Severe Oscar HITH

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Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jul 18, 2005
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Michigan's UP
I never was really an Oscar person, but:

Someone dropped off a bucket full of 6-8 inch oscars at a LFS, all with bad HITH. The LFS asked me if I wanted one, I felt sorry for them and took the one with the most severe case of Hole in the Head I've ever seen in person.

Huge chunks are missing from this fish's face. It's like a melon baller was used to scoop away parts of this fish! The fish eats and swims fine, but looks like crap.

Other than the HITH the fish had cloudy eyes and frayed up fins. The fins and eyes are getting better, and even the HITH doesn't seem as bad as it did when I picked up the fish Sunday. Now for my questions:

What are my chances of fixing this fish? Will the HITH go away with time (and proper care), or will the fish always be scarred and "weird" looking?

What is the best way to treat this fish? Right now I'm doing WC on the tank twice a week, putting vitamins in food, and adding some salt to the water.

BTW-we named the fish "Cheese"!
 
you're doing your part, other than stablilizing its general health, I've never seen a really severe case that just heals completely
 
I think keeping your water in pristine condition and giving him a good and varied diet should help your o recover quickly.
If the HITH are real craters it may leave some scars though.

Btw cool avatar, bro!
Looks a lot like the decal on my tank!lol

Done.jpg
 
It will be hard to save that poor O. I used aquarium salt and frequent water changes. Water quallity is everything. I would look into meds too.
 
When I used to keep lots of oscars I used medicine called Clout it worked very well but the fish should be in a tank by itself while healing. Good luck
 
cichlidfish;3463561; said:
It will be hard to save that poor O. I used aquarium salt and frequent water changes. Water quallity is everything. I would look into meds too.
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What kind of meds? I have medicated Jungle anti-bacerial food and anti-parasite food on hand, I just wanted to make sure the Oscar was eating well before using them.

Also, I'm thinking of using Prazi because I don't really know where the fish came from and the Prazi couldn't hurt.

It's still eating and swimming good, still shy around me and hides when I go into the fish room, but I think the Oscar may come out of this OK. Other than some scarring of course, but that will just give the fish more personality!;)
 
Redearsunfish;3463522; said:
Tough one. Try vitamins - pristine water, garlic, try and get it to eat garlic powder or otherwise mashed up in its food.
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Why garlic?

My O had some really bad HITH and we fight it from time to time. HITH is one of those things that will never go away. She still has scares and will always have them. The thing I warn about the salt usage is that the salt will actually irritate the fish. Salt can be used to build up the fishes tolerance but it can also have a negitive effect if to much for to long. There is also the chance of building the tolorance of any paraistes that may develope. In that case they get harder to get ride of.
In that past I have used pimafix and melfix with 25% w/c every day if not 50% every other day. I have known people who prefer pimafix over the melfix. I usually go for the melfix.
You are in for some fun couple weeks. I feel it is worth it. Os are fun fish.
Good luck and keep us all posted. There is a lot of great info to be had from fellow MFKers.
 
Oh and vitamin C in the food also works very well.
 
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