Im new and this is my first post so sorry if I did something wrong . I think My 10 inch oscar has hole in head . Well he has holes in his head!!!!! Will he die from it . He is in a 55 long with no other fish.i feed him minnows and large cichlid pellets does this help?
oscar w/ hole in head
- Thread starter cichlidkingderp
- Start date
Oscars are prone to hole in the head... it is very rare that you can have an oscar reach 10 inches and not be afflicked with it... sorry to say....... but there are many fishkeepers that have had success... the protocall is that most oscars have hole in the head when you buy them... and if conditions are right and correct and water is pristene and fish is happy and living unstressed ..HITH never rears its ugly head.. but if they are fed live foods..{they carry disease} and water changes are not done on schedule{Oscars are one of the worst fish in creating a dirty contaminated unliveable tank} then HITH will show up rather suddenly ,. the only thing left to do once the oscar has HITH is to correct the conditions, do not feed live food and treat with meds.. Successful cure if caught early and it will at least prolong it from getting worse..
get 100g of metro from kensfish or angelsplus. Dose meds daily with daily large water changes (over 50% but with a small tank like yours you can do larger easily) before dosing. I would treat for 10 days.
Thanks for the help . Im going to stop feeding him feeder . Going to my lfs for some meds for him
Hole in the head or head and lateral line errosion is caused by irritation to the pores of the fish. I have seen it commonly in oscars and geophagus as well as other fish.It most commonly comes about from insuffiscient water changes.Oscars are big eaters and need extra water changes.High nitrates are seen commonly with hole-in-the-head,alot of times over 100 ppm,if you were able to do enough water changes to keep it below 40ppm,you would probably not have it develope.It is difficult to treat after it developes,the extra water changes help the most, and generaly stops the progress.Nitrofurazone is a safe treatment that will help on infections that sometimes develope in the holes,this medication will discolor water though.I have also seen chemicals like copper irritate pores and cause errosion.I used to own a tropical fish store for 25 years and have seen alot of hole in the head.I have also seen some impressive ,healthy oscars where the owner did at least 50% water changes every 2 weeks.