HITH is not going away. Help!!

[susieg]

My Oscar has a serious case of HITH. I have been able to get it to go away but it always comes back. Now it is back with a vengance. I have been cleaning his tank twice a week ,changing the filters everytwo week. (One one week and the other two weeks later. giving an assortment of foods live(no feeders), krill, beefheart, Hikari Gold, peas, romaine and cukes and zuchinni( altho I think the pleco likes these more) I put aquarium salt in the water after every change. Increased the temperature to 80 and started using Melafix in the tank every night for the directed time. What else can I do to help this great guy? He is really a great Oscar ! Loves his food and comes to the glass everytime he sees me. Sorry this is so long. Please someone with experience please help!! :cry: I would hate to lose him .Susie

[rayman45]

rase it to 84-86
sorry but thats all i can help
how old is he?

[susieg]

He's a year old. The temperature has been to 80 for a few months. 84-86 is not too high?
Thanks Raymond , Susie

[M|L]

do a lot of water changes, don't clean the filters too much because that could be more harmful than good.

add salt and feed food with lots of nutrition, maybe even buying some vitamins from your local pharmacy and add it to your fishes diet (like soaking shrimp or pellets in them).

[M|L]

don't raise it to 86 lol that's a little too hot, just make it around 84F.

[rayman45]

i only put 86 b/c i was just reading that in the wild the blackwater ponds can get to 86

[susieg]

Thanks everyone. I'm going to try some vitamins and soak them in pellets as suggested. I've raised the temp (have to check it soon to see where its at) and the canisters really get disgusting if they arent cleaned out. but I rinse the sponges out in cool water. I have two filters so that is not a problem if i interchange cleaning. the pads need changing anyway. Thanks for all the prompt suggestions this should help Oscar on the road to recovery. Started Melafix about 4 days ago and already the ulcers are starting to close. Susie :grinno:

[redtailfool]

HITH with oscars is usually caused by poor water quality... try melafix and massive
regular water changes and see what happens.Make sure your nitrate and ammonia are low.. nitrate should be under 40 and 0 ammonia.

It could be caused by Hexamita but its primarily caused by poor water quality and to some extent nutritional deficiencies. Try to vary your oscars diet by using different pellets and using fresh food like beefheart etc..

[M|L]

yeah, water change and good diet should help.

clean all filter media by using water from you tank, using the sink water may (to some extent) kill the bacterias due to the chlorine (and sometimes chloramine) in the municipal water.

[susieg]

took the other oscar out of the tank (my son put him in) to increase water quality. This is why I need a 90+ gallon tank. He and the pleco are growing too large for the 55. There is 8 inches of oscar and about 10-11 inches of pleco. both large bodied fisah. need at thyis writing 57 gallons of tank water to support this LARGE ammonia output. And they are still babies. just a year and only half grown. I do regular water changes. 2x a week or more and feed good quality food. Will start on the vitamins as soon as I can get to the store. Vitamins in beefheart seem to be good too. Thanks for all the tips . Susie PS Phatboy-I will use aqua water for changes. I didnt think of that.

[guppy]

At last resort try along with daily water changes, and agetting rid of all substate and changing filter medium, pull out the fish and swab him with hydrogen peroxide and then dipping him im salt water before returning him to the tank, do this 2-3x a day x3days, this is a last resort as it is a cure or kill.

[Oscar guy]

the thing i use is quick cure. u ude it for two weeks and it gose away. Another thing that is very important the food u give the fish the ick drains the energy out of the fish so supplie the fish with high protine diet

[Rui]

Owner at a now out of business LFS told me that Hexamita can be brought upon by dirty water and nutritional deficiencies. He actually told me to remove the carbon out of my filter (I never use carbon other than to remove meds). Whatever grain of truth lies in here, I really don't know. Oscars are Omnivores, so try adding in some veggies. I have recently started feeding my cichlids dried seaweed. Not the kind they use for Sushi rolls, but this matted stuff. My marines don't like nori, but they gobble up that other stuff. My cichlids seem to really like it too. Bonus is that it is about 1/3 the price of Nori - not that it is expensive to begin with.

