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I recently purchased an albino oscar, after a few days I noticed that his body is very stiff. His face looks fine but his body and fins don't seem move as they once did. He is eating and aside from the stiff appearance he is acitng fine.

Has this ever happened to anyone? I fear that he has an infectious disease and that my other three will catch something.

Can you give us some more details? It can be difficult to diagnose without the full read-out (although at frst glance my feeling is that he's sulking, or otherwise responding to the new environment, rather than diseased).

How big is the tank?
Were there fish in it before you added the oscar, and if so what are they?
What's the temperature?
How long has the tank been running?
How long with fish?
Do you know your pH?
Ammonia?
Nitrite?
Nitrate?
How did you acclimate him?

Any other details are also appreciated. Is he hiding much? Rubbing against things? Does his breathing seem even? Etc.


-Molly
Visit shelldwellers.com!

I have a 10 gallon tank with three other Oscars. My tank has been running for a month and a half with one other Oscar. Six days ago I bought two albinos along with another black one. All seem to be healthy except the one I'm writing about.

I don't know much about water and the other levels, but he is eating his normal amount.

It looks like someone put gel on him to hold everything together like we would do our hair.

He is not hidding nor rubbing against things. Really no odd behavior he just very stiff.

Thank you for responding.

[span class="edited"][Edited by Jill 2004-08-26 15:25][/span]

I have no experience with Oscars whatsoever but I do know that one oscar can grow 14+ inches and minimum tank size is something like 70 gal. One of the problems is probably that he doesn't have enough room to move.

I think you are going to either have to take them all back and get something more suited for a 10 gal or get a much larger tank (psst go for the larger tank if you can because you'll eventually get one anyway ).

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-08-26 17:38][/span]

This is just wrong...

Unless you return those oscars to the store, they will die.
Did they not ask you what size your tank is ?
Did you ask them if your tiny tank is ok for 4 oscars ?
It's not....

Unless you can afford at least a 200 gallon tank with heavy filtration...


The Amazon Nut...

WOW! that is all i can say!

It might seem that they can fit in a 10 gal, but they can't. The lfs(local fish stores) usual keep a large number of fish in smaller sized tanks for several reasons, even perhaps you bought your oscars from a store with tank that looked similar in size to yours and thought it would work.(though the one in the store was probably bigger). Some stores will sell you stock to make a sale without asking the right questions. You should ask what adult size will it reach, what are some compatible tanks mates, What does it eat, is it brackish or freshwater, what size of tank do I need. Can it go with live plants. Is it aggressive or community and etc.

Jill do you know about cycling your tank?
There articles here about starting a tank and different species profiles.
Also you should purchase test kits that include ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph (make sure that range of the test is suitable for your application), general hardness tests.
Usual people will ask to see those tests results when you ask about problems relating to fish health or water quality.