my oscar is sick-I dont know what to do

Question
my oscar came from a tank at wallmart-big mistake to buy fish there-and he was in a tank with columbian sharks,which I also purchased.the sharks are doing great but my oscar is lying on the bottom of the tank breathing rapidly and being listless wich is not normal for him.his poo is whitish and very long.I did a water exchange and added aqarium salts and raised the temreture 4 degrees,he seems to be doing a bit better but I am afraid of doing to much at once.Help please.

Answer
HI Tammy,
 As you have found out, there can be problems buying fish from certain places.  

  White feces are a sign of an intestinal infection.  The difficulty is getting medication to the problem.  If possible, soak some food in intestinal medicine and get him to eat that.  Some people have found that feeding a fish with thawed frozen peas helps clear out the intestine and may help (and can't hurt).

  Don't add aquarium salt -- that won't do anything good for an oscar.

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