zpecialt

I do not know what happened, but last night I went to feed the fish and noticed that my largest in the tank, Oscar the oscar, was not swimming correctly. It almost seems like he is paralyzed part of the way down his body. He is making little to no movement of his tail fin and it's curved almost like it is bent. I don't know if he tried to jump out or swam into something and injured himself. I'm afraid he is dying and severely injured.

Is there anything at all that I can do? Please help! I will just be devastated if I lose my poor boy.

aquariumnewbie

did your oscar jumped out of the tank? or bump into any thing in the tank with impact? does it eat?

i've one oscar too. my oscar isn't swimming properly too. it's more tilted to one side. meaning it's not swimming upright. but he's still fine. but I'm not sure what is exactly your oscar's problem.

A picture will help us help you.

peacemaker92

Try to get a picture so everyone can find out the problem. He probably injured himself.

zpecialt

Posted this video of him on YouTube.



Any ideas? He didn't jump out. I can only imagine he smacked himself off something in the tank or tried to jump out. He's very feisty.

aquariumnewbie

It seems like he can't move his tail part. It's like the ending half of its body is ''paralyzed''. I think he will recover. Dying won't happen as long as it's still eating and the water condition is perfect.

I bought a oscar who swims tilted to a side. but after sometime, it starts to swim upright already. I hope your oscar will recover. Give him time.

zpecialt

Thank you very much. I hate to play favorites but I absolutely adore him. He's also so excited when I sit and visit next to the tank. I hope he does recover. He's eating, just having a little difficulty getting to his food. The sinking stuff seemed to do the trick last night and today.

I'm sure Felix, the white tiger oscar, would be just as devastated as I am if Oscar passed. They get along so well.

Thanks for the insights. I'll keep an eye on him.

aquariumnewbie

Well, that's my . You've done a good thing by feeding sinking food which makes it easier for your little Oscar to eat.

Make sure the water is in top condition. Oscar will be fine under your tender care.

Shawnie

your boys are absoulutly beautiful!! and Oscars are feisty buggers like you said and I think, he might have been swimming fast and playing around and maybe banged into that driftwood or something? there shouldnt be anything like that in the tank because they are rough rough players and they flounder around tons while getting the others attention....flat rocks or other decorations that have leeway to fall and not stand up if they bump into it are better.....id check your water perimeters also to make sure there isnt a spike in anything....give him some pieces of garlic with some vita chem and water changes should bounce him back up...

zpecialt

Thank you so much for the feedback. I took out the item that I believe may have been the culprit. The pieces of driftwood are actually loose and are usually lying at the bottom of the tank. I had just done a partial water change before I took the video and set them upright because right now he is really only cruising around the bottom of the tank and I wanted him to have room. All they have to do is bump the driftwood and it eases gently to the gravel. However, there was a rock cave about 5 inches high in the tank that they all used to seek shelter in as babies and I believe that would have been the item that caused the most damage if he cracked himself on it.

The video didn't really show it and he already appears to be healing, but he had two big scratches on his head two nights ago when i discovered the problem. I believe he may have tried to jump out of the tank again and maybe smacked himself off the lid. The scratches are almost already healed, but the whole thing is still a mystery to me.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. If Oscar thought he was spoiled before, he must not know what hit him now. We just had a small breakfast of peas and garlic since he wasn't able to get to much of the food last night.

peacemaker92

He's beautiful! A fish like that ain't worth dying so don't worry. He'll be okay! Just keep a close watch and give him tender care. Hope he gets well soon and heals fast! Good luck!

MCHRKiller

My male oscar banged himself up real good one night, he spooked apparently and I heard the banging and splashing and got up to check it out. He was upside down floating and still breathing. Seems he knocked himself out...i righted him in the water and turned half the lights on and moved him over to the light end. It took him about 2 days to be able to keep himself stable in the water. Even then he was bannged up real bad and couldnt swim right for about a week. It was a slow process for sure, I thought I lost him several times. Oscars are troopers

My guess would be yours just banged himself up, and has suffered some slight swim bladder damage. He should recover in a few days...keep us updated! Best of luck to you and your fish.

zpecialt

Thanks everyone. So far he is still struggling. It appears that his getting the slightest amount of movement back in his tail, but he is still kind of drooping to the side when he swims and he lays on his side at the back of the tank when he tuckers himself out. He is still eating well and today actually much better than yesterday. He's also still swimming up to the front of the tank when I walk up to visit. Not his usual feisty self, but he still seems to be craving attention.

Hopefully he'll get better soon. It's been three days now since his unknown accident and although he still seems to be trucking along, I'm worried.

kra-z-fishmumm

I think you might consider taking even the floaty driftwood out. Oscars are just too feisty to have anything they can hit into in the tank Beautiful fish btw

Zer0sk8er

it may have broken its swim bladder

zpecialt

He seems to be completely back to his normal self now. Jumping like crazy at dinner time and tormenting his buddies.