2 very sick oscars

Question
QUESTION: hello, i have 1 albino & 1 tiger oscars it started with the albino then the smaller tiger. they are very sick won't eat looks like they can barely breath. haven't ate ion days. yesterday the tiger barely swam a little but couldn't control himself. they just lay on the bottom looking like they're dying. the local pet store has had me try everything but nothing is working & i don;t want them to die. they are about almost a year old.

ANSWER: Hi Anna,
 Have they been eating live feeder fish in the past?

 Have you been doing regular weekly water changes of about 25%? You need to change 25% of their water once a week, every week, to keep them healthy.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com


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

QUESTION: yes they eat live feeder fish. is that not recommended? i do waster changes every 3 weeks. i will do it more frequantly.

Answer
Hi Anna,
 Feeder fish very often carry all sorts of parasites which then infect your oscars.  I NEVER feed with feeder fish. The
worst part of it is that often these infections occur in the intestinal tract which is virtually impossible to treat effectively.

 You need to do much more frequent water changes.

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