May want to consider getting one of thesehttps://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/reverse-osmosis-system.698368/#post-7870101
Oscar's chronic hole in the head
- Thread starter Denis Dorokhov
- Start date
May want to consider getting one of thesehttps://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/reverse-osmosis-system.698368/#post-7870101
This is not true lol Hith in my experience is caused by stress, I’ve had groups of the same fish where only one gets it and it turns out to be the bullied/stressed fish of the group, they were all in 20ppm and under nitrates with a drip as well and all on pellets also in the OPs pics looks more like sensory pits than hith just my 2 cents
Could you please give a reference to concrete studies?
That's actually my case (I mean the stress), because this particular oscar is the one at the very bottom of the tank hierarchy. Anyway, most of those are really sensory pits, but two of them definitely look like HITH to me (one of them is the old one which was "cured" and another one appeared this morning).
I have read about carbon causing HITH. Microscopic study showed carbon damaging lateral line. I believe they were saltwater fish.
Here is a brief comment on HITH.
https://www.practicalfishkeeping.co...u-need-to-know-about-hole-in-the-head-disease
I'm no expert on this but stress diet and nitrates seem to be main factors. May want to read up on stray voltage. Pumps, power heads etc cause it. Lots of opinions on this as well as ground rods.
It does seem like your nitrates are high. Do you have live plants in this aquarium? How much sand bed do you have? Do you have sand or gravel? Are you cleaning the filter? If so how are you cleaning it?
Bottom line is that your fish are stressed by something. Nitrates can also cause a lack of oxygen to the fishes tissues.
Here is a brief comment on HITH.
https://www.practicalfishkeeping.co...u-need-to-know-about-hole-in-the-head-disease
I'm no expert on this but stress diet and nitrates seem to be main factors. May want to read up on stray voltage. Pumps, power heads etc cause it. Lots of opinions on this as well as ground rods.
It does seem like your nitrates are high. Do you have live plants in this aquarium? How much sand bed do you have? Do you have sand or gravel? Are you cleaning the filter? If so how are you cleaning it?
Bottom line is that your fish are stressed by something. Nitrates can also cause a lack of oxygen to the fishes tissues.
Hello; You have around 125 gallons of water with a lot of large fish. The fish are messy and known to have a large bio-load. Your water change (WC) schedule and volume seem slight even if you had good source water. But with source water already having nitrates this would reduce the WC effectiveness.
Hello; Since HITH is usually considered to be a result of poor water conditions treating the main tank with medications has the potential to make water conditions worse. I am not familiar with the medication you mentioned so could be completely wrong about this.
I usually set up a hospital tank for health issues which do not indicate a general infection.
Hello; You already are the beneficiary of advice from some of the more knowledgeable members of this forum. I do not have an answer, such as a special medication, which will allow you to keep the current procedures you use.
Two questions if I may ask. What is the feeding schedule and amounts of food?
What is the procedure used for cleaning the filters?
Feeding schedule is once a day in the morning with one day break per week. Amount of food is... I never measured it in grams or something, but usually I spend approximately 3 minutes on feeding (mostly I spend all the time tracking that everybody eat) and they eat pretty much everything I give.
Procedure of cleaning the filters... They never get clogged or the water pressure decreases as somebody mention as an indication that the filter must be cleaned, so twice a year I clean all the sponges thoroughly, bio media I clean carefully under the shower without moving it around. I never noticed any spikes in tests after cleaning the filters. Filters are not cleaned at the same time, I clean one filter and the next one a month after.
Just want to be careful about killing beneficial bacteria - cleaning filters and using meds.
BTW - My tank gets filthy and I change water once a week (50% +/-). Nitrates test 0. I have oscars and lots of plants. About same size as your tank. Of course my nitrates from tap are very low.
