If you are intending on keeping Oscars, or any fish really, it is very important that you know a little bit about fish health. Keeping fish in an aquarium is a huge compromise compared to what their life would be like in their natural environment. The majority of fish we keep come from the tropics where their water is extremely clean. Because of the amount of water involved when keeping tropical fish in home aquariums, it is going to be absolutely impossible to emulate the cleanliness of their natural waters. A fish in its natural environment doesn't have to worry about ammonia, nitrite or nitrate because they have millions and millions of gallons of water at their disposal. At the very best, you would only have a few hundred gallons for your fish to live in, in most cases, less than 100 gallons, a small puddle in the Amazon.

Because home aquariums contain such little water, fish waste pollutes the water very quickly. Polluted water contains harmful organisms which can cause illness in fish. In the wild, fish would rarely come across harmful organisms, they are much more capable of warding off infection. In your home aquarium, harmful organisms multiply a very quickly, your fish will always be picking them up. However, if your fish is fed well, stress-free and you carry out regular tank maintenance, the fish can quite easily resist these harmful organisms.

Some of you may remember goldfish at fairs, I certainly do, seeing them in bags hanging up waiting for someone to win them. Thank god this doesn't happen much any more. Most of those goldfish won would have had a pretty miserable, and probably very short life due to the fact that most of the people didn't know the first thing about looking after a fish. They thought it would be perfectly okay to take it home, fill a bowl full of water and let the fish live in it. Unfortunately, this does still happen with fish such as Oscars. If you are going to keep Oscars, you really need to look after them properly and give them a first-class environment to live in, if you don't, you're going to have problems.

Toxic Talk

Ammonia

Ammonia is produced by excreting it through the gills, it is also contained in solid waste, and dead matter such as fish and plants. Ammonia is very toxic to fish and is often the cause of fish death and illness. Ammonia is removed from your water flowing through your biological filter, ie. often sponges and the stuff that resembles dog biscuits or macaroni inside your filter, referred to as media. Billions and billions of bacteria living on this media consume the ammonia contained in the water which in turn changes it into a slightly less toxic element called nitrite. Once again bacteria in your biological filter consume nitrite and the same process turns the nitrite into a very less toxic nitrate.

When you test for ammonia using your aquarium test kit, the reading you actually have is a combination of ammonium (NH4 + or ionized ammonia) and ammonia (NH3 or unionized ammonia) known as Total Ammonia Nitrogen (TAN). Ammonia is the toxic part of the Total Ammonia Nitrogen. Even at high concentrations, ammonium does not cause mortality in fish. The pH and temperature of your water will determine the toxicity of your water if your ammonia test results are high. For instance if your test results show that you have 5 ppm of ammonia (TAN) present then this is obviously not good. However your pH level will determine whether or not this is actually ammonium or ammonia. Remember that ammonia is the toxic part of Total Ammonia Nitrogen. So if your pH is 7.0 and your water temperature is 28°C then you actually only have 0.3 of ammonia present in the water. On the other hand if your pH is 9.0 and your ammonia is 5 ppm at the same temperature than the ammonia present in the water is actually 2.0, extremely lethal to all fish. If your test results showing that you have high ammonia then obviously you need to try and find out why this is happening. Just remember that you pH is closely related to your ammonia so when testing for ammonia you must also test for pH.

This chart will give you an idea of how a tank with varying temperatures and pH ranges affects how much ammonia can be present without killing your fish outright. You can clearly see that water with a pH of 8.5 at a temperature of 25°C becomes that much more toxic with just 0.1 of the total ammonia, whereas water with a pH of 6.5 at the same temperature can contain a lot more ammonia before it becomes lethal. It would be a mistake to suggest that even the less toxic form of ammonia is safe for fish, it is just that it is less toxic than free ammonia (NH3). All efforts must be made to keep the ammonia at minimum levels at all times.

Nitrate

Nitrate is a byproduct of ammonia and nitrite. Whereas your beneficial bacteria can consume ammonia and nitrite, they do not consume nitrate. Nitrate is nowhere near as toxic as ammonia or nitrite and you will always have it presence in your aquarium. How much depends on factors such as how many fish you have, how big your aquarium is, how many times you change the water and various other factors. Nitrate levels should be kept under control by doing water changes. Whereas nitrate is not a toxin, it must kept to an acceptable level. The effects of extreme levels of nitrate can stress fish out, even if you don't realise it. This must be avoided because stress is one of the biggest killers of fish. Stress can lead to diseases such as whitespot (ick ) which is why we always say good water condition is very important with Oscars. Keeping nitrate levels at no higher than 40 ppm, or ideally lower is recommended although many people like to keep their levels below 20 ppm for peace of mind. If your nitrate levels do become very high, your fish may become very lethargic and go off its food.

