Please help my Oscar has HITH

[Pomatomus]

I agree with the others on healing the wounds.

But you are right to go with metronidazole. Freshwater HITH is typically caused by the flagellate Spironucleus and requires medication. They live in the gut of the fish. Saltwater lateral line erosion is different.

So treat for the parasites, then provide good water parameters for wound healing.

Or if you know a doctor or vet you might be able to get some Regranex, which is used to treat diabetic ulcers. It has not been tested with HITH but it healed lateral line erosion in 100% of the subjects studied.

 

[Frank Castle]

You are going to need to do much more than a 50% WWC to heal this. Most oscar keepers do more like an 80% or fin level weekly water change. Some do more than one per week. You'll have to get a read on your nitrates like said above and maintain them so they never exceed 20ppm or less. HITH takes a long time to heal.

Ya, I was thinking more along the lines of a 90% water change every 3 days.

Or if you know a doctor or vet you might be able to get some Regranex, which is used to treat diabetic ulcers. It has not been tested with HITH but it healed lateral line erosion in 100% of the subjects studied.

this is good stuff, thanks for the info. Can you offer more info along the lines of directions for use, how much and how to deliver it to the fish, how often and for how long?

 

[Pomatomus]

this is good stuff, thanks for the info. Can you offer more info along the lines of directions for use, how much and how to deliver it to the fish, how often and for how long?

This is actually a different paper on it than the one I saw. Here is a link to the abstract:

http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1638/2007-0045r.1

It found that a single treatment was just as effective as multiple treatments. However, if the fish is still in an environment that causes lateral line erosion (e.g. runs carbon) then it won't have any effect. Like I said, the causes of HLLE and HITH are different, but cause similar lesions.

As for the amount, it's a topical product and the amount depends on the size of the "diabetic ulcer". If you google it you will find a chart but I'm sure the goal is just to cover the lesion.

I can read further if you want more information, I just don't want to violate copyright law by posting the full article here for free.