View Full Version : oscar acting stangely
My 9in. oscar has for the past 3 weeks taken to swimming in the rear of the tank, down low and thru the plants as if looking for something. His appetite and energy seem to have lowered also. He used to be up front and center 24 hours a day. My tank is over stocked but the water quality is good. H also seems to be much less aggressive, even a bit timid. He/she was also always the tank alpha. Is this a sick fish or is there something else going on. I dont know if its a male or female and there are no other oscars in the tank The tank is a 55 (soon to be a 125) and contains a 6"buttikoferi,a 6"red spootted cichlid,a 9" pacu and two 4"jd's and a 5" feather fin cat.I know , I know .Im trying to set the other one up.
Rbishop
02-25-2007, 5:15 PM
What are your exact readings on ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and pH?
Same readings on your tap water.
You are definitely in dire need of a 125, at the minimum, IMO.
:cool:
My ph is 6.8 My ammonia level is maybe .15 Not sure about the nitrates. I dont use tap water anymore just ro water with 15% change every week
aoscar
02-25-2007, 6:56 PM
6"buttikoferi. i hope you plan on leaving this one in the 55, if not it will eventually kill every fish you have. garanteed. as far as the oscar he's probably cramped i also have an overstocked 55. 2 12"oscars,1 10"jag, 2 4"tinfoil barbs, and a 14"pleco. my jag has been acting like your oscar for 2 weeks. i am setting up a 150 my filters will be here in 2 days and i will have my stand built and everything running in a week or 2. my advise etheir upgrade to at least a 150 or get rid of a few fish
Rbishop
02-25-2007, 7:10 PM
Yes, but what are the readings on your tap water. The RO water usage also requires you to put in additives to maintain your buffering capabilities.
You need a full range liquid test kit...amonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH, GH/KH, and find out what is going on in that tank.
Believe it or not but the buttikoferi is the most law abiding fish in the tank. Ill probably get rid of the jd's and see how it goes. I will invest in a more complete test kit and get a second job to pay for this 125 thats only half way set up. Thanks for the input
Believe it or not the buttikoferi is the most law abiding fish in the tank. But I will invest in a complete test kit and see whats going on. In the meantime I will get a 2nd job to pay for the rest of the 125 set-up Thanks for the input
biancaj
03-02-2007, 1:40 AM
i'm not that good at giving advise, i usually have to ask for it, so i'm gonna throw something out there and hope someone else can comment on this.
i believe i've read that you shouldn't use pure ro water ( but i'm probably wrong about that). i'm pretty sure however that this will bring your ph down quite a bit and you actually need higher ph with the fish you are keeping.
most likely that's not the reason for your oscars behaviour tho. he's probably cramped and will hopefully go back to swimming around comfortably in his new home once you got it ready but it's very likely also your ammonia, nitrites, nitrates. your ammonia should be 0, but you stated it's .15. i know it sounds like very little but it's actually a big deal. for the moment i would do more frequent water changes and defenitly invest in a test kit so you can make sure you're new tank is cycled before you put anyone in there. those tests can be bought for under $20 and are defenitly neccessary. hope this helps a bit and good luck with your new tank :)
wataugachicken
03-02-2007, 8:37 AM
for the sake of your fish, don't even bother cycling the 125. once you have all your equipment, set it up and fill it up. once the temp on the 125 is within a couple degrees of the 55, move the fish over to it. also move over the filter(s) that are on the 55.
this is not crazy.
moving over the filters and the fish at the same time will move over a good part of your bacterial colonies. even if you do get a mini-cycle, the additional water volume of the 125 will act as a buffer to dilute any kind of ammonia or nitrite spike. just make sure you don't add any additional (new) fish at this time, and test the water daily for the first week or so to make sure levels stay under .25. I'm almost positive they will not have an effect in such a larger tank.
as you are getting ready to set up the 125, you should do some extra water changes on the 55. say your 125 will be ready on monday, for example - do 30-50% water changes on the 55g on friday, saturday, and sunday. this will reduce nitrates and other dissolved impuritites in the tank water, and make the water in the 55g more chemically similar to the fresh new water in the 125. that will ease the transition and reduce stress on the fish.
good luck!
liv2padl
03-02-2007, 8:57 AM
in your first post, you say your water quality is good. next you say "My ammonia level is maybe .15" which hardly qualifies as good. you're well aware of the problem and to be honest, the only way to fix it is with a 150 gallon tank at a minimum.
you still haven't given your nitrate reading nor your tap water parameters. 15 percent weekly water changes on a weekly basis don't come even close the the needs of this tank. i expect your nitrates are high and your dissolved organic levels are at potentially toxic levels ... get those water changes up to 50-65 percent weekly and concurrent with major gravel vacuuming.
Honestly, with that bio-load you should be doing 50-75% water changes 2-3 times a week.
neonmadness
03-03-2007, 12:32 AM
your gonna need a bigger tank than a 125, pacus get over 2'.....
stigmato2
03-03-2007, 8:01 PM
On the 125 be prepared to upgrade again if you want to keep all those big fish. Also, I recommend a water change/gravel vac of 50 percent every two weeks minimum.
siklid1066
03-05-2007, 8:23 AM
It sounds to me that your Nitrates could be off the chart (this happens to overstocked tanks)Most of the time odd behavior is related to water issues.
Just for the record ,my tap water readings are as follows:ammonia 0; nitrate 0;ph 8.0.I tested my tank water nitrate and found that to be high 6.0. I think the r/o water was dropping my ph down for a while as I hadnt tested it in a couple of weeks and it took me a while to get back to 7.0 When I said my tank ammonia was .15 Iwas referring to the reading that is so slight that its hard to tell if it is yellow or really yellow. Ive since donated a couple of my fish and have done several extra water changes to reduce the nitrate level. Oscar looks much perkier although hes still spitting his food out. Hopefully he'll make a complete recovery.Thanks for the advice from the members and the all knowing all seeing moderators