I would urge you to invest in your own water testing kit. Having one at hand means that you can check your water at any time if you suspect there may be a problem. They are very easy to use and you can test your water in just a few minutes.

Slime Coating

When you have toxins such as ammonia or nitrite present in the water you may notice that your Oscar starts collecting very fine dust particles that attach themselves to its body. Basically, your Oscar looks like it's been rolling around in the dust. Fish often develop a protective slime coating when toxins are present. What is happening is small particles in the water that normally get removed by the filtration system are actually sticking to the slime on the fish. This is obviously a good indication that the water quality may not be quite up to scratch.

Talking about pH

Let us briefly talk about pH in the fish tank. The majority of tropical fish can live perfectly healthy lives in a wide pH range. 99% of the time it isn't necessary to make changes to your pH.

The pH is the measure of the acidity in the water. A pH of 7.0 is neutral. Anything higher than 7.0 is alkaline, anything lower in acidic. Oscars like acidic water with a pH level around 6.5 to 7.0. However, they will be okay with levels up to 8.0. However, pH level of 7.0 is ideal.

The pH won't necessarily stay the same all the time. PH normally drops at night, and then rises during the day. It can change when you add fish, or take fish away . Fish waste can have a lot to do with pH levels as well. If you've got a heavily stocked Oscar tank with no plants, you may find that your pH is very low. On the other hand, if you've got a heavily planted tank, your pH levels may be higher. What you have in your tank can influence the pH. You may have heard the word "buffer" when reading about pH. The most common buffer people will have in their tank is wood. Buffers have an influence on the pH, they can either raise it, or lower it. For instance, bogwood has a tendency to lower pH. Certain types of rocks can also alter have an effect of the pH.

If you do want to lower the pH, you can put some peat moss in your filtration. Bog wood also has the same effect but is not quite as efficient. Please bear in mind that wood will stain your water make it look like tea (without the milk). However, give it a couple months and it will clear.

To raise the pH, many people use crushed coral. You can also use limestone as decoration, this will also raise the pH. You have to bear in mind that this is not a quick way of doing it, it will be a relatively slow process.

If you do have wood in your tank then your pH is going to change whether you like it or not. Trying to change your pH using chemicals should be an absolute last resort. You should only attempt this if you have a good knowledge of water chemistry. Using chemicals when you don't know what you're doing could render the whole system unstable. Basically this means that pH could drop off the scale at any time.

PH and Its Relationship to Ammonia & Water Temperature

It is important that you have means of testing the pH of your aquarium water. The toxicity is greatly related to the pH of your water. To a lesser extent the temperature of the water also plays a role in how toxic ammonia will be. At the temperature of 28°C (82°F) with a pH of 7.0 and 5 ppm of Total Ammonia Nitrogen present, you only actually have 0.3 of ammonia in your water. A pH of 6.0, 28°C with 10 ppm of Total Ammonia Nitrogen means your ammonia is actually 0.007 ppm. If we go in the opposite direction, a pH of 9.0 with 5 ppm of total ammonia nitrogen present would mean you actually have 2.06 ppm of ammonia in your water, this is extremely toxic and would probably kill fish in a few days.

Test your Water

It is very important to test the water occasionally to make sure that everything is running smoothly and no problems have arisen. For all you know, your filtration system might have gone pear shaped. If this was to happen and you didn't realise what was going on , it could have a devastating result on your whole setup and you could suffer fatalities. You can either take a sample of tank water to your local fish shop, or alternatively, get yourself a set of tests kits. You can purchase them singularly or you can buy tests kits that include all the most important water tests. They may cost you a few pennies, but it is certainly worth it at the end of the day. If you are about to use some test kits for the first time, read the instructions thoroughly. Some of the tests only require you adding a solution to a little bit of tank water and then shaking for a couple of seconds. Other tests such as nitrate are completely different. If you don't follow the instructions properly, you could end up with a false reading.

Look at testing the aquarium water in a similar way you would do as going to the doctors for your check up. The doctor will take your blood pressure and maybe some blood. Both these can tell him a lot about what is going on inside your body. Testing the aquarium water is a very good way of telling you what is happening within your biological filter. Water tests can tell you whether you are overfeeding, or whether you are overstocked. They are absolutely essential in maintaining a healthy aquarium so remember to carry one out at least a couple of times a month. It actually wouldn't hurt to do it once a week.

