5 year old oscar dying

Question
Hi there,

i have a 5yr old oscar which i love dearly and he seems to be dying.he is starting to have spasms and stays in one corner.he tends to swim on his side too.
My question is there anything I can do to speed it up. i hate to see him suffer.
He is about 6 inches long and raised him as a baby.

from,quick and painless~

PS I also have a clown knife fish in the same tank.

Answer
Hi Joann;

I can recommend a method of euthanasia but are you sure he's actually dying? Oscars have a much longer lifespan than 5 years and they are a very "emotional" fish that can look and act much more sick than they really are. Sometimes oscars can have constipation that cause these symptoms. Or, if the tank is too small and/or there's bullying going on he could be in shock or just scared. Sometimes parasites or bacterial infections can make a fish act pretty ill but totally curable. Let me know what else you see on him if you are interested in trying something else. For constipation, if he's eating you could try feeding some cooked peeled green peas. Also check his water quality. Test for the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. Some fish are affected by these waste toxins more readily than others.

Here's a link to the information you asked for, but please let me know if I can help further before you do it;

http://tinyurl.com/9reng

I hope I can help...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins