HITH coming back???

[ozzydafish14]

Hey everyone. The last time I posted was probably somewhere in July? I really don't remember. But my tiger oscar Ozzy has been doing just fine. I've noticed that some of the holes that were trying to heal over are actually getting bigger and some of them are growing holes around them. So Im wondering- did I really kill all of the parasites?

 

[jlk]

Hows your water quality (amm/nitrites/nitrates)? What did you use to treat HITH before? Theres are few schools of thought on HITH. One is based on a nutrient/vitamin deficiency. Make sure you are feeding food with adequate vitamins & consider supplementing. A second consideration is carbon. Do you have a c02 system or carbon filters? Removing carbon sources can effect a cure. A third consideration is that it may actually be heximata instead (symptoms are similar) and you would need to treat for that instead. Hope this helps!

 

[ozzydafish14]

I'm pretty sure I'm doing everything fine as far as water quality and water changes. How does the carbon effect the cure though? I used the jungle labs tratment

 

[Chantal]

Carbon filters remove medication from the water, make sure you take the carbon part out of the filter when medicating. Hope whatever this is, it clears up. I've been itching for an O for a number of years.

Good luck!

 

[picture_117]

This seemed like a good article I found a while back on hith, take a look at it..
Hole in the Head by Adam Dagna of World Cichlids

 

[ozzydafish14]

Oh well i did remove the filter while i was treating for it. One this i was told to do for filtration though was to use the same filter media twice and just rinse the bad stuff off of it

 

[Fishguy2727]

In oscars it is usually not HITH, it is HLLE. The difference is that HITH is parasite based and is usually only found in discus and angels. HLLE is not parasite based and is usually caused by low quality food and water (especially in oscars). I have seen a couple cases of HLLE that were caused by carbon. The idea is that the carbon removes vital trace elements and micronutrients. It is almost always caused by low quality food and/or water in oscars.

What is the nitrate concentration? 'Good' is not an acceptable answer, we need a number.
What test kit are you using?
What is the nitrate concentration of your tap water?
What is your current water change schedule? 'Adequate' is not a good answer, how much and how often?
What are you feeding? Include everything you ever feed them, no matter how infrequent.

You only need to remove the carbon from the filter when using meds (not a bad idea to just never use it though except when you need to remove meds after treatment). You need to run your filters all the time, meds or not.

What type of filter do you have?

 

[ozzydafish14]

Okay, I just checked and the nitrates are around 0-5. I'm not sure of the nitrate concentration in our water but I do know that it's well water. I usually feed him Hakari gold pellets- no more than 15 per feeding and I usually feed him once a day. Sometimes I'll throw in some unseasoned chicken or turkey if we have leftovers and I also feed him brine shrimp once a week. I have 2 Aqua Tech 30/60 power filters going right now

 

[Fishguy2727]

What test kit are you using? 0-5ppm nitrate is very low, suspiciously low especially considering it's an oscar. My guess is that test is inaccurate. Depending on the test kit it may be the kit's fault or yours, some are particular about how precisely you do the test.

I would definitely upgrade your food. In my experience New Life Spectrum is by far the best food out there right and that would be the only thing I would feed. Hikari is not bad, but I used it extensively before switching to NLS and there is a step up in quality. Even within Hikari the Bio-Gold+ is their highest quality food for oscars.

What size tank?
What are the other fish in the tank?

 

[ozzydafish14]

I think its that low mostly because I changed the water yesterday...
It's a 55 gallon tank and he's the only living thing in there. He's about 9 inches and im making plans to move him into a bigger tank

 

[Fishguy2727]

Most tap water isn't even that low. Most likely that number is inaccurate.

Which test kit are you using?

 

[ozzydafish14]

An API nitrate test kit

 

[Fishguy2727]

Read the instructions again and do the test again very carefully, that test is very finicky and a nitrate that low is almost impossible to achieve.

 

[ozzydafish14]

Okay, will do
So all's I have to do is keep the nitrates low, and feed him high quality food, right?

 

[Fishguy2727]

IMO high quality food=NLS exclusively. High water quality=nitrate less than 20ppm.

 

[ozzydafish14]

Okay, I should be albe to do that. Where could you get some of that food?

 

[Chantal]

Nitrates that low are possible from the tap. My local water is 0.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

any local pet store should have it as it is a large brand. also Hikari Gold is great, was this what you were feeding? if yes then the food may not be the problem.
and +1, nitrates can be that low, its just very hard to find lol.
why not add some epsom salt and raise the temp while doing 20% pwc ever 3 days? this is what others have done, its just basically boosting the quality of care to remove HLLE.
btw if the lateral line has not so much pits but a more defined white line, is this a very small HLLE case? x

 

[Bl80]

I got real good deals on NLS on eBay... Just need to do your research.... You can find 150g for same price as 300 g. Aquabid had some I checked out, but didn't need any. I've seen a huge difference in the past several months since feeding NLS..... ESP in the fry that have been fed since day one...