If you notice your fish behaving differently from normal and you haven't got a test kit, carry out a water change and stop feeding until you have tested the water.

One last thing regarding testing your water, let me give you small piece of useful advice. Test your tap water for nitrate. Believe it or not, tapwater often contains nitrate. It can be very frustrating when you carry out a large water change and then do another test only to find that the levels haven't changed that much.

Water Changes

Regular water changes are a very important factor in keeping fish healthy. Whereas your biological filter will keep your ammonia and nitrite at bay, nitrates can only be removed by doing water changes. There are filters and treatments that will remove nitrates but I think these are unnecessary and will not be covering these in this article. Nitrate is a byproduct of ammonia and nitrite so you will always have it present in your aquarium, you just want to make sure that the levels never get too high. Nitrate levels of 40 ppm are about as high as you want. If you are using the correct size aquarium that is not overstocked then you really shouldn't need to carry out any more than one average size water change a week. I would advise that you change no more than 50% of the water in one day, unless you have run into serious water quality problems. If your tank has been running for a while, you should be able to calculate how quickly it takes your nitrates levels to reach maximum levels before a water change is necessary. However, carrying out a routinely planned water change is often a good way of making sure that you do a water change on a regular basis.

Since we are talking about the importance of water changes, I thought it might be an idea to run through a few ways of doing them. Changing the water in a tropical fish tank is no means rocket science. However, there are a few important factors you have to take into account. Firstly, you must bear in mind that most tap water contains chemicals such as chlorine. These are very harmful to fish, so any water that comes straight from the tap, into a fish tank has got to be treated. Secondly, you must endeavour to match the temperature of the tap water to the tank water. Sudden changes in temperature are not good for fish.

So what's easiest way of doing the water change? It really depends on how big your tank is. If your tank isn't particularly big, then using a bucket shouldn't take too long. If you have a tank that is around 125 gallons and you need to do a 50% water change, that is a lot of buckets and probably around two hours, maybe more. The easiest way to do the water change on a large tank is with a plain old hosepipe. What I do here is put my gravel vac on the end of the hose pipe, the other end out the window, and 20 minutes later, you are ready to put the water back in again. Don't just put the hosepipe on the tap and turn it on. I would suggest that you run the water so that is coming out at the correct temperature. Then attach the hosepipe using a very good clamp. The problem with putting the hosepipe on before you turn the tap on is that it's very difficult to get the temperature right because you'll find that the water might fluctuate as the water goes in, which should be avoided for health and stress reasons. I would suggest you use a water conditioner that "instantly" neutralises chlorine. This means that you can put the conditioner into the water before filling the tank up again, or you can do it as the water goes in. As the water is going in, keep an eye on the temperature, just in case it starts changing too much. The temperature might change gradually, don't worry if this does happen. Just as long as it doesn't change dramatically. The same goes if you are just using a bucket. Treat each bucket as you pour the water in, or put the conditioner in first.

There are various ways to get siphon going. When using the long hosepipe out of the window, the best way to get siphon going is to fill the gravel vac with water, lift it up and let the water start draining out, just before it's empty, submerge it again. Doing this a couple of times normally gets a siphon going. You can suck the pipe from the other but this can be difficult because of the length of the pipe. If you are using a vac with a short pipe, there are a few ways to get the siphon going. The obvious way is to suck on the pipe. This isn't the nicest thing to do, especially if your tank is a little grubby. Sucking to get the siphon going normally results in a mouthful of tank water. If you lift the gravel back up and down under the water vigorously, this can also get the siphon going. Probably the easiest way of getting a siphon going is to submerge the whole vac , including pipe under the water. Once it fills with water, put your thumb over the end of the pipe and lift it out making sure you have a bucket ready.

One important factor to remember if you do happen to use a hosepipe to replace water is don't submerge the hose. Always keep the end of is out of the water. Because water contains lots of tiny gas bubbles, you want to remove them from the water. They are sometimes related to a condition called "gas bubble disease" if you do submerge the hose, the gas bubbles will enter your tank which is not what you want
Stunted Growth

Keeping an Oscar in a poor and unsuitable environment could lead to stunted growth. Even though the fish may be stunted and stop growing, the internal organs will not stop growing. In the end, there will be hardly any room inside the fish's body for its internal organs. So you can imagine that this will have a detrimental effect on the fishes health. If you house your Oscar in a small tank and he doesn't reach at least 7 inches within a year of you having him, then there is a very good chance that the Oscar will be stunted, as they should reach at least 7 inches, if not more within 12 months.

