Possible Hole in Head..what to do?

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Rocket2001

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Aug 25, 2004
Messages
369
Location
Massachusetts
I think my Oscar may have "Hole in Head"...he has small depressions around his eyes and "forehead". At first I thought he was banging his head into the the heater. But now I begining to suspect he's sick. I moved him from a 55gal to a 90gal three months ago and then had to move him from the 90gal back into a 55gal temporarily and then into a 120 gal all with in two weeks. (The moves were due to the 90gal cracking).
The temp 55gal was not cleaned properly after sitting outside for several weeks because of the emergency..so between that and all the move i think he maybe sick...whats the proper treatment for Hole-in-the-head..and has anyone had experience with this problem..any info would be helpful
 
Lots of water changes........the more the better IMO. Also be sure to feed a very varied diet.
 
"lots of water changes" are tough...he's in a 120gal tank.....25% is 30 gals every time...but I'll give it a shot
 
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) 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.

(4)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.

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

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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.
 
Rocket2001 said:
"lots of water changes" are tough...he's in a 120gal tank.....25% is 30 gals every time...but I'll give it a shot

PWC's tough :?: ...
My friend do you not have a Python or its equivalent?
GV'ing -n- PWC's become almost effortless with these aides :wink:
 
sry to go off topic... BUT
what is this python that you speak of?
I have a 44 gallon, and I'm going through a case of ich at the moment. I wanted to do a 50% PWC to the tank to knock off another 15ppm in nitrates...

But I am getting curious is what this python is?

thanks
~Mp
 
I do own a python and i will use it, but like rellno said there is so much contradictory infomation out there...some say medicate..some say no medications.....some say vary diet some say this or that...i guess all or some are right...right now I have varied the diet as much as the fish will tank different foods. i also medicated with and anti-parasite medication and will do some water changes
 
While much about HITH and its causes -n- treatments are debateable, it is widely agreed by most experienced cichlid keepers that steps (1) -n- (2) by themselves are sufficient to bring a outbreak under control or even cure it IMO( some believe that HITH is never cured once acquired, more controversey).
There is very very little controversey about water quality and a varied quality diet with vitamin supplementation being the major key factors for prevention and control.

I think your on the right track and doing a standup job tending to your fish, goodluck!
 
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