tiger oscar turning grey on back and face

[richardcheese]

Hey all,
Im new here and am looking for help. I did a full water change on my 55 gallon tank using purified water from wal-mart a week ago or so. all my fish seem to be doing fine except my biggest and oldest oscar. lately his head and back have started to turn grey and he ie not eating well. I dont know what to do? all the ph, nh, and o2 are good. but I dont know what to do. I am wondering is he depressed. I added a convict and some of my electric blue african cichlids have been reproducing in the last few weeks but I cant figure out the problem with oscar. any advise would be great. Thanks!

[merlyn2221]

He should be isolated and treated with Aquarium salt, if nothing else. Oscars, although they do tend to be "moody" should be ok with routine tank cleaning.

Why did you change that much water? It will probably harm your biological filtration and bed. I would definately check the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels every day, even though you have tested already. These, if too high, will cause a fish to "turn gray." Also, what was the pH of the water before you changed it and what was the pH of the water you used to refill the tank? What is the pH now?
What is the gH and kH of the water. Oscars prefer softer, more acidic waters.
Be very careful to make sure the "gray" is not skin beginning to peel off, otherwise you will have to treat the fish for body and fin rot.

[richardcheese]

I had to change the water because it had a yellow/red tint to it, kinda looked like someone pissed in the water. I dont know why it was that color but it was, the levels were good the nitrites were a little high but not dangerious. So I changed all the water with a distilled water from the local wal-mart. I addes some cichlid lake salt and some aquarium salt to boot. The tank currently has a ph of about 8.2 and has a nitrate level of between 0and .25mg/l. I noticed the grey color comes and goes randomly. like he can control it. I was watching him and it went from grey to black in about 5 seconds and then back to grey a minute or two later. I also think he may be constipated. his abdomin and anis are swollen and he has poo kinda just hangin inside the hole. I dont know what to do. I think the grey may be caused by his streess to force the poo out. any advice would be great. thanks!

[cichgirl]

Sounds like you need Pepso... You can get it at any lfs. If he's not eliminating, he won't eat much - and Os (as well as other Americans) get really moody if they can't eat. Get some coctail shrimp from the grocery store, and soak in water and pepso (a decent amount-- almost to a paste) and really get the stuff into the shrimp. You need to tempt him to eat - and real fresh shrimp works with my Americans. Feed the pepso soaked shrimp (tear off bite sized pieces for him) to your Oscar for 3 days. If it's a parasite problem, constipation, or anything else that has to do with his digestive system the pepso will clean him out and he should get back to normal. Pepso is a great thing to have on hand if you feed any live foods to your fish..

The yellow/red tint may have been due to the squirtz :) which is a result of a problem with his digestive system. Pepso can help with that too. That may be what caused your light nitrite spike also. Hope this helps...

Pepso will not harm your other fish.