The Aquarium Source

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Understanding what is considered “normal” fish behavior is a key element in recognizing and treating issues with your tank. Fish not only swim, they have their own specific personalities and behaviors that they will do and recognizing them could be the different between life and death with your fish. I used to have a eel that would dart to the top of the tank, then dart back down to the bottom and then hide. The eel would repeat this behavior for about 10 minutes and then stop. This behavior was not anything that I had with any other fish that I had in the past. Naturally I was concerned and checked every possible level in the tank. After establishing that everything was normal in the tank I concluded that the eel was “playing”. The eel lived for several years and I never had any issues with it but this was my first lesson in fish behavior. This darting behavior could have been misunderstood as any number of issues in the tank and if I would not have checked the levels first I could have tried to treat the tank and fix the problem where none existed, thus damaging a perfectly normal healthy fish.

There is no doubt that Oscars are great fish and although they are very popular for aquarist they are rated in the difficult care level and should only be maintained by those confident in their aquarium skills. A few days ago we were contacted about strange new behavior from one of the Oscars tank and even though the behavior is not due to an Oscar specific illness we feel that it is a common enough issue to address.

Initially I was told that the fish was loosing its scales. The rest of the fish in the original tank were doing ok but some of them had started to loose scales as well. After asking a few questions I find out that the fish was not only loosing its scales but gasping in the water as well. After a few more questions I find out that the fish has been swimming a little “odd” when it swims at all. After talking with the owner for a few minutes to get as much information as possible about the fish I will admit that I was stunned that a perfectly healthy fish a week ago could suddenly come down with all of these issues with no new additions to the tank. All of the symptoms that I was told would be explained if there were new fish in the tank or new water added, something had to be done to contaminate the water.

Suddenly it all clicked. The person that I spoke to said that they had moved about two weeks ago. After questioning them about the move the culprit was clearly evident. When the move had taken place the owners could not find anyone to help them move the tank. So instead of leaving the tank for the next person they decided to drain the water and just refill the tank with water from the new house. MAJOR PROBLEM!!! Another factor was that all of the treatment chemicals and conditioners were packed away still and nothing had been done to the water before it was added to the tank.

The cause for all of these issues with the Oscar was Ammonia. By draining the tank and refilling it, the owner had replaced established water with new untreated water that had to go through the cycling process. Granted the filter already had good bacteria in it, but when the fresh tap water touched the bacteria it killed it and the tank was starting its process all over again. By not treating the water or testing it prior to putting it in the tank, the owner had also put in water that had a wrong pH for the fish. After talking with the owners and telling them that they needed to unpack the fish box because the water was the issue, one of the owners took a sample down to his local fish store to have them test the water which confirmed what I had told him.  I then outlined what they needed to do to treat the fish and told them that it did not look good for the fish because it was already so far along in the process but treatment would help and give the fish a fighting chance.

Knowing a normal fish behavior can tip you off to any issue that your tank is having. The owners of the Oscar noticed when they filled the tank that the behavior changed in the fish because the water was different. They wrote this change of because of temperature and the stress of the move. Granted this is a 100% over site on the part of the owners and by not treating the water they have basically killed their fish. Understanding normal behavior and not forgetting the basics is a key concept that can be overlooked and will cause havoc in the tank if not taken care of.