Somebody help, quick!!!
- Thread starter ZBT3091
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jenBLKAROWANA said:Hole in the head is very common in Oscars. You need to remove the carbon from the filters, and treat with GENERAL CURE (aquarium pharmicutial product) as directed. Wait 48 hours, and repeat the doseage. Wait for another 48 hours, and then do a 25% water change. Add the carbon back to the filters to remover any remaining medication. This treatment may be repeated if necessary. Also, you may want to add in some salt to the tank. DR.WELLFISH AQUARIUM SALT (aquarium pharmicutial product) helps to reduce the stress on the fish. 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons, do not add it in all at once, soread it out over 2 days, and also "melt" the salt down in a large cup of warm water, this gets it circulating into the water faster.
Hope this helps!
Jen
P.S.
check out this link too....
http://www.aquariumpharm.com/disease/hlle.html
I don't know this firsthand, I'm only deriving this from stuff I've read. I recall an article that mentioned plant matter as a good deterrent for HITH. I know your not gonna get your oscar to eat live plant matter if you put a gun to his head but perhaps in the scheme of a varied diet, you could trick him into eating some algae pellets? He might just spit them out if he even bothers to touch one at all. At any rate, veggie stuff seems to be mentioned quite a bit in preventing and getting rid of hole in the head. I would try to conjure up a way to make veggie matter tasty for your carivorous friend.
If your oscar won't eat the plant matter you can do what I do. I gut-load all my live foods on algae wafers, frozen veggies, and spirulina. With just the one tank, you can get away with using a plastic bin from Wal-Mart to hold your feeders until you can fatten them up for a few days.
S&S hit the nail right on the head about vegetable protein being key to preventing HITH. I've read numerous articles that proclaim the same. Since I started gut-loading all my feeders (minnows, earthworms, blackworms, snails, and crickets) I haven't seen any sign of HITH in any of my high-risk species (lungfish, sunshine oscars, severums, etc)
S&S hit the nail right on the head about vegetable protein being key to preventing HITH. I've read numerous articles that proclaim the same. Since I started gut-loading all my feeders (minnows, earthworms, blackworms, snails, and crickets) I haven't seen any sign of HITH in any of my high-risk species (lungfish, sunshine oscars, severums, etc)
It is my belief that hole in the head is not a disease but a symptom of either an enviromental or dietary problem (or both). It is believed by many people (myself included) that a poor diet is most often the cause for the pitting you are seeing. A good quality diet including veggies is a step in the right direction. I don't mean go to the produce store and buy your fish a salad. Feed spirulina flake or pellets, ocean nutrition's formula two or others that are high in vegtable matter. A good cichlid flake or pellet, night crawlers, meal worms, etc... A little of everything. If you want to go a step further, soak all your food in fresh water vita-chem before feeding it to your fish. Another common problem that is hard if not impossible to dianose is that your fish might have a parasite called heximita. THis parasite lives in the fished digestive tract and competes with your fish for the nutrients in the food you feed them. THe parasite takes away some of the nutrition from the food your feeding and the fish looses it's health. Look for white stringy feces as a possible clue. If you suspect this as a possibility, soak the food in metrdiazonole (spelling?) found a better quality aquarium shops. THe juce squeezed out of garlic cloves is believed to help this as well, I use a garlic press to extract the juice. Feeder fish are a common source for heximeda, have you been feeding live feeders? What about water quality? You got alot of messy fish in your tank. Poor water will play a roll in this problem. If you have not allready, test your water and correct any problems you find. It is uncommon but not impossible in fresh water, but stray electricity can cause head and lateral line erosion too. A simple fix if suspected is a grounding probe made for aquariums. Again, a good aquarium shop will have these. YOur severum is also very suseptable to this problem, act fast to prevent it from developing systems. As for fixing the pits, if it is minor and the fish is young it will likly heal up when you fix what has caused it. If it is deep or if it is a full or near full grown fish, it may be perminate. It's kind-of like a scare. Hope this helps...Good luck....Joel
This happened to my uncle to his 10 inch FlowerHorn i treated it for him by using Furan-2 and Cupramine.
Furan