Gravel vac

There are various products on the market that are designed to help you with water changes. One such product is called the Python. The way this works is that you connect it to your tap and then turn the water one. What happens then is that the strength of the water coming out of the tap causes a siphon so you can vacuum the tank. There are a few drawbacks with the rest of us. Firstly, if you don't have a strong water flow coming out of the tap, the suction will be very low and you won't be able to suck up big bits of debris. Secondly, if you are on a water bill, it could get very expensive because not only are you running the tap to take water out, you have got to then put water in. And finally, do you really want all that crappy water going into your sink, especially if it somewhere that you prepare food? I have tried the Python and it failed miserably. I personally don't think that the Python is worth the money. Lots of people rave about it so each to their own. I much prefer using a hose and gravel vac. Certainly a lot cheaper and does exactly the same job.

Cleanings Substrate [Sand & gravel]

Cleaning sand is probably the easiest thing you'll ever do. With sand, dirt doesn't normally work its way underneath because of the particles being so tightly packed together. For this reason, the dirt normally sits on top. This means the filters will have more chance of removing it. When cleaning sand, you literally hover above the surface of the substrate. Just close enough so that the suction lifts the dirt and removes it from the tank. Make sure you disturb the stand a little as well so to release any dangerous gas pockets. You may get a bit of sand churn around in the vac, it doesn't normally get sucked out if you lift the vac up straight away and let the sand fall out.

We've looked at sand and how to clean it. We will talk about gravel on how to clean it now. With gravel, there is more space in between the particles, unlike sand. This means that debris works its way under the surface a lot easier. This has both advantages and disadvantages. The biggest advantage being that you can't see a lot of dirt meaning your tank looks cleaner for longer. The disadvantage of this is if you don't clean it properly, you can get toxins building up in your tank because of the trapped dirt that is encased in the gravel. You clean gravel in the complete opposite way you clean sand. Push your gravel vac as far as it will go into the gravel. They are normally made of clear plastic so you should observe murky water as the dirt is lifted from the gravel. When the gravel vac clears, lift out, and carry on doing the rest of the tank. There is one important thing you must remember, substrates, especially gravel will have beneficial bacteria living amongst it, so for this reason, you don't want to go over the top when cleaning. Just get the majority of the dirt out. Over cleaning will just remove a lot of the beneficial bacteria which could have a negative affect on how your tank deals with all the toxins.

Healthy Food

Various cichlids, especially Oscars are susceptible to a particularly nasty disease called hole in the head. You may also see it written as HITH. There are various things you can do that will help stop this disease developing. The two major causes of hole in the head are a poor diet and poor water conditions. Oscars have a varied diet in the wild. They don't just feed on fish as many people think. 60% of their diet is made up of insects and crustaceans. You shouldn't feed your fish entirely on feeder fish (a feeder fish can be anything from a goldfish to a tetra) If you do want to feed them fish, limit them to a few fish a week and it is probably best if you breed them your self. Feeder fish that are purchased from fish stores have in some cases had a pretty hard life, they may have been kep in poor water conditions and shipped from pillar to post. Occasionally, they may well become so stressed, they develop diseases and illnesses. You really don't want to be feeding diseased and ill fish to your Oscar. Doing this could contribute to the illnesses such as hole in the head disease.

Saturated Fats

Don't be tempted to feed your fish on meat such as beef or bacon. These sort of foods contain saturated fat which is very bad for fish. A fish's liver cannot process saturated fat very easily so long term feeding of foods high in saturated fats should be avoided. If you want to give your fish meat, make sure it is very lean indeed. You are probably best off buying ready prepared meat from the fish shop. You can always make your own beef heart if you are feeling adventurous.

Vitamin Supplements

A varied diet is an important factor in keeping your fish healthy from disease and illness. The lack of some vitamins such as A, B & C can result in such ailments as poor growth, eye & skin problems, plus more serious problems that can affect the gills and spine. Feeding your fish on a healthy varied diet should ensure they receive all the correct vitamins. You can always supplement their diet with vitamins that can be added to food such as blood worm and other frozen foods that will soak liquid vitamins up. You can also makeup foods such as beef heart and add your vitamins to this as well.

I actually use a product called Atvitol. However, rather than adding it to my fishes food which would be difficult, I add 30 drops every day to the aquarium water.

Atvitol helps maintain the aquarium with vital elements and bio-elements. It protects fish against diseases, enhances the brilliance of colours, encourages spawning, increases appetite and promotes natural growth.

The addition of Atvitol to the aquarium also provides the microorganisms necessary for the breakdown of biological pollutants with active substances. This provides the best conditions for biological filtering.

