i originally bought 2 oscars for a 29g tank(i now know that is too small) ihad them for about 3 1/2 years and they just now started having problems anyway one died so now i only have the one i first thought it had popeye but i medicated it and it didnt help so i dont know what is wrong its eye is just huge and the other day it hit its eye on the tank wall and it started bleading a thick blood. any way since the tank is so small do you think it would be better(since i dont have much money)to buy a 40 to 50(or if any one has any suggestions as to what size i should get)tubberware container as a perminant home to put it in so it can still live even though i dont have enough money for a big tank? please help b/c i dont want it to suffer any more and i also dont want it to die so any suggestionas would be a big help.

thanks in advance for any help
p.s. bulging eye has been like that for about3 weeks now started to get smaller and themn got bigger than before.

i posted this somewhere else but the fish is going to die any day now so this is important

i originally bought 2 oscars for a 29g tank(i now know that is too small) ihad them for about 3 1/2 years and they just now started having problems anyway one died so now i only have the one i first thought it had popeye but i medicated it and it didnt help so i dont know what is wrong its eye is just huge and the other day it hit its eye on the tank wall and it started to rip!!! and it was bleading a thick blood. any way since the tank is so small do you think it would be better(since i dont have much money)to buy a 40 to 50g (or if any one has any suggestions as to what size i should get)tubberware container as a perminant home to put it in so it can still live even though i dont have enough money for a big tank? please help b/c i dont want it to suffer any more(it will not eat and sometimes it just lays sideways on the bottom of the tank and breathes really heavily) and i also dont want it to die so any suggestionas would be a big help. i feel so bad that i did this and i want to make it up to the fish by giving it a bigger tank.

thanks in advance for any help
p.s. bulging eye has been like that for about3 weeks now started to get smaller and themn got bigger than before. by the way the water params are perfect so that also doesnt make sence that it would have popeye so it must just be the tank size.

HI-

Sorry your having some problems right now, I really don't know that much about Oscar's but I think it would be in your best intrest to get a big Rubbermaid Bin to keep the sick fish in for the time being, It's better than nothing. And this way you can treat him as needed etc. You can get the really big one's at Wally World for $20 or less, With School starting back up I bet you would run into sale prices even.

Good Luck! I hope he pulls through.

I don't know that much about oscars either but my friend had one and I used this website when it had a problem: http://www.oscarfish.com/

It is similar to this one and the people there are helpful. I hope everything works out for you and your oscar.

Hi,sorry to hear about your fish.The one left, sounds like it's in some real trouble though,so maybe we need to address that first.
Can you tell me how often you do water changes/how much water/and your water params on the tank.
What was the medicine that you used?How long was the treatment?Any other symptoms right now other than the eye-clamped fins/red streaks/frayed fins/gasping-etc?

he had some red streaks for a few hours one day and then they went away. i used to change water about every two weeks but know i change it weekly and i change about 75 percent of the water. last week every thing was perfect for water perams but this week it was
ammonia:about 1.9 (its usually o)
nitrate:5ppm
nitrite:oppm
pH:7.7
it does lay at the bottom sometimes and gasp for air and then it will get up and act like normal pretty much also sometimes its caudal fin will shiver. the medicine was mercaryn and it was a five day treatment one tablet per ten gallons once a day.

The ammonia is very high for this being a cycled tank. Is that what it is now,or what it was before you changed out the water? What are the Params now? Anytime that you have a cycled tank , Ammonia,or Nitrites should never read higher than a zero.Healthy Nitrates must be kept under 40 ppms,to be safe.
How big is this Oscar?Since the other died-he's in the tank all alone?
Did he have any sharp ornaments /plants etc., that he could have injured his eye on?
Him shaking his caudal fin,could possibly be Parasites,but don't rule out your water quality yet either, as Toxins in the water can make your fish irrited as well. Also,when using Meds in the tank,in order for them to really work,water quality Must be maintained,or you're wasting your time with the meds.
What's going on with him today?

Sorry to hear you are having problems. If you could update us that would be great. In the meantime I am going to move your thread to the tropical section, there you may find more expertise in advice.

I've merged the two threads and placed them as one to keep us all on the same page.Post soon with results of an update.

the ammonia was what it was after i changed the water and when i was medicating the ammonia was 0. any way he died on tuesday night/ wednesday morning so i dont really know what was wrong with him i called the vet on tuesday and was going to make a an appointment for thursday and when i talked to the vet he said the way i was describing it sounded like a tumor that he probably developed and that was probably inside his head pushing on his eye especially since the skin split when the eye got pushed up against the wall of the tank. thanks for trying to help though. i am going to give the tank a thourough cleaning just to be sure and i think ill just get some goldfish this time (after the tank cycles again) i am just glad he is no longer in pain because every time i looked at him my heart broke and i would start to cry i cried for hours after he died i loved his personallity and i hope to get a bigger tank someday and try oscars again but not for a long time.

Really sad to hear that he didn't make it.I'm sure that you're going to miss him.

Please do not get any more oscars for a 29 gallon tank. Even for babies, that is much too small. These fish get massive and grow very, very quickly. I have seen more stunted, deformed oscars than any other fish as a result of them being kept in aquariums that were much too small.

Like goldfish, they are large bodied and create tons of waste. I'd say really a 50 gallon tank would be a minimum size for them. Anything smaller and you really run the risk of them outgrowing it too fast, and who can afford to constantly be buying bigger tanks?

I'm sorry you lost them but please don't get any more till you do proper research on their care. Good luck.

i just said i was going to wait(and i mean for a long time like 10 years or something) and that if i did get another one i would get a bigger tank(so i didnt need the lecture about a bigger tank i know the 29g is too small now). the only reason that one was in a small tank is because when i went to buy a tank the petstore worker told me that they only need 1g of water per inch of fish or i would have bought the larger tank in the first place. i admit i should have done my own research in the first place but i thought they would know how big of a tank it would need. i really am truly sorry that i did this and i would never have intentionally put it in too small of a tank. i was only 13 when i bought it and didnt think about doing my own research i thought people in petstores would know what size of tank they would need. ever since then i never beleive what petstore workers tell me because i never know if they are telling the truth or making something up.

I really don't think that js was trying to "lecture" you. js,worked in a pet store for quite a while and unfortunately had the experience of seeing too many Oscars that suffered,that's all.
Some pet store employees do know their stuff,but there are alot that don't,so you are better off researching from the get-go. Nothing like getting it right the first time.

sorry i didnt meen to sound mean i just already knew that now and i am not going to get anymore for a long time.

No problem,I just didn't want you to be upset with js,cause I know she meant well.

Thanks Devs, yes I absolutely did mean well! I wasn't trying to lecture you at all. I am glad you're going to wait because these guys require a huge commitment of time and money to keep them happy.

Along the same lines (and I always bring this story up, LOL!) I once read an article on an outdoor heated pond in which the owner kept their oscars and other cichlids!! They were trained to be hand fed, just like koi and goldfish. I just thought that was the greatest idea ever because it would really allow each fish to have their own space and grow to their full potential. (And yes, I still want to do it… no, I can't be happy having only one kind of pond! LOL)

that would be tooo cool but i live in ohio so water freezes pretty easily over here so that would never work but i think you should go for it it sounds so cool.