Hole in the head temensis

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Hole in the head seems to be a chronic problem that effects large, long lived soft water fish over an extended period, oscars, chocolate cichlids, even common Uaru. You've probably seen older large, scarred up oscars turned into LFSs with HLLE, a combination of high nitrate from a lack of water changes, and mineral rich water.
Some of it can be deterred by the use of tannins (antibacterial), but chronic HLLE didn't happen overnight. It may have occurred over years in hard water, so expecting it to go away in a timely manner is asking a lot.
Like dogofwar, I found keeping soft water fish in my Wisconsin hard water was an exercise in futility.
And it may not just be pH (from calcium) but the other mineral components of hard water related to the local area.
Here in Lake Gatun, Panama, Cichla have become a nuisance edging out the endemic cichlids, but the pH of the lake sometimes hits 9 or above with the intrusion on sea water used to operate the canal. Granted the Cichla do not reach the record sizes that occur in the Amazon, they do breed like crazy, but the lack of size may have a lot to do with the sea water(high pH) intrusion ,
The higher pH in your tank may be the result of mineral buildup.
The drip may too gradual, and not be enough turn the tank water over sufficiently to match tap and tank pH, and large water changes to purge those minerals may be needed on top of the drip.
What percent of the tank water is changed eigh th e drip
 
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The drip is 3 gallon an hour 24 hrs a day 7 days a week system volume is 500 gallons. Also with regard the the high ph lakes. I would guess there was some die off when they were first introduced and the ones that survived reproduced and those strain of Cichla now have a higher tolerance to high ph and hard water. Very different from plucking a fish from a Blackwater river and placing it in mineral rich water.

The higher ph seemed to be from the concrete aggragate holding the pot scrubbier down. I tested in vinager some rocks fizzled I have since removed it.
 
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Update:

The high PH was caused by the tap water. I tested aged tap water and sure enough it was 8.2. I finally got the RO system up and running for about a week now.

Current parameters:
Amonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
GH: 4.5
KH: 2.5
PH: 7.6

Also running peat in the filter. Its not really affecting the PH. It is staining the water tho.

The HITH has gotten worse since it took a long time to get the water down to those numbers. Another fish also has some signs of HITH. However all the fish are doing far better now than they were in the straight hard tap water. They are now eating every day and the HITH doesn't seem to be getting worse.

I had previously adhered to the mantra of the fish will adjust to your tap water but this has not been true it was slowly killing them. Adjusting the water parameters is not hard and provides benefits to the fish. It should be encouraged.
 
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isde02 said:
Yes hard water is a cause of hith in softwater fish. I've gone through it and another member Hulon went through it, even with pristine water conditions.

I caught the hith early enough to where I treated the tank with meds and beat it. I used a combination of seachem discus buffer and Sera super peat to lower my pH. Another member suggested rooibos tea to me which I researched and found to be beneficial as well to softwater fish.
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What level of ph are we talking?
 
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