Can be added to either the food or water for amazing results.

Can be used in both tropical and marine aquariums.

Oscar Is Sulking, Lazing around, Stressed

Oscars will on occasions get a little stressed and may appear to have a little sulk. This can often happen when you are carrying out maintenance on the aquarium, especially when carrying out water changes, some Oscars really don't like this and can get rather stressed. Sometimes moving things around the tank can upset them, more than often moving the lighting around can upset them and they will lay motionless, often huddled together in a bunch. Newcomers to the world of Oscar Fish often find this quite distressing and often think that something may be terribly wrong with their fish. In most cases it really is nothing to worry about and you will get used to it. When you first get your fish, or maybe move a fish from one tank to another, it's almost inevitable that this is going to stress your fish out considerably so don't be surprised if it behaves strangely for quite a while, maybe not eating, hiding away, changing color quite dramatically and sometimes even lying on its side.

Aquarium Salt

It has been common practice to use salt in a freshwater aquarium for many years. However in recent times it has been established that salt can actually cause more harm than good when added to a tropical fish aquarium on a long-term basis. My advice would be not to use salt with freshwater fish. There really is no benefit in using it so don't.

Cuts Abrasions & Damaged Fins

Something that you will have to get used to when keeping Oscars is that they have a tendency to bash themselves up occasionally. I have yet to keep an Oscar that hasn't either injured itself while squabbling with another Oscar, or swam into an object in the tank. As you can see by the photo, this juvenile Red Oscar has quite a nasty looking abrasion on its head. In fact, the top layer of skin is missing altogether. This probably happened at night as I noticed it in the morning. It probably swam into a rock or maybe the side of the tank.

It can be quite upsetting for newcomers when they see these sort of injuries for the first time . Let me reassure you that in most cases these injuries whilst looking quite serious, are actually very superficial. There is no need to medicate the tank, just keep your water in good condition, that means nitrate should be kept as low as possible. Doing this often helps the injury to heal reasonably quickly. if the injury looks particularly nasty, or isn't healing in a reasonable time, you could treat the tank with a medication such as melafix. There is more information on this website about medication and cures, it's always a good idea to know what medications are available and what they do should problems arise. The photo to the left shows the same Oscar. You can clearly see that only three days after receiving the injury, the wound is healing nicely

Occasionally an Oscar will damage its fin. The pectoral fins which are on the side of the Oscar are quite vulnerable. The Oscars tail can often get damaged, often you will see a split. Again, these normally heal up reasonably quickly so don't worry about it. Like what I said about abrasions, if the Oscars fin/fins don't start healing in a reasonable time, have a good look at them to make sure that there is no bacteria or fungus forming where the damage is.

If your Oscar sustains a particularly nasty injury then it may well end up with scarring for life. The photo above shows my Oscar that sustained a very nasty injury to its head after head-butting the inlet pipe. The wound healed without any medication but as you can see there is a small crater where the wound was, although the flash did emphasize the crater more than it does if you're looking at it with the naked eye.

Bacteria

What is bacteria? Bacteria are single celled organisms that are microscopic, i.e. invisible to the naked eye, you can only see them with the use of a microscope. For this reason, treating bacteria infection in fish is notoriously difficult. If your fish develops a bacteria infection, you may see one, or several symptoms. These could be swelling of the abdomen, white feces that floats, or appears to be very stringy and trails behind the fish. Bacteria infections can also result in skin problems such as slime. It is worth noting that most bacteria is totally harmless, in fact, a lot of bacteria is absolutely necessary for life to exist. You need bacteria in your filtration system, without it, your fish would not be able to survive.

Outbreaks of bacteria infections in an environment such as an aquarium are nearly all caused by pollution. Remember that an aquarium is a huge compromise to the wild. In the wild, you would have so much more water to dilute problems that may occur. You will have natural filter systems that remove all the nasty stuff. In an aquarium that is not maintained properly, you'll just keep building up lots of nasty organisms which if left unchecked, may cause serious problems.

If you suspect your fish does have a bacteria infection, you may need to try several medications before you find one that works. Some medications may need to be ingested, i.e. the medication will only work if it is inside the fish. You can soak fish food in antibiotics, this is the best way of administrating medication to fish. However, this is sometimes not possible if the fish has stopped eating, this often happens when the fish has an internal bacteria infection. In cases like this, a visit to a professional veterinarian is essential as they may be able to administer the drugs by injection.

You must remember that if you do use the medication and it doesn't work, carry out a large water change before medicating the tank again. Alternatively, use some good quality carbon in your filtration system, but remember to remove it before medicating the tank again. Also bear in mind that a clean aquarium is essential for medications to work successfully. It is a complete waste of time medicating a dirty aquarium, this will prevent the medications from working properly.

