Does my Oscar have HITH?
- Thread starter wiggywhitetrash
- Start date
My Oscar started getting white spots on his head at one point. I treated it by increasing the temperature to 80F and adding salt. It was gone within a week. I do 50% water changes weekly.
Thanks, ill bear this in mind. Gonna see how the Epsom salt treatment pans out first though
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From my experience it will, hopefully it works out for your O too! Great looking tank by the way!
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Yes, adding salt (sodium chloride) to ones tank water helps with healing and increases production of the slime coat. Large frequent water changes also dilute any potential bacteria and assist the fishes immune response.
Both sodium chloride & frequent water changes should be part of any/all healing process involving fish with external trauma.
Both sodium chloride & frequent water changes should be part of any/all healing process involving fish with external trauma.
Thought it was time I posted an update on this. Wish I had better news but unfortunately, my O is still not looking good. Following the initial photos that I posted, and over the week or so that I was reading the various options covering in this thread, he started to get noticeably worse by the day. In addition to the two pits shown in my original photos, he developed 4 new ones at the top of his head. These were very symmetrical and became quite deep...
As I said, this was getting worse fast. However a couple of days into the Epsom salt treatment, I started seeing some results. Although the pits weren't healing, they certainly weren't getting any worse. Also, I noticed that there seemed to a be a lot of solid waste on his side of the tank (I rarely see much at all), which makes me think that maybe he was constipated. This coincided with a noticeable increase in the fishes appetite. After finishing the Epsom salt treatment, I began adding salt to the new water when doing water changes and within a few weeks, the pits at the top of his head appeared to have healed completely. This all sounds promising, but unfortunately, it was pretty short lived. Although the pits at the top of his head have healed, the ones at the side are still getting worse. He usually only shows a passing interest in food - he rarely refuses to eat, but the aggressive feeding eating machine he once was, seems a distant memory. I only realised when looking back at the original photos, just how much worse this has got...
Tonight, I decided to put him on another course of the Epsom salt treatment but I don't have high hopes. Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome. Cheers - Steve.
As I said, this was getting worse fast. However a couple of days into the Epsom salt treatment, I started seeing some results. Although the pits weren't healing, they certainly weren't getting any worse. Also, I noticed that there seemed to a be a lot of solid waste on his side of the tank (I rarely see much at all), which makes me think that maybe he was constipated. This coincided with a noticeable increase in the fishes appetite. After finishing the Epsom salt treatment, I began adding salt to the new water when doing water changes and within a few weeks, the pits at the top of his head appeared to have healed completely. This all sounds promising, but unfortunately, it was pretty short lived. Although the pits at the top of his head have healed, the ones at the side are still getting worse. He usually only shows a passing interest in food - he rarely refuses to eat, but the aggressive feeding eating machine he once was, seems a distant memory. I only realised when looking back at the original photos, just how much worse this has got...Tonight, I decided to put him on another course of the Epsom salt treatment but I don't have high hopes. Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome. Cheers - Steve.
I was reading your thread and wanted to suggest you view the attached link. I have done this a few times and it works.
http://jnfkoifarms.com/symptomsofkoi/koiulcertreatments.html
http://jnfkoifarms.com/symptomsofkoi/koiulcertreatments.html
Thanks Tom, I'll bear this in mind. I've never done anything like this before, so I'd probably leave this as a last resort, as I could possibly end up doing more harm than good if I don't know what I'm doing. That said, it looks like I could be all out of other options. Cheers - Steve
Update time, and finally some good news. Happy to say my O is now almost fully recovered, just the last couple of large pits gradually healing over. regarding his appetite - be careful what you wish for. Back to eating like an absolute pig and determined not to let my Firemouth get any of the pellets. It seems that this was a water quality issue after all, although the water always tested fine, it still wasn't good enough for the Oscar. Over the past couple of months, I made the following changes...
Upped the water change routine to 75% every Wednesday and 30% every weekend. Added salt to the new water.
This got things back under control and brought back his appetite. Healing VERY slowly though.
Ripped out the polystyrene background to give a larger volume of water. Also, removed all tankmates except for the Firemouth.
Healing faster now and I was able to revert back to my original water change routine.
Replaced the Tetratec 1200 with an FX5
This was a couple of weeks ago. Again, seems to have speeded up the healing process.
Thanks to everyone that offered their help.
Steve
Upped the water change routine to 75% every Wednesday and 30% every weekend. Added salt to the new water.
This got things back under control and brought back his appetite. Healing VERY slowly though.
Ripped out the polystyrene background to give a larger volume of water. Also, removed all tankmates except for the Firemouth.
Healing faster now and I was able to revert back to my original water change routine.
Replaced the Tetratec 1200 with an FX5
This was a couple of weeks ago. Again, seems to have speeded up the healing process.
Thanks to everyone that offered their help.
Steve
