Hi all. I'm having a problem right now with HITH in a 5-6 inch Synodontis eupterus. The tank he is in is around 6 months old (90 gallons), with no previous health issues (for tank or catfish).
I couldn't tell you how he got it. Nitrates have always been notably low, ammonia is always 0, I perform weekly water changes of 25%-50% possibly 75% at times. The tank is understocked and has sand, so whatever is there I clean. It has two AC 110s running but I want to switch to a canister. He is fed a mixed diet of NLS, Hikari carnivore, Hikari algae, and frozen food of a zillion varieties (brine shrimp/cyclops/mysis shrimp/plankton/bloodworms/some veggies/etc). Temp is at 81, raised it temporarily.
So what I did for treatment. I dosed Metro in the water with metro food, and have stopped the Metro food, now giving him NLS Thera+A because of the garlic. I do not see any white on his poo. He is acting normal and eating voraciously. I also have Vitachem. I had carbon in, and I took it out. Cleaning the filters will be next but I'm giving the tank a little bit of a break, because I've been doing WCs and obviously the metro for a bit.
Is there anything else I can do? The holes aren't actually growing anymore I don't think but they're not really showing signs of healing either. I have an arsenal of fish meds because I stocked up due to this winter being so bad, so if you suggest something for bacterial infections or secondary infections - I probably have it, and it's probably not open (thankfully).
But should I dose, and with what? Should I give him the metro food again? I don't want to put him on meds he doesn't need. I did metro because I noticed one case of white on his poop, but that has since ended by the looks of it.
I wish I could tell you why I think this happened, because the bottom of my tank is stocked with good foods (takes up 1/4 of my stand), my freezer has an entire shelf dedicated to fish food, I use Prime conditioner, water changes are better than my sleep schedule, etc.
Is there anything else I should do? Should I use VitaChem more often now? How often? Should I try a stronger med for the holes in case they're parasites?
Thanks in advance.
I couldn't tell you how he got it. Nitrates have always been notably low, ammonia is always 0, I perform weekly water changes of 25%-50% possibly 75% at times. The tank is understocked and has sand, so whatever is there I clean. It has two AC 110s running but I want to switch to a canister. He is fed a mixed diet of NLS, Hikari carnivore, Hikari algae, and frozen food of a zillion varieties (brine shrimp/cyclops/mysis shrimp/plankton/bloodworms/some veggies/etc). Temp is at 81, raised it temporarily.
So what I did for treatment. I dosed Metro in the water with metro food, and have stopped the Metro food, now giving him NLS Thera+A because of the garlic. I do not see any white on his poo. He is acting normal and eating voraciously. I also have Vitachem. I had carbon in, and I took it out. Cleaning the filters will be next but I'm giving the tank a little bit of a break, because I've been doing WCs and obviously the metro for a bit.
Is there anything else I can do? The holes aren't actually growing anymore I don't think but they're not really showing signs of healing either. I have an arsenal of fish meds because I stocked up due to this winter being so bad, so if you suggest something for bacterial infections or secondary infections - I probably have it, and it's probably not open (thankfully).
But should I dose, and with what? Should I give him the metro food again? I don't want to put him on meds he doesn't need. I did metro because I noticed one case of white on his poop, but that has since ended by the looks of it.
I wish I could tell you why I think this happened, because the bottom of my tank is stocked with good foods (takes up 1/4 of my stand), my freezer has an entire shelf dedicated to fish food, I use Prime conditioner, water changes are better than my sleep schedule, etc.
Is there anything else I should do? Should I use VitaChem more often now? How often? Should I try a stronger med for the holes in case they're parasites?
Thanks in advance.