Good tank maintenance is the key to keeping your fish free from bacteria infections. If you are the sort of person that is lazy and cannot be bothered to do water changes, then don't be surprised if your fish start becoming ill.

Parasites (internal & external)

There are various symptoms that point to your fish having an internal parasitic infestation. White stringy poo/faeces can sometimes indicate an internal parasite. Severe cases of Internal worms such as the tapeworm often give themselves away when you see what looks like thin pieces of ribbon, or cotton hanging out of the fishes anus. You don't normally know your fish has this condition unless it is heavily infested. Extreme cases could also cause swelling in the abdomen. Fish can live with internal parasites without any effect on their health whatsoever.

Larger external parasites are often visible to the naked eye. Anchor worms, lice, leeches, cysts connected to white spot disease are quite easy to see. Typical signs of an external parasitic infestation is when you see your fish rubbing (also known as flashing) themselves against rocks, or substrate. The fish may also develop red patches and inflammation its body. These are often found at the base of the dorsal fin. Breathing may be laboured and the fish may become lethargic. Because some parasites penetrate the fishes skin, bacterial ulcers may break out. It is important to mention that the symptoms mentioned here don't always mean your fish has a parasite. Your fish may have developed another disease or poor water quality could be irritating them.

If you suspect your fish is suffering from a parasitic infection then action needs to be taken quickly. Get some anti-parasite medication. If you suspect your fish has an internal parasite, you can sake the fishes food in the medication, this can often need more beneficial than just adding the medication to the tank. Before doing this, make sure that it's okay for this type of medication to be used like that. if in, you are probably better off seeking professional advice from a veterinarian who has some expertise in fish.

Pop-eye Disease

Another one of those diseases that seems to crop up occasionally. Popeye disease can be caused by a variety of factors such as a bacterial infection, poor water quality and a parasitic infestation. This disease has very obvious symptoms. One or both eyes may appear very swollen and protrude from the side of the head. Unless you are not a very observant person, you really can't miss this symptom. It is worth noting that Popeye is rarely fatal. It may only persist for a short time and then go away again. However, action needs to be taken for the sake of the fish. There are various medications that can be used to treat this disorder, one of them is called myxazin and should be readily available at your fish store.

Fungal Infections

Fungal infections are common in the aquatic environment. Obvious symptoms are cotton wool type growth on the skin which can be brown, grey or in many cases white in colour. Outbreaks of fungal infections can be contagious so if possible, isolate infected fish. Healthy fish shouldn't fall prey to fungal infections easily. Fungal infections can often affect fish that have had physical damage, so if your fish has developed cuts and abrasions, either medicate the tank with an appropriate medication, or make sure the water is in very good condition until everything has healed up. Fungal infections can be treated with a fungal remedy that should be available at your fish store. Fungus can also form on eggs. If left, they will totally destroy the eggs. Methylene blue can be used to prevent fungus forming on eggs but you have to remember that this can cause problems with your biological filter, so you are probably better off removing the eggs to a suitable receptacle before using methylene blue.

Finrot

This condition is usually caused by a bacterial infection. Fin rot will normally cause the fins to split, or become ragged. Severe cases will totally eat away the fin until there is only a stump left. There is often a white egg edge to the affected area. There are treatments available for this condition, which are normally antibacterial medications. It's worth mentioning that this condition is often caused by poor water quality so keep up with your regular water changes.

Bacteria and Fungi Treatments

A variety of chemicals and drugs can be used to treat fungal and bacterial diseases in fish. However, their ease of availability may vary from country to country. Thankfully, there are purpose made treatments available from aquatic stores that can be used to treat many of the common problems in fish such as fin rot, a fungal infections etc. if you are unsure what to do if you have health problems with your fish, don't hesitate to contact a veterinarian. They can sometimes prescribe medications that are not available off the shelf.

Oscar Fish is Breathing Heavily

Breathing heavily, gasping, rapid gill movement, these are signs that something may not be quite right in your aquarium. A fish should not look as though it is fighting for oxygen. Obviously it will have to open its mouth but it shouldn't be a constant opening and closing motion. If you notice that you Oscar has started to struggle with its breathing then there are a few things to do at first. Firstly is your water in good condition? Check for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. If your water checks out okay make sure that your tank is being oxygenated probably. Check whether water is coming back in from your filtration, is it creating surface agitation? If not, it could just be a case of lack of oxygen in the water. If indeed this is the problem then all your fish will probably be behaving in the same way. Adjust the pipe and if all the fish stop breathing heavily you know what the problem is.

