oscars developing HTH

[kribbz]

My two oscars look like they are begining to develop hole in the head disease. what can i do to cure it. i have tried a cooper based medication from an lfs which hasn't even slowed the symptoms down.

 

[BrianNY]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=43594

Hope this helps kribbz

 

[ChileRelleno]

Number one cure (IMHO)

(1)
Get your water quality/chemistry perfect, NH3-0, NO2-0, NO3- 0/20ppm,
check your filters & clean'em if necessary (reduces alot of NO3), gravel vac & PWC, do small PWC's (10%) every other day.
Just about everyone will agree that bad water chemistry and HITH go together like apple pie -n- ice cream...

(2)
Add liquid vitamin supplements to all food and vary their diet.
Soak or load everything you feed the fish with vitamins until cured and watch your water.
Vitamins that you add to your tanks water are worthless (IMO).
We use "Vita Chem", our fish get it regularly.
This particular brand is available at most on-line retailers and at better LFS's (We get ours at BigAls).
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=27489;category_id=3781;pcid1=2911;pcid2=

(3)
Medicate,
Alot of folks blame Hexamita for HITH and thus treat for it with medications, BUT, studies have been done showing that Hex (and others) is/are a secondary infection/s (Whether or not Hexamita plays a key-role with HITH infections is controversial).
You need to do what "You" feel is right and correct after reseaching this for yourself, google "HITH causes prevention and cure" or some such, and visit Cichlid specific forums for more info.

Some folks also think that filter carbon plays a role with HITH...

It seems there are no absolutes as to the cause, but just like ICH there are many ways to treat it and proponenets/opponents of each treatment.

Steps (1) & (2) are how I try to prevent HITH, and would treat a early case of HITH. I would proceed further if I wasn't able to control/cure with those.

Goodluck.

 

[ChileRelleno]

(brainfart )

These should have been (3) Supplementary treatment.
I would add a dose of salt to the tank, this helps lower stress, encourages slime-coat production and gill function amongst other things.
Also a dose of Melafix and Pimafix, these have been known to help healing.

I say again though...
Perfect water quality and a varied nutritious diet supplemented with vitamins.

 

[ChileRelleno]

Here's a good article on HITH from another favorite fish site of mine,
http://www.oscarfish.com/cms_view_article.php?aid=3

Lots of talk about HITH there, symptoms, pics, treatments and preventative measures. There are some current threads on HITH and plenty in the search engine. The Advisors over there know their Oscars.

 

[BrianNY]

Great post Chile.

Water quality and environmental conditions are the cause of most problems faced by aquarists. HITH seems to be more prevalent in cichlid species whose behavior or chemistry quickly degrade their environment. 100 Kudos to you.