Something is wrong with my Oscar!

Question
QUESTION: I have an Oscar which is about 5 years old. Recently he has been laying on the bottom of the tank. He'll swim around a little bit but not very often and it's real lethargic. I was feeding him pellets last night and he was trying to eat them but he couldn't swim to the top of the tank. He is almost vertical when he is trying to get to the top. Can you help?

ANSWER: Hi Heater,
  Have you been doing regular partial water changes?  You should be changing about 25% of the water in his tank once a week, every week.  Have you been doing that?

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I did a recent complete water change. I didn't realize I needed to do a partial that often.

Answer
Hi Heater,
  Complete water changes are not a good idea. That is very hard on a fish and on a tank.  You are much better to do more frequent partial water changes.  That will keep your fish much healthier.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>