FMs possibly stressing out O

[Chinnavar]

Hello all,

A couple days ago I found out that my oscar was showing signs of HITH, to combat this i've ordered peat moss which I will put in my FX6. I also got some catappa in the tank and I increased the volume of my waterchanges.

So I was checking some old photos and because of this I can pin point when my O started to show signs of HITH. I noticed that it started happening when my FM's were starting to show breeding behaviour and thus claiming a pretty big portion in my tank. My guess is that all that aggression is giving my O extra stress which might've been the trigger, already asked my LFS and they said they would take my FMs if need be.

Just asking for some extra opinions. The FMs are really interesting to watch, but I got the tank for my O and if they're being such a big stress factor they'll have to go sadly.

What do you guys think?

 

[BIG-G]

Did you read through this sticky? A lot of good info

HITH - Revisited

Over the years numerous things have been blamed as the cause of Hole in the Head disease in fish. While this is still a confusing subject among hobbyists one thing has become clear, the pathogen responsible for the ulcerated pits in the head and body of ornamental freshwater fish with this...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

What is your tank like? Size and list all inhabitants, any other filtration.
Do you use any type chemical media?

You’re increasing water volume of your changes, What amount are you changing?

I would wager a guess that it was probably a build up of waste and water quality degradation over time.
The firemouth may play a roll as an added stressor, but my guess is there’s another cause.

I would definitely keep the additional water changes going.

 

[duanes]

To me FMs and oscars don't ever belong in the same tank together.
FMs come from hard, high pH, mineral rich waters of Mexico, and are on the low end of the aggression scale compared to oscars.
Oscars from neutral to soft, mineral poor waters of South America, and are even lower in aggression than FMs (especially if FMs are in breeding rut they will dominate to the point of stressing an oscar to death).
Beside the preferred water condions are like night and day.
And ditto to everything BIG-G asked/mentioned.

 

[Chinnavar]

Did you read through this sticky? A lot of good info

HITH - Revisited

Over the years numerous things have been blamed as the cause of Hole in the Head disease in fish. While this is still a confusing subject among hobbyists one thing has become clear, the pathogen responsible for the ulcerated pits in the head and body of ornamental freshwater fish with this...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

What is your tank like? Size and list all inhabitants, any other filtration.
Do you use any type chemical media?

You’re increasing water volume of your changes, What amount are you changing?

I would wager a guess that it was probably a build up of waste and water quality degradation over time.
The firemouth may play a roll as an added stressor, but my guess is there’s another cause.

I would definitely keep the additional water changes going.

Yeah, RD. mentioned it in this thread where I got lots of useful info about HITH

Could this be Hole in the Head on my Oscar??

I run three AC 110's on my 125 gallon tanks, and as they sit in my basement that is approx. 68F year round, I heat with two 200W Aqueon Pro heaters. They keep the water at approx. 78F, while not producing enough heat to boil the fish in the short term if a heater fails and sticks on.

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

Went from 50-60% weekly, where my nitrates wouldn't go above 20 to 60-70% every 4 days. In the above mentioned thread I have all my water parameters, stock & what I feed listed.

To me FMs and oscars don't ever belong in the same tank together.
FMs come from hard, high pH, mineral rich waters of Mexico, and are on the low end of the aggression scale compared to oscars.
Oscars from neutral to soft, mineral poor waters of South America, and are even lower in aggression than FMs (especially if FMs are in breeding rut they will dominate to the point of stressing an oscar to death).
Beside the preferred water condions are like night and day.
And ditto to everything BIG-G asked/mentioned.

I agree completely with what you've said, since i'll try to get my water more on the softer side so it only seems appropriate to bring them to the LFS. Pretty bummed out that I didn't notice this sooner, but atleast I learned a lot from this haha