sand.

[wataugachicken]

if it is ich, do a big water change, raise heat to 82-84, slowly start ich treatment with salt

[Easydoesit]

okay. it's very fine though, not like other pics of ich i have seen. but i added biospira to the tank last night, will the salt kill it?(if it was even alive)... i feel bad for this lil bugger. if it is ich, for salt, how much? and when the treatment is done do i do another big water change w/o adding salt, or just leave the salt in?

[Easydoesit]

i went up there and he was hanging otu under the filter. i was looking closely and noticed because he was under the filter that the things were kind of floating off of him, but still staying close, not getting sucked up in the filter. maybe he just has some extra slime coating bc of the move and he has sand stuck to him? i dont see how it could get on his head though.

[wataugachicken]

don't change water for 48 hours after adding biospira. if it still looks like he has ich (which encysts itself into the skin and would not be moving in any way) then do a water change and start treatment. i have used 1 teaspoon per gallon.

[Easydoesit]

okay. thank you for all your help