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Fish and Aquarium HIH in oscars
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Author | Topic: HIH in oscars |
raghu_gg Member Posts: 39 |
posted 02-18-2004 11:39 PM
Hi, Today i noticed a small patch on my oscars but the colour is not white but black on the head which i suspect to be HIH in my oscar. I have been having them since an year. Should i treat him with maracyn or is there a better one at the initial stages of the disease. I did a 50% water change as soon as i noticed a patch water Ammonia levels are too low so are nitrates, There are no unusual behaviour in them and are consuming. But i will be doing a 10% water change every day from now on. IP: Logged |
JustSomeGuy Member Posts: 65 |
posted 02-19-2004 06:44 AM
I think you mean HITH, Hole In The Head. Main cause of this is water quality, and or diet. The best way to treat it, is not with meds really, but with very frequent water changes, and a really good variety in food. I would get more into it, but I need to run. Hopefully T_chelle will swing in here and touch on this as well. IP: Logged |
t_chelle16 Member Posts: 501 |
posted 02-19-2004 09:44 AM
Oscars have spots on their head called sensory pits. They look like little pin holes generally in clusters. Normal sensory pits: Hole in the head is when these sensory pits become erroded (it can also occur with the lateral line). Early/mild HITH: Advanced HITH: There's still a lot of mystery about what actually causes it, but the more common theories are a lack of vitamins and/or poor diet and high levels of nitrAtes as well as generally poor water conditions (caused by overcrowding, not enough filtration, or poor tank maintenance). It used to be thought that a flagellate called hexamita was a cause since it is often found in cases of HITH. However it is now thought to be more of a secondary infection. HITH actually isn't that difficult to treat since it is caused by poor diet and/or bad water conditions; both of which can easily be remedied. One of the first things to do is make sure your tank is clean. This means keeping a close eye on the water parameters (they should be ammonia=0, nitrIte=0, & nitrAte<20), and having enough filtration and cleaning the tank often enough to keep those levels in check. But it should be noted that if your tank is too small or overstocked, it will be nearly impossible to keep nitrAtes below 20ppm. They should also be given a nice varied diet that does not include feeder fish (but that's another topic all by itself). It's also a good idea to suppliment their diet with vitamins. There's a couple ways to do this. You can either find pelleted food that already has supplimental vitamins (I've found that HBH Oscar Show contains a lot of vitamins) or add the vitamins yourself by soaking their pellets in a liquid multivitamin (people multivitamins are fine). Adding MelaFix (I love this stuff) and/or aquarium salt should also help the wound heal. If none of that seems to help, thre's a chance that a secondary hexamita infection is preventing the HITH from healing. You can try getting some medication that treats the Hexamita, such as Metronidazole & Hex-a-mit. That being said, it really doesn't sound like your oscar has HITH. It sounds more like a bruise to me. Could you post a pic so I could be sure? Also, you said: "Ammonia levels are too low so are nitrates" Ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte can never be too low; the lower the better. Like I said before, ammonia and nitrIte should be 0ppm and nitrAtes should be below 20ppm (anything above those is toxic). -Chelle IP: Logged |
JustSomeGuy Member Posts: 65 |
posted 02-19-2004 10:07 AM
Just from my experience with seeing allot of Oscars with HITH, they tend to be a few years old and older, in a tank that is too small for them. Including 55's, that are not properly takin care of. Seems the bigger the tank the fish is in, the less likely of HITH to devolope. Thats from my own observation. IP: Logged |
puff Member Posts: 98 |
posted 02-22-2004 07:37 PM
you shouldnt do a 50% water change. it will make the water more well i dont know the word for it but itll get bad. do a 20% water change once a week. if its just a colour of black than your oscar could just be gaining colours. IP: Logged |
raghu_gg Member Posts: 39 |
posted 02-22-2004 09:45 PM
Hi t_chelle16 The spot that i was talking about matches the 2nd picture you have posted.I am doing a regular water change of more than 30% since 3 days, I have a > 80g tank where i have these oscars 2 oscars of around 7", And i have started treating him Metronidazole ( Flagi available in India ). I have added 400mg of this to my 80gal water tank. I do not have a hospital tank. PLease suggest me how do i procced with my medication further. Thanks in advance IP: Logged |
t_chelle16 Member Posts: 501 |
posted 02-22-2004 10:33 PM
What I did was start off treating with just Melafix. After a couple weeks the hole went from this: To that 2nd picture. So I bought some metronidazole and treated as instructed for about 2 weeks. By then, the hole has finally started filling in a little so I stoped the metronidazole and went back to using Melafix. Another couple of weeks later, it was this size: So I stopped using meds and just let it heal on it's own. He now has a little indented scar, but there is no exposed flesh so I consider it completely healed. And FWIW, I have absolutely no idea how he got HITH in the first place because my water parameters have always been fine and I feed him a nice varied diet. -Chelle IP: Logged |
t_chelle16 Member Posts: 501 |
posted 02-22-2004 10:48 PM
Oh yeah, about the time I stopped using the metronidazole, I started feeding him HBH Oscar Show which has the following vitamins: Vitamin A, B1, B2, B6, B12, C, D3, E, K3, Biotin, Choline, Folic Acid, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Manganese, Potassium, Zinc, Selenium I had tried soaking their pellets in Centrum liquid multivitamin, but they refused to eat it (can't blame them; it smells awful!). They really like the Oscar Show and I think all the vitamins in it may have helped some. -Chelle IP: Logged |
raghu_gg Member Posts: 39 |
posted 02-23-2004 02:32 AM
HI t_chelle16, I am not sure if PH of the water if changed causes this problem. Cause i did not notice that till an year, But i observerd this when i added moss and drift wood to the acquarium. The PH of the water has now reduced by .5 IP: Logged |
t_chelle16 Member Posts: 501 |
posted 02-23-2004 08:04 AM
I don't think that much of a change in pH would cause HITH. -Chelle IP: Logged |
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