Redhead Tapajo with Severe HITH

[TheNewSeverum]

So I have 6 Redhead Tapajos that all have HITH in the same spots. At first I figured it must be sensory pits and didnt worry about it. Over time it became progressively worse and one fish has it bad. I read the post on it that Miles wrote and nothing made sense. I never feed live, I do 50-60% water changes weekly, I always add salt, I feed daily or bi-daily either frozen food(bloodworms, brineshrimp, plankton), Hikari Carnivore sinking pellets and Omega One Flakes. I am currently treating with Metro in tthe food and letting it soak for about an hour or so before feeding time. I have no clue if its getting better. I got these fish in two batches, the LFS had two left from the second batch and they dont have it. Whats the deal? Layout is as follows:

75 Gallon
2 Aquaclear 110s
Sand
Spider Wood
6 Geo. Tapajo 4 inches each
1 Severum 3.5 inches
1 Green Phantom Pleco 5 inches
1 Vampire Pleco(added after I started treating) 5 inches


I've already treated them for Ich when I first got them. I've never had this many problems with fish before and I've been doing this since I was in 4th grade. If pics are needed, I'll post later. At work at the moment.

 

[Woefulrelic]

If they are eating, NLS hexshield could help a lot. It's not very tasty but if the fish will eat it you can feed that exclusively for a few days or whatever the label suggests. HITH is often a Ph problem, so if you could test PH, GH, and KH it would help, but baseline PH is important. If the fish are wild caught they will likely tolerant of high PH. HITH advances much more quickly on fish who already suffer a compromised immune system, from previous disease or poor water conditions.

Salt is an irritant that causes fish to raise immune functions and respiratory effort, as such I don't recommend using it unless you have a problem and prolong exposure is not good. You have 0 carnivores in there, unless the pleco is one of the meat eating kind. That diet is too heavy on protein for the omnivorous cichlids you keep, heros and geos need healthy aquatic greens in their diet. I'd suggest switching over to something like hikari cichlid gold or something else targeted at cichlids/omnivores with big green intake.

 

[TheNewSeverum]

I know for a fact the PH is high as Florida water is god awful. I have wood in the tank to help bring that down but with the large water changes I do weekly it doesn't really help. I had adding PH down to my water and the slightest mess up can mean disaster. I was trying to breed them and it does say online to feed them foods high in protein.

 

[Woefulrelic]

Those carnivore pellets are more designed for piscovores and other strictly carnivorous fish. You can feed them that, it just isn't a good staple diet. I'm not a nutrition expert, but hith historically is caused by lots of stress, hard high tds water, poor diet and poor water parameters. You want them to assimilate more greens daily, though I'm not sure if the flakes would properly balance out their diet. Those high protein foods also make a lot of waste. Hikari cichlid gold still has an extremely high protein level, just not as high and incorporates more greens that are essential to omnivores. It's like a 12oz steak vs a 10 oz steak with greens, which do you think would be better for a human as an omnivore.

 

[TheNewSeverum]

I'll have to try the cichlid gold. I have given them the emerald entrée which has spirilina, green and red lettuce and they wanted nothing to do with it. They are all very picky eaters as is.

 

[Woefulrelic]

Sometimes they don't like the exclusively green stuff. Other options like NLS exist too. ryansmith83 might be able to help you a bit more with florida water.

 

[ryansmith83]

Pictures would help. Also, are you using well water or city water? What is the nitrate reading of your tap and the nitrate reading of your tank immediately following a water change?

 

[TheNewSeverum]

I'm in Clearwater so I'll guess its city water. Last time I tested my tap it was 0 all around.

 

[TheNewSeverum]

I'll post pictures when I get home, I get off in 30 minutes. I'm sure they love how I'm researching fish xD

 

[mr cichlid]

Most say hith is not curable. A well know fish store here even told me to throw all my fish away. First off it may not be your fault. I've gotten tiny fish and offered them pristine water conditions and varied diet vitamin based and years later surprise hith...i believe it stems from water conditions as fry and no where is that theory supported. Obviously water conditions throughout life big factor as well as stress, lack nutrients, motorized filtration can even play a role. The good news is that it's easily reversed with daily water changes and adding large quantities of non iodized salt and high levels of vitamins and eliminating stress by adding dividers or extracting the bully. Truly severe cases on fish you may have rescued that were completely neglected may never heal but further damage can be eliminated. On moderate to light cases it can be completely eliminated to the eye, the only catch is the fish may relapse if put under stress including but not limited to being picked on or poor water conditions or lack of nutrients. in conclusion once the problem is reversed and under control the fish will need a little extra attention to prevent relapse