Need a straight answer. Can u help.

[VOZIE]

I have a new tiger Oscar and after reading on the web what diseases they can get.

My Oscar has what looks to be little holes in the first thee dots so to speak. What is this? Pic is **** sorry.

Cheers

 

[scuba dude]

Hole in head disease? Ususlly caused by poor water conditions.

If you google it you can find out more.

 

[Bbush]

I had an angel fish that survived it. There are Meds available.

 

[VOZIE]

Only had him a week and a half.

 

[Bbush]

Probably already had it. What size tank, tankmates, pentameters, etc...?

 

[garfy]

HLLE Head and Lateral line Erosion.Usually caused by poor water conditions and Bad Diet.
What tank size,Filtration and Diet?

 

[HUKIT]

HITH is a parasitic disease found in angelfish and discus. It is caused by Hexamita spp. and/or Sprionucleus vortens and is treated with metronidazole or other anti-parasitic medications.

HLLE is a nonparasitic condition usually caused by less than ideal food and water quality. This is common in oscars (and many other species). It does NOT respond to any meds, but is treated by improving food and water quality. In some very rare cases it has been demonstrated that the cause in those cases was carbon use in the filter.

HITH and HLLE are two different diseases but with the internet and people regurgitating information people think they are the same issue...this is inaccurate.

Oscars and other larger new world cichlids rarely get HITH, they get HLLE which is generally due to prolonged exposure to high nitrates. They key to prevention and or curing is keeping the nitrate concentration below 20ppm(10ppm is better) and feeding a high quality and easily digestable pellet such as New Life Spectrum. Depending on how severe the deterioration of the sensory pits is there may be some permanent scarring but follow the above directions and there will be improvement.

I have a new tiger Oscar and after reading on the web what diseases they can get.

My Oscar has what looks to be little holes in the first thee dots so to speak. What is this? Pic is **** sorry.

Cheers

Yes the fish does have Head And Lateral Line Erosion, it's clearly visible.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Your Oscar defiantly has HLLE. From the one pic is doesn't look like its horrible yet. Like hukit said you may be able to cure it with the work needed

 

[Bbush]

I stand corrected. Thanks. I've never kept oscars. Thought it was the same thing. My bad.

 

[cbourg746]

I stand corrected. Thanks. I've never kept oscars. Thought it was the same thing. My bad.

No need to apologize! Hukit knows his stuff for sure so when he post advise learn from it and pass it along to others cause he, like the rest of us are here to help and want to see others succeed in their fish keeping.

 

[HUKIT]

I stand corrected. Thanks. I've never kept oscars. Thought it was the same thing. My bad.

There is no reason to apologize, I don't come on here to try and prove something and if I came off that way I apologize to you. I post here to help others with something I'm very pasionate about. I always commend others for taking their time to help too! Plus where else can a bunch of fish geeks get together and talk about fish.

 

[VOZIE]

Ok I am feeding him frozen bloodworm muscles small fish which I can't remember the name of. Also eating small fuzzy mice and will be trying him on brine shrimp. I do use pellets for the balance in vitamins but he seems to play with them. He favours bananas too.

Water is spot on other then a constant 25ppm on the nitrite in the chemistry. Doubt 30% water change every 3 days.

In a 300l tank. Temp 28.9

 

[HUKIT]

Also eating small fuzzy mice and will be trying him on brine shrimp. I do use pellets for the balance in vitamins but he seems to play with them. He favours bananas 9

Skip all that crap except the bananas. The most important fact is that fish digestive systems are designed to handle certain proteins. Freshwater and Marine proteins and fats are very different than their mammal counterparts. Their digestive systems are well designed so that if the food is of a protein that can not be digested properly it will simply be expell this excess immediately. The primarily function of breaking down food is a provide energy, that which can't be processed generates a lot of waste since they're expelling what can't be used to benefit the fishes body. Proteins are made of amino acids which contain nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, so as the fish is breaking these non-native foods down they in turn make a lot more nitrogenous waste which as everyone knows will effect water quality. The last issue I have is the fish's kidneys and liver work harder than they would have trying to process foods they are not designed to digest, where as long term feeding can lead to liver or kidney failure. So not to ramble on any longer I can't see any benefits to feeding mice or any other mammal protein. Stick with a high quality pellet such as New Life Spectrum, Hikari Bio-Gold, or Omega One and keep the nitrates below 10ppm. I also don't normally buy into all the additives and such but the addition of a crushed up multivitamin and supplement also helps boost their immune system. Soak you pellets in Boyd's for the additional nutrients.

Boyd Enterprises | Vitachem Fresh - Boyd Enterprises

What are the nitrates at? And why is there a nitrite reading?

 

[VOZIE]

I thought I was doing well with all the varied diet I was giving him. Always been a fan of getting fish used to all types of food but never thought in that much detail.

 

[Aquaman1978]

Skip all that crap except the bananas. The most important fact is that fish digestive systems are designed to handle certain proteins. Freshwater and Marine proteins and fats are very different than their mammal counterparts. Their digestive systems are well designed so that if the food is of a protein that can not be digested properly it will simply be expell this excess immediately. The primarily function of breaking down food is a provide energy, that which can't be processed generates a lot of waste since they're expelling what can't be used to benefit the fishes body. Proteins are made of amino acids which contain nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, so as the fish is breaking these non-native foods down they in turn make a lot more nitrogenous waste which as everyone knows will effect water quality. The last issue I have is the fish's kidneys and liver work harder than they would have trying to process foods they are not designed to digest, where as long term feeding can lead to liver or kidney failure. So not to ramble on any longer I can't see any benefits to feeding mice or any other mammal protein. Stick with a high quality pellet such as New Life Spectrum, Hikari Bio-Gold, or Omega One and keep the nitrates below 10ppm. I also don't normally buy into all the additive but the addition of a multivitamin and supplement also helps boost their immune system. Soak you pellets in Boyd's for the additional nutrients.

Boyd Enterprises | Vitachem Fresh - Boyd Enterprises

What are the nitrates at? And why is there a nitrite reading?

Dude knows his stuff. Most people don't care this much about everyone's fish

 

[Andy Sager]

Keep in mind that when it comes to food, it's WHAT you feed not how many types of food you feed. As Hukit explained (quite elequently I might add), fish don't use all foods the same way. While yes, an Oscar might eat a mouse in the wild, it also is eating a number of other foods that make up the void in nutrients that mouse is not providing the fish. Plus, the "eliminations" created by eating the mouse are not polluting the wild waters whereas they are fouling tank water tremendously.
Oscars require more care than probably any other Cichlid because they are "dirty" fish. I love em, even used to breed them but they required more maintainance than any other fish I ever had. Even bigger filters didn't replace more frequent water changes. Welcome to Oscar keeping

As for Hukit's term "Fish Geek", I resemble that remark lol

 

[VOZIE]

Thanks guys. I am finding oscars very rewarding and water changes don't worry me. Will take on board what I have learnt. Cheers again.

 

[Bbush]

No doubt. Been a while since I dealt with my angel. Thanks for refresher!