HITH maybe?!?!

[BODYDUB]

Let me bring you guys up to speed......I have 2 large oscars in a 55G bare bottom tank with airstones, heater and a HOB filter. I do a 50% w/c every week and feed them once a day without over feeding them. As I fed then today I noticed these whitish blotches in the head area. First word that came out of my mouth was "*****, they're getting HITH." Now this would be my first experience with HITH, so I'm not positive that it is. Also the water was way warmer than normal. I don't have a thermometer, but I could tell it was warmer just by dipping my finger in the water. One of them must have moved the setting on my heater. Anyways, I immediately did a 50% w/c and turned down the heat. LMK what you guys think and how to treat it if it is. Thanx.....................

 

[ralph3545g]

that could be , whatever it is these steps will help , try getting your hands on some vitamin food , you can probably find koi food with vitamins ,well lets start over clean your tank really good , get ammonia remover to put into your filters , ammonia remover helps to keep the infection down , oh ya heat your tank but not too much because oscars really dont like heat it stresses them out and that helps the hith maybe 80 to 84 watch your fish , i would stick with about 82 ,almost forgot you can put 2 heaping ounces of salt for 10 gallons of water , i buy solar salt from home depot xtra lrg crystals for water softeners its like 4 bucks for 50 lbs , if you have good flow in your filters dont clean them out much just clean your tank , hope it works out for you

 

[ralph3545g]

oh ya again , dont over feed them , oscars sre the biggest beggars but when you over feed them there body spends energy digesting food instead of fight off infections or diseases plus it fouls your tank up and raises nitrates and ammonia that feeds the hexa ..its a big bad cycle

 

[knicks791]

Please provide water parameters.

 

[BODYDUB]

Thanx for the help guys.....But yeah, my water test were showing some levels of nitrite and a high level of nitrate. I'm doing a big w/c as I type this. The whatever it was is starting to disappear now. Guess I'm going to have to do w/c's twice a week if not more............