Largemouth bass with hole-in-the-head

[hydrophyte]

Hi everybody,

I am helping with a 120-gallon aquarium setup at a local museum and I plan to update several parts of it, especially the substrates and the fish selection.

The tank currently houses a ~10" largemouth bass. I want to get it out of the tank because I plan to introduce schools of several different minnows minnows and other fish that would not be compatible.

The bass is currently suffering from hole-in-the-head. It is a pretty bad case with three pea-sized lesions. My question is: should I try to move this fish and keep it going with hope that the hole-in-the-head might clear up, or would it be smarter to just cull the fish?

I understand that some fish species can bounce back from hole-in-the-head, while others are basically doomed if they develop it. Could this largemouth recover?

 

[fobrinkle]

he is curable. Clean water, good food could stop the hole in the head. He will still have scars but it will stop

 

[hydrophyte]

Thanks fobrinkle!

I'd be interested to hear any other thoughts that anyoby might have.

 

[purplecandle]

Clean water is a must, but your are dealing with protozoan parasite (hexamita) and perhaps a nutrition deficiency-

Read this article it reccomend treatment with metronidazole-
http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-health/freshwater-conditions/hexamita.aspx

And read this thread explaining more about whole in the head and nutrition deficiencies
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167891

 

[Lupin]

Add multivitamins in his foods. That will work. Liquid vitamins available in petstores will help as well but mix that on the food. Forget the idea of dumping it straight to the water. That will not work as the gills cannot absorb particular vitamins than when ingested by the fish. So basically, adding to the water just pollutes it.