New Oscar cichlids, external parasites or scars?

[registered]

Hey, it's me again! haha (PLEASE MODS, don't move this thread to MEDIA since I'm just posting pics to help identify the problem, I'm not showing off my aquarium.)

As you all know I recently acquired 3 juvenile oscar cichlids and they seem to be doing great but today when I was checking the tank I noticed a few strange things with 2 of them, I hope you guys can help

One of the white Oscars seems to have white weird thingies hanging on his head, I looked closely and they don't seem to move at all, so I'm not sure if it's just fighting wounds or parasites . Here you can see two pictures:

Now, the second white Oscar cichlid looks fine and healthy so I won't post pics of him.

The third one (Dark colored), however, has a strange white circle on his head... I looked closely and it looks like some kind of sludge? It's not a discoloration. Here is the picture:

I also found a bunch of white strings laying on top of the sand (white poo?) which weren't there yesterday. Here's a pic (look closely right under the driftwood, the pink things are actually 3 uneaten pellets that I already removed):

I didn't notice this yesterday when I introduced them to the aquarium because the water was cloudy (milky white) due to the water clarifier, but now I'm worried.

My water parameters are perfect since I had to do a 75% water change to dilute the medication I had put in for my Jack Dempsey Cichlids (Tetra Parasite Guard):
pH: 7.5
Nitrates ~0
Nitrites ~0

Any help would be appreciated. I think it's important to note that they are really active and eating well, and they don't seem to fight at all... it's actually the opposite, they are always together swimming around the tank.

 

[Miguel]

could you please try to get beeter pix? I cannot be positive on anything because I hardly see what you're saying, sorry.....

 

[registered]

^ Okay, I also updated my first post with a new picture of white strings that look like poo, please check it out.

Here's a closer pic:

 

[Juxtaroberto]

Did you cycle your tank? You say your nitrates are zero, but they shouldn't be, in a properly cycled tank. What about ammonia?

The darker Oscar looks like it has HITH. Is it white, pockmarked, and kind of indented? That's HITH (Hole In The Head).

The one with HITH needs to be treated with specific medication. Not just melafix, or something like that. They should have some at the LFS. You need to separate him into another tank and treat as per the medication's instructions. I always had great results with a company called Jungle.

For the other Oscar, just to be safe, I'd also separate him, but treat with salt and higher temps. 1 tablespoon/5 gallons, with a temp of 82-84 Fahrenheit.

 

[registered]

Did you cycle your tank? You say your nitrates are zero, but they shouldn't be, in a properly cycled tank. What about ammonia?

The darker Oscar looks like it has HITH. Is it white, pockmarked, and kind of indented? That's HITH (Hole In The Head).

The one with HITH needs to be treated with specific medication. Not just melafix, or something like that. They should have some at the LFS. You need to separate him into another tank and treat as per the medication's instructions. I always had great results with a company called Jungle.

For the other Oscar, just to be safe, I'd also separate him, but treat with salt and higher temps. 1 tablespoon/5 gallons, with a temp of 82-84 Fahrenheit.

My tank has been cycled for about 2 years, I've never had any problem with nitrites or ammonia... or any fish dying, ever. I use a sump filter (the one with a bunch of balls for bacteria and different chambers for activated carbon, sponges, and stuff like that, and I never put tap water directly to avoid killing these bacteria with chlorine).

I had a Nitrates reading of 80 last week, with 0 nitrites and ammonia, but I started performing big (25%, 50%) water changes to put Nitrates down cuz someone suggested they were too high, I also cut down on feeding after that, and the new fish have only been in the tank for a few hours.

I immediately thought about hole in the head but this thing seems more like a sludge attached to his head, not indented, but I'll take a closer look and post here again.

 

[Miguel]

we need better pix....

As to white poop, it points to internal parasites.

Is it a stringy and long poop?

 

[Juxtaroberto]

If it's sludge, it makes me think it's some kind of fungal infection. Either way, these two fish need to be separated from the healthy oscar, and from each other, and treated accordingly. If it looks more like a fungus, you can use Fungus Clear by Jungle. For the other one I still recommend salt and higher temps.

And I completely forgot you mentioned the stringy poop. That's usually a sign of internal parasites. However, some people have suggested that Hexamita is the cause of both HITH and white stringy poop, either that, or one seems to be opportunistic and comes in as a secondary infection to the other, which also makes me think that one of them has HITH.

 

[registered]

I found these pictures online of HITH and I'm really not sure if it's the same thing... but I looked at my oscar closely and I think it MIGHT be an early stage of the disease OR a scar from having hole in the head before... cuz at first sight it does not look indented... but there's definitely something there... what are the chances that this could be a scar? ... aw man I was really excited, these fish are beautiful and really friendly and now I find out they're sick.

NEW SYMPTOM: I just fed them a little bit of bloodworms by hand, and the healthy white oscar ate a lot, as did the dark one. BUT the white oscar with the white worm-like things hanging on his head did not eat a single bloodworm. I thought he might just be shy so I dropped some more in the tank and took out my hand, same results... the other 2 ate normally, but he didn't even try... there were bloodworms floating in front of his mouth and he did not eat at all.

The only fungal medicine I have is API Pimafix, and I have one tablet left of Tetra Parasite guard. I also have API Melafix for Cichlids. Read somewhere that you have to be careful when dosing with parasite meds cuz if you don't kill them during the course of the treatment they become resistant.

I read on other forums that any of these conditions might come from just poor water quality and overcrowding in Pet Stores, and can greatly improve over a few days with better water quality, healthy diet and maybe some salt added to the water? I really don't wanna put them on meds so soon since I just got them yesterday!?

Thanks for all the help guys.

Pictures of other cichlids with Hole In the head:

 

[registered]

Guys, I just found a picture of an oscar cichlid in another thread on this forum (Post your SA cichlid tanks), this is a good quality picture that looks a lot like the unknown patch on my Oscar's head:

(thanks to member swervo513)

 

[registered]

Here are two better pictures that I just took.