Has my angel developed hole in the head?

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splintercat

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
May 3, 2013
Messages
30
Location
Vancouver Island
About a week ago I noticed a bit of a bump on my angelfish and I chalked it up to him being a bit of a derp and thought he had scratched himself and developed a bump. The bump went away the next day and then it appeared like he had scratched himself and the dead skin was peeling off a little bit. It was stable like this for a few days, but it still looked roughed up. Now it appears to have turned into a bit of a hole. He has no other holes and I'm new to this disease so I just wanted to get some clarification.

He is otherwise healthy and eating normally.

Well established 55 gallon community heavily planted.
Angelfish, black/white skirts, rummynose, bristlenose plecos, SAEs, a couple guppies.

No new fish or plants recently though I did set up co2 & started dosing ferts about a month ago. Also setup a new canister filter a couple weeks ago.

Ammonia, nitrites - 0; nitrates 20-40.
 
Hey there, thanks for the tips!

Try a salt bath and api general cure.

I guess the salt bath is to help heal this hole that has started and the API would be to help with the actual HITH?

I have metronidazole and yesterday started mixing it into his food. Anyone know if I should also put it in the tank in addition to adding it to his food? The label says it's pretty much impossible to overdose on it, but I don't want to cause any more harm to him. :ermm:

Also, has anyone had luck with this going away or is he pretty much plagued to develop more holes if my water quality were to drop a little bit?

:thanks: for anyone who can help!
 
Usually, HITH is a condition brought about by poor water quality. Have you checked yours lately? The meds will have little effect if the cause of the condition is not addressed.
That being said, Metronidazole is best used in the food as the organism that produces HITH lays within the gut of the fish so general application in the tank will not produce much success.
There is another possibility to this condition, your fish may have had a single parasite/worm that broke through the skin causing first the bump then the hole. If this was the case, I prefer to use an antibiotic like nitrofurazone to prevent any further infection of the wound. So before you start blindly medicating, I suggest you read this article about HITH to confirm that's what your fish has. http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-health/freshwater-conditions/hexamita.aspx ,followed by Tropical Fish Disease Identification with pictures and cures.

Hope this helps
 
Hi Andy,
Yes I have read that Hexamita article and that poor water quality may have brought it on. My water is usually quite good but occasionally my nitrates did get a bit high. For the last month or so I've been able to maintain lower nitrates, but perhaps that was too little too late.

All other water parameters are stable though my ph has changed a bit since setting up my co2.

He doesn't seem off balance or lethargic and is still eating well. Maybe eating SLIGHTLY less than usual.

I'm stumped as to whether it was a single parasite or something like that, or if it is possibly HITH and am not sure which direction to take in terms of treatment. I've only given him one dose of the Metronidazole but now I'm hesitant to give him any more in case that's not what he has.

Thanks for your input!
 
In many cases, good water quality cures many ills so you may want to just just continue with keeping the water quality high with small twice weekly water changes and see how the fish reacts. Make sure you do some gravel cleaning as well as uneaten food can get trapped in the gravel bed then deteriorate and pollute the water. If you see more lesions or bumps starting then you need to medicate as soon as possible and the Metronidazole would be a good choice to use especially if you can get it into the food.

Hope this helps.
 
It was indeed very helpful, thank you! Here's hoping the big guy can get & stay healthy again. I really love this dude.
 
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