possible infection on oscar

[oscarsftw]

Hope you know there is no really real HITH medicine. Just keep up the water changes. Change it like crazy, like you're insane.

 

[oscarsftw]

Change it till nitrate gets to 0.

 

[Ang]

good thing i said something.
i'll restrict his diet to pellets, insects and shrimp from here on out.
did an 80%wc today, took the carbon out of my filters and treated the water with a dose of melafix.
nitrates are slightly below 5.

i plan to perform 2-3 75% water changes a week and will keep dosing melafix until the problem is solved.
i don't think it is HITH but a fungal infection.
i plan to pick up some aquarium salt tomorrow, will be adding to the tank when i do water changes.
whatever it is, hope he gets better soon.
thanks for the help so far, any suggestions or any ideas about what his problem is are greatly appreciated

you're well on your way to a healthier O

and you are correct. that is not HITH. no even close. but since the treatment for HITH is just clean water and diet.. you can use it for his problem anyways.

the Malefix and salt will help with the fungus.

Change it till nitrate gets to 0.

and as for Nitrates... if you can get them to 0 like oscarsftw said, thats great, but not necessary. As long as they are under 40 ppm, you're in good shape. There are always Nitrates since it is the bi-product of the nitrobacter bacteria and isnt toxic unless it is in high levels in a freshwater tank.

 

[oscarsftw]

HITH looks like patches of missing color at first.

 

[oscarsftw]

you're well on your way to a healthier O

and you are correct. that is not HITH. no even close. but since the treatment for HITH is just clean water and diet.. you can use it for his problem anyways.

the Malefix and salt will help with the fungus.



and as for Nitrates... if you can get them to 0 like oscarsftw said, thats great, but not necessary. As long as they are under 40 ppm, you're in good shape. There are always Nitrates since it is the bi-product of the nitrobacter bacteria and isnt toxic unless it is in high levels in a freshwater tank.

I read on another forum and many have said anything over 20-25ppm for a long period of time is dangerous to an Oscars health.

 

[Ang]

HITH looks like patches of missing color at first.

HITH = hole in the head. aka Head and Lateral Line erosioin.
not patches of missing color. I've seen HITH a million times.

This is obviously a fuzzy cottony film on this O's head. Therefore. not HITH.

HITH starts out as a small pit that gets deeper, then wider then spreads to the lateral line.

This is fungal.

I read on another forum and many have said anything over 20-25ppm for a long period of time is dangerous to an Oscars health

thats good. 20-25 is ideal. But 40 will not hurt an Oscar. No way.
I would say over 60 for long periods of time would be harmful.

But i suppose that's up for debate. Just go with what you've heard and your O's will be fine either way.

I just said something because asking someone to do water changes to keep their O's tank at 0 Nitrates is like asking them to do water changes every day forever. Its extremely difficult unless you have a HEAFTY filtration system and do water changes daily.
Are your Nitrates at zero? Just curiouse

 

[oscarsftw]

HITH = hole in the head. aka Head and Lateral Line erosioin.
not patches of missing color. I've seen HITH a million times.

This is obviously a fuzzy cottony film on this O's head. Therefore. not HITH.

HITH starts out as a small pit that gets deeper, then wider then spreads to the lateral line.

This is fungal.




thats good. 20-25 is ideal. But 40 will not hurt an Oscar. No way.
I would say over 60 for long periods of time would be harmful.

But i suppose that's up for debate. Just go with what you've heard and your O's will be fine either way.

I just said something because asking someone to do water changes to keep their O's tank at 0 Nitrates is like asking them to do water changes every day forever. Its extremely difficult unless you have a HEAFTY filtration system and do water changes daily.
Are your Nitrates at zero? Just curiouse

Nope, my Oscars not the one with HITH or some disease. I didn't tell him his Oscar tank should be at 0 nitrate at all times. I said he should do it to get rid of his possible HITH problem. By no means does your tank have to be at 0 nitrate at all times for your Oscar to live it's ideal life span 10+ yrs.

And filtration system has nothing to do with nitrate, you can have the best one in the world and your nitrates can still go up if you don't do water changes. I try and keep mines under 10ppm, and I've been consistent so far. And when I said HITH looks like missing patches of color, the keyword was "LOOKS" I didn't say HITH was missing patches of color. IT LOOKS LIKE. Maybe that's what I think it looks like, could be different in your point of view.

And to make it clear, I did not say "YUP LOOKS LIKE HITH!" I just gave advice on how to get rid of HITH. I did not tell him it was HITH. And if his Oscar did have HITH, he should be changing the water like a mad man. HITH does start out with patches, it doesn't start with holes....You do not just wake up one day and see big holes on his head.

 

[roliva]

Most likely water quality. Keep up with the water changes. Get rid of the carbon period. You don't need it.

 

[ctenopoma]

I think it's just the oscars slime coat if my o ever bumps his head the same blotchy thing appears for a bit.

 

[Leptar]

My O started out with what looked like a fungal infection similar to yours... then it progressed and after 2-3 treatments it stopped.

In a separate tank
1 treatment of ParaGuard
2 treatments of Methylene Blue


The blotches still were there but not as white... Then like over night they sunk in and got extremely bumpy... Took it as the fungus was dead and now is the healing process... It just got worse... as it progressed to HITH and then Lateral line...

I treated with H-N-H guard and Metro+ but it was still advancing quickly...

The O could not be put back in his original home as he was just thrashing the tank and other fish...

water changes were daily and was almost 50/50.... ran another (friends) FX5 with Purigen and Nitrazorb (new) with established BB scrubbies.

Diet consisted of vitamin enriched foods from Omega One as recommended from both my friend and 2 people from the Pet shop (who btw dont' sell omega one products). A week later he was dead... his lateral line was completely deterioated and the craters on his head were many and deep...

I spent a little bit of money trying to keep him alive... Now my JD is not eating and appears depressed as she just sits in the corner all day...