My suggestion: If you have followed the above advice, the HITH should be gone. Those craters will still be there until it heals over, but you will still see 'indents'. When your fish get a bad case of it, it will usually never heal over to where it started. I recommend NOT feeding Beefheart - gets the water way too dirty. The only meat I would feed it is whole frozen fish, shrimp that they will mostly swallow, and the occasional piece of liver (high in vitamins). Cut the liver way smaller than bite size, as you don't want your oscar to keep chewing it and having a big cloud dissolve in your tank. Add in some seaweed, spinach or any type of vegetable. Keep trying various veggies until your Oscar starts accepting some. Don't leave veggies in the tank for too long and add to the bio-load of your tank. Get a bigger tank when you can. 25% water changes/week. Clean your filter media the day before you do a water change in some aquarium water. You need all the bacteria on the media as you can keep, or you will make matters worse.

[susieg]

Rui, thanks my oscar already likes his peas,romaine and nori. I knew about the carbon and never use it he doesnt need it. The water is clear and very clean. I never have let his tank get dirty. Kept it vacuumed up because of oscars dirty eating habits. Liver is something I havent tried with him. Isn't the liver a filter for the bodies toxins? Didn't want to take a chance . Any opinions on this anyone? Am looking for a bigger tank now. Know anyone who is in the Pennsylvania,NJ,NYork area witha 90-100 gallon cheap? Whatever, is left of the beefheart my pleco eats. He's a pig. this is why I'm stumped. He should be getting better. The 'craters' are getting smaller. I am afraid when I stop the Melafix they will just get worse again. The thing about taking carbon out of the filters before putting in meds. is because carbon will reduce the effectiveness of the meds to notheing. Just like it reduces the ammonia in your tank.

[PredatoryFishMagazine]

Just out of curiosity, what type of filter are you running on its tank?

[susieg]

I have a 330 Penguine and a Whisper 60 . Both hang on the back filters. I won that bid for a 90 gallon so they will have better water quality. Now all I need is a filter for that 90 gallon. :) Susie

[orlok]

The deal with removing the carbon, is that carbon can tend to be a little too zestful in its removal of toxins. It can actually remove some of the trace elements fish need as well. I heard on a web radio show that HITH can be improved with the use of filters that have the bio wheels. In your case, your penguin. I have a small oscar and he had HITH pretty awful. If this helps any, here's what I did:

1) 50% water change and a double dose of Aquarium Pharm's Stress Coat with every water change thereafter.

2) I used a higher quality HITH medication. In my case, Aquatronics Paragon.

3) I used this medication for 2 weeks (following the manufacter's instructions carefully.)

4) When I was done with the Paragon, I removed the medication with a 50% water change and fresh carbon in the filter for 24 hrs.

5) I then removed the carbon and began to use the Melafix for 2 weeks.

6) When finished with the treatment I moved him into a larger tank (55 gal. with 3 bio wheels and no carbon.)

7) Then I did 50% water change every week.

8) I feed him once a day (shrimp, Tetra food sticks, Hikari brine shrimp and Aquarian cichlid floating pellets.) I made sure I gave him food that had vitamin C in it. Also variety is key in their diet... but no feeders!!!

I hoped this helped even if just a little!

[redtailfool]

HitH is usually caused by a lack of vitamin K. ( Untergasser) This is caused by poor diet and or an internal parasite ( hex) and or bad water.
Melafix is a waste of time & money imo, no point in just treating the symptoms , not that melafix will do much for HitH anyway, tho it may suppress secondary infections of the head craters, you need to treat the cause.
hexamita ( an tiny gut nematode) is treated with metronidazole, sold at your lfs as Hex-a-mit. You can also add it to their food if they are eating.
Carbon should only be used temporarily to remove meds at the end of a treatment. it gets saturated and can cause problems and as stated earlier, can also remove valuable trace minerals, including vit K. Different carbon types from different wood will remove different things but all will remove meds.
Use a hospital tank. change at least 25% of the water before each dose, use daily instead of every other day.
Hex is very common in cichlids, it is also killed at temps above 90F for 3 days.
Metro is a human antibiotic and works by breaking down the cell walls of the nematode
A combo of heat and metro should clear it up....or not?
If you do increase the heat the fish will be OK if you also greatly increase the airation, as warmer water holds less oxygen
hth

I would use metro if the fish poops stringy white feces. If not i will just do
massive regular water changes and feed a variety of food.