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Right now I have an oscar and a Jack Dempsey together without any problems. Last wednesday I noticed that they weren't eating at all. I haven't changed food or water recently, so I know that neither one of those are causing it. Since they weren't eating their food, I went out and bought them some Rosies to eat, but they haven't touched them either. It looks like the tips of the oscar's fins are starting to turn white on the ends. At Petsmart they simply said they were probably depressed and they would start eating when they feel like it....could that really be the case or is there something else I should be doing/looking for? I did use some of those Parasite Clear tablets last week, but they didn't seem to have any effect. Thanks for your help.

WATER PARAMETERS?

Sounds like class advice from petsmart as usual. NOT.

Water perameters, tank size, is the tank cycled etc, then we can make some headway on a diagnosis.

Its a 55 gal and is cycled. The tank is at my bf's house, so I do not have the exact water paramaters right now. Right now I only have the dip test strips, and everything was in a normal range when I tested it this weekend. For a while the PH was a little low, but that has been corrected. Their poop is pretty white, so based on some of the other research I've done, I'm thinking its some kind of internal flagellate or something along those lines.

Indeed, more likely to be roundworm or tapeworm affecting the poo, but you definately need to be watching out for hole -in -the -head ( hexamita ) in those species. Its also worth checking that ammonia is getting a complete zero reading, dempseys and oscars especially when they get bigger will need a lot of water changes. Test strips often arent too reliable,Id probably invest in a master test kit with a better range of sensitivity, and if youre loaded, try some nice electronic sensors .

I'm definately not loaded LOL. THe tip of the oscar's fins are turning a little bit white as well. He's a tiger oscar so he should have black fins. From what I can tell, neither of them have eaten much for almost 2 weeks now If it is some kid of a worm, what do I do to get rid of it?

white tips to the fins are usually caused by bacteria or fungus they again are often triggered by lack of water quality, I would use melafix and pimafix daily for a week, to knock any finrot on the head ( do it sooner rather than later) and start a campaign of 20% water changes every three days for at least two weeks . At this stage its may be sufficient to go with an antiparasite formula like jungle jims antiparasite food and see if they pick up go with vetinary meds like levimisole and fenbendazole if it should fail. Another thing is cichlids often appreciate a temperature boost while they are off colour, so make sure your water temps are over 80-82 f. Should you see any symptoms of hexamita you should immediately track down some metronidazole.

I'd reccommend some bloodworms when ur problems are said and done to get their color back. Also I'd do a 20% water change about every three days for about nine days to loer any ammonia. With big cichlids ammonia is a huge problem and will often cause the beginning signs of fin rot. (P.S. this counts a petsmart advice cause I work their lol)

Hes not bad for a petsmart guy, quick , encourage him Push for a pay rise

haha... thanks. as long as you don't ask me about birds I'm fine. You would be susprised about how knowledgable some employees are. But back to the fish... also checks for beggining signs of popeye. Look for clouds around the eyes or an offwhite bump in the center. With my SOuth American Cichlids I encounter this problem which is usually coupled with the white marks around the fins. However it is definately treatable if caught early and usually never develops into full blown popeye. FOr some reason I find it more often on the left eye as well.

Hey , stop it you, or ill have to revise my opinion of petsmart employees, .

It wont be fun , it'll be like car jokes without the skoda.

pssst ( for gawd sake dont tell your manager you know this much about fish, youll be hailed as a troublemaker , they dont like people upsetting the delicate balance of ignorance ) muhahahahahahah.