My Oscar Is Yawning

Athough little is known about why fish yawn rather like humans, there is thinking that fish do this to flush out irritations from their gills. It could well be a sign that your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate may be too high. It could also be a case of the fish stretching the muscles in its mouth. Just be aware if you see your oscar doing this a lot.

There are products that reduce the nitrates in your water One such product is Tetra Minus These can be added to the water once a week. There are also nitrate filters on the market as well that remove nitrates from your water. These can be fiddly to set up and they have to be watched. Some of them are very expensive so shop around. However, even if you have a nitrates filter, or you are using a chemical to reduce nitrates, don't think this is the green light to stop doing water changes altogether. Water changes are very important as they do replenish certain minerals in the water. Also,your substrate will need cleaning as well.

Lump on Oscars Lip

At some stage, you may notice what looks like a pimple, protrusion, call it what you like on your Oscar's lower jaw. This is something that is quite common with Oscar. They normally start appearing when the Oscar is around five or 6 inches long, sometimes a little earlier. People have various suggestions to why they develop these strange lumps. Cleaning rocks and shovelling gravel is probably the most common suggestion. However, I don't think that this has anything to do with this lump on the jaw. I believe this is just something that develops as the Oscar approaches maturity. So if you do see this lump one day, don't worry yourself.

My Oscar Changes Colour

Colour changes in the natural world is quite normal. Many many creatures are able to change colour for various reasons. You only have to look at squid to understand this. Fish change colour for various reasons. If you have your Oscars for long enough, there is probably an extremely good chance you'll see them change colour at some stage. Let me first say that baby/juvenile Oscars are always a different colour to when they are adults. So as they grow older, expect them to change colour, sometimes dramatically, especially with Tiger Oscars.

What you have in the tank can also cause fish to change colour occasionally. The backgrounds, substrates can often influence a fishes colour at times. I found that my fish would sometimes become very pale when first putting lights on with the white sand. Sometimes the colour changes in the red Oscars was quite dramatic. They would sometimes go from quite a vibrant red to almost no red. My clown Loach change colour quite often. When they are fighting, their body colour changes to almost black, pretty amazing for a fish that is actually yellow in part. Oscars do this as well, if they are angry, spooked or when they are breeding, they often change colour. Tiger Oscars are one of the most amazing fish for colour changes. I was amazed how different my Tiger Oscar looked when he used to change colour. However, they should always return to their normal colour. If your Oscar is stressed, it may slowly turn very dark in color, sometimes becoming almost black. Normally it will become very subdued, stop eating and basically look very sorry for itself.

It is always handy to have a hospital tank that is fully cycled and ready for any ill fish. If one of your fish is showing signs of illness than it is always a good idea to transfer it into a hospital tank. Sometimes the fish doesn't show any external signs of illness apart from changes in colouration. If the fish regains its colour after being transferred into the hospital tank then you know that there are problems in your main tank.

Moving Your Oscar

I thought I would say a little bit about moving oscars from their tank. The best thing to do is take water straight from the tank so that it is at the correct temperature. Now, getting a sizeable Oscar out of the tank can be a very wet job if you dawdle and take your time. Make sure you've got a big net for a start. If you can't catch Oscar in the first three of four minutes, rest up for a while because you don't want to stress the fish out. Once you have cornered him and he is in the net, be very careful when you lift the fish out, they will thrash around like nobody's business. The best thing to do is when you've got the Oscar in the net, lift it out of the water straight away. Most people start panicking, instead of lifting the Oscar straight out of the tank, they hold it half in and half out of the water. Doing this wil almost guarantee a soaking for anyone within 6 ft. of the tank. The chances are, you will have water up the walls as well. You also have to be a bit careful that the fish doesn't bash itself as you are lifting it out of the tank. Just take your time and everything should run smoothly. I've often heard of people using towels/pillowcases that they place in the tank and then heard the Oscar into the towel/pillow so the fish can then be lifted out. Other people use small buckets that they lower into the tank. They then manoeuvre Oscar into it. I haven't tried either of these methods, I find using a suitable net about the easiest way of transferring Oscars

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Hospital Tank

One of the biggest drawbacks with having a very large aquarium is when it comes to medicating it. Medication is not exactly cheap so if you have got a 100 gallon + aquarium then it could get rather pricey if you need to medicate for any reason. Also if one of your fish develops a contagious infection such as whitespot/Ick then it is always a good idea to try and isolate the fish so you can contain the infection. If you have got some space then a hospital tank can often be advantageous. Hopefully your fish will not be spending too long in your hospital tank so it doesn't have to be very big, normally between 20 and 40 gallons will suffice. The filtration on your hospital tank should be very good as medication will not be so effective if water conditions are poor. You shouldn't really treat it any differently to your main aquarium, after all the hospital tank is going to be considerably smaller containing much less water. I would recommend that you do not feed your fish whilst it is in the hospital tank, you want to reduce the amount of waste that the fish produces whilst it is in isolation. However even though a fish may not be eating, it will still produce ammonia through its respiratory system so good filtration is necessary.

You don't need anything in the hospital tank such a substrate or ornaments, these will only take up valuable space where you really need water. One important factor to bear in mind is how do you keep your biological filter healthy and alive? You never know when your fish are going to become ill and it does take several weeks to cycle a tank, even a reasonably small one. You have two choices, you could either keep some fish in the hospital tank so that the bacteria always have a food source, or alternatively you could keep a spare filter running on your main aquarium. Another option is if you are running a sump filter, you could actually take some media from the sump and put it in your spare canister filter. If having a hospital tank is not an option and you have no choice but to medicate your main tank always read the instructions on the medication very carefully as some treatments can damage your biological filter, the last thing you want to do is destroy all your bacteria, you would then be in real trouble.

Humanely Euthanizing Fish

At some time in our lives, most of us have had cats, dogs etc that either become ill, or reach the end of their lives. Sometimes they die a natural death, on occasions you have to help them on their way as this is the kindest thing to do. Oscars can live for 15 years so you will become very attached to them. Their time will come and sometimes euthanasia is the only way out of a horrible situation.

Most of us have heard stories of flushing fish down the toilet. This is totally inhumane so don't ever do it as the fish will not die very quickly. Anyway, even the largest turd won't come close to a large adult Oscar so don't try flushing these down the toilet. You'll only end up having to call out Dinorod to get your drains unplugged.

Those of you who fish for the table will no doubt have knocked a few fish on the head in your time. Obviously, if you've got the confidence, a swift blow on the back of the head will dispatch a fish very quickly, but it must be done precisely or you just might stun the fish rather than actually kill it. Having said that, I would be hard-pressed to be able to do this to a long standing pet, but that's just me. A sharp knife through the back of the neck is also a proven way of killing fish but again, very gruesome. Breaking the neck, liquidising the fish, freezing, chopping the head off. All will kill fish but would you want to do it? Probably not.

Probably the best and humane way of euthanising a fish is to give it an overdose of anaesthetic. Now, this is not as straightforward as you may think. Attempting to euthanise a fish without the proper experience could result in unnecessary stress to the fish. When I had to euthanise my large tiger Oscar, I called upon the services of a good friend of mine who is an experienced koi carp enthusiast. He has used anaesthetic many times and knew exactly what to do. My tiger Oscar was put to sleep quickly and humanely without any stress whatsoever.

Now, if you are not able to find anyone who can do this for you, there is another option. Clove oil can be used to euthanise fish when used properly.Read Full Article on how to use Clove Oil ...

Since the Internet has come along, hundreds of different fish forums have sprouted up. The majority of them give good sound advice and help a lot of people. I hope that I can include this website

To treat many fish diseases properly, you need to know what you are dealing with. There is an unbelievably large amount of different viral/bacteria/fungal diseases in the world, many of which will affect aquatic creatures such as fish. In a lot of cases to find out exactly what your fish is suffering from would mean taking samples of skin and even blood. These samples would need to be to be tested. It could then be determined what kind of treatment is needed. A lot of medications have to be injected, not the sort of procedure many hobbyists would be willing to undertake. So you can see that it is not always as straightforward as asking a question and getting a reliable answer from us. At the end of the day it all boils down to how much you love your fish, and how far you want to go to, and how much money you are prepared to spend to cure it , and hopefully save its life.

Finally, I would strongly encourage any aquatics enthusiast to purchase a really good fish health book. Even if you do you consider yourself to be very knowledgeable, you can't possibly know everything about fish health. I myself have a copy of The Interpet Manual Of Fish Health. It is a very informative book with lots of photos which are always very helpful. These are absolutely invaluable and often save you the bother of getting totally confused by dozens of different diagnosis given by people who at the end of the day, are just guessing in many cases, and I mean no disrespect by that comment.

This page is intended to give you advice and help on how to keep your Oscar healthy. Any health-related advice on this websit is intended as a guideline only. I and many of our members are not trained professionals. For a reliable diagnosis on a health issue, please seek professional advice from a trained vet