hole in the head?

[fishnthings]

i have a 7"oscar in a tank with my silver pacu and another oscar thats about 3".
my 7" pink oscar has hole in the head i think, how do i know if thats what it is. he was getting craters in his face. but i think its odd, because my 3" oscar is not getting this. what could it be. also my 3" oscar has not grown any for the yr i have had it so far, it called a bluberry oscar. rayman45 said it was injected with dye when it was born so it has this color now. could the dye of affected his growing? :feedback:

[piranha45]

the craters in the head are hole in the head. check your nitrates, pH, ammonia, and nitrites and tell us what they are. how often do you do water changes, and how much water do you change? what do you feed your fish?


your dyed oscar was physically wrecked from the start, like all dyed oscars are. don't buy dyed fish.

[jenBLKAROWANA]

Hole in the head can be hard to cure, my red female oscar died from this...She lived for about 6 months with no swim bladder, the hole in the head eventually attacks the whole nervious system of the fish. You could try to feed it some anti-parasite foods, you can find these at your local fish store. DO NOT BUY THE JUNGLE LABS HOLE IN THE HEAD CURE!!! I tried this product for sometime to cure my female, and it does not work...it just progressed. The anti-parasite foods helped my male tiger oscar, he is cured of it now...Oh, the "hybred" oscars are very prone to the "hole in the head" disease. Never buy hybreds. The True Tigers, and any wild caughts are the only way to go!
Jen

[Ash]

Oh no, be careful that sounds like an internal parasite. My boyfriends oscar had that. Is its poop a clear color sometimes?? There is a medicane that works really good but it can be hard to get sometimes, most vet's have it and a few aquarium places i think it's metrodzole or something like that, I cant remeber the exact name, but a local aquarium shop should know.

[jenBLKAROWANA]

:) Here...HIKARI make a great treatment...its called - METRO PLUS it treats hole-in-the-head, and lateral line disease - it has METRONIDAZOLE in it. This should knock it right out!
It retails for about $10.00 for a 3.5oz powder.
Hope this helps!
Jen

[fishnthings]

thanks guys i just put him in 20 gallon to treat him today. i will make a run to my lfs to find some non parasitic food and try to find some of that powder stuff, thanks for the great info, will the craters heal?

[joel]

sounds like hole in the head. There is a very good medication called Clout. But this medication can be toxic to pacus, piranha, and cat fish.

[joel]

eventually the craters will close up but it will take time

[jenBLKAROWANA]

thanks guys i just put him in 20 gallon to treat him today. i will make a run to my lfs to find some non parasitic food and try to find some of that powder stuff, thanks for the great info, will the craters heal?



Yes, the craters will eventually heal up! Great thinking to quarentine him/her. Thats the best way to fix your fish!

Jen :)

[Ken]

Use a round of "general cure" by Aquarium Pharmaceudicals. Afterwards, do two water changes per week, 60% each. After two weeks, cut back to one per week. Good water quality is of great importance. Feed a variety of high quality pellet foods and frozed/dried shrimp, as well as crickets and earthworms. Variety is the key. Minimize stress as much as possible until the fish heals, which can take months. This combination of diet and good water quality will heal your fish quite well, and prevent hole in the head from returning.

[sandtiger]

, the "hybred" oscars are very prone to the "hole in the head" disease. Never buy hybreds. The True Tigers, and any wild caughts are the only way to go!
Jen

What the heck is a hybred oscar? As far as I know there is no such thing as an oscar hybrid other then the possability that they may be hybridized with other Astronotus species but I fail to see how this would be a problem.

As for HITH, you need to answer p45's questions. HITH is caused by poor water conditions and a bad diet. Even if you heal this oscar they are prone to get it again if the proper measurements are not taken.

What size tank do you have?
What tankmates do you have?
What do you feed your fish?
How often do you clean the tank and what do you do when you clean it?
How long has the tank been setup?
What are your readings for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate?

[fishnthings]

i keep my 12" oscar in a 55 gallon by himself, but i recently moved him to a 29 to give him medicine and not have to use as much, i feed him a variety of minnows, earthworms and pellets. i give a water change probably once every 2 wks. about 75%. and the tank has been setup for atleast 2 yrs now. i tested the water and all seemed fine with the test that i have. i know the water is right, i think he got hole in the head because i use to only feed him goldfish until rayman told me that was not good for him. so now i feed him a variety of foods.

[dialphantom]

gold fish are crap ive seen this a 39529358 times b4 i feed my oscar gold fish all the time now hes sick