Is this hole in the head???

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SwampFins

SwampFins

Candiru
MFK Member
Sep 19, 2018
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So I've been keeping an eye on this area on my Oscar's head for a few days thinking he might have hit something and hurt himself. (I have been struggling with him for months as he has a bad habit of running into things and trying to jump out). But it has not been going away and I think it might be getting bigger.

I've medicated him quite a few times in the past and done the salt treatments for old injuries but he has always healed really fast. Except for one of his eyes which he damaged permanently due to the same behavior.

If it is hith, is this something I need to be concerned about with my other fish in the tank? What would be the best treatment?

Tank has no aggression issues, everyone is eating well, weekly 50% water changes, temp is 79-80 degrees and nitrates stay around 10-15

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Does look like hith. Keep ur water super clean. Make sure no extra voltage is in ur tank. Soak pellets/food with some vitamins. Make sure ur providing soft water. Hope it gets better or atleast not any worse.
 
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The key to HLLE, is not really medication, it is prevention
Whatever your normal water change schedule is, it might help to double its frequency and volume, and like Ron said, it might help if soft water can be added, with tannins.
Although I believe it looks to be housed with hard water species, so that could be problematic if so.
To me housing softish water South American cichlids like oscars , with generally more aggressive Central Americans hard water species, usually leads to these kind of chronic problems.
I realize this is common practice, but may also be one of the reasons we see so many oscars with HLLE posts.
 
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I have thought about trying to soften my water in the past but I've always heard that it is preferable to maintain a stable Ph rather than chasing a number. Granted, perhaps my water is too hard to properly care for certain species?

I may try to add some wood in my sump to see if it would help soften the water some but I'm just not sure how much that would help considering the large water changes.

My ph currently sits at 7.6
 
kno4te said:
Does look like hith. Keep ur water super clean. Make sure no extra voltage is in ur tank. Soak pellets/food with some vitamins. Make sure ur providing soft water. Hope it gets better or atleast not any worse.
Click to expand...

How could I go about checking for additional voltage in the tank? Never really considered that to be honest but definitely worth checking.

Can you just probe the water with a multimeter?
 
For stray voltage, if you have a tiny cut on your finger, and put the hand in the tank you will usually feel the slight tingle of a shock.
And it is better to keep your water stable, and to me the compromise, is excessive water changes for fish not suited for that water. A pH of 7.6 is not out of line, but pH is not the end all,
it could be high conductivity and dissolved solids, and a lack of antibacterial tanins, or simply nitrate over a certain ppm.
 
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SwampFins said:
How could I go about checking for additional voltage in the tank? Never really considered that to be honest but definitely worth checking.

Can you just probe the water with a multimeter?
Click to expand...
Get a voltage meter. Believe one end is grounded and the other end in the tank. Then read for any voltage.
 
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SwampFins said:
Can you just probe the water with a multimeter?
Click to expand...
Yeah, just put it on AC volts, throw one probe into the water and grab the other in your hand, see if that shows some voltage. If not, then put the end in your hand into the ground hole of a convenient nearby power outlet.
 
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I am inclined to say yes. I would hospital tank him with some metroplex or feed him 1 spoon metro, 1 spoon focus and 1 spoon food and a bit of garlic guard. Keep your tank super clean lots of water change and boost your heat a bit to create an increase in the immune system. I just had a bad bout of this with an Oscar I took in with horrible hith. He had severe ulceration that would not heal due to secondary infection. I actually took him out of the tank and administered Neosporin and liquid bandage. He is 100 percent now, oddly no scarring eating like a champ and thriving. That looks like early hith so start the battle right now.
 
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Thank you for the suggestions, I will be testing the water for any current tonight and up the water changes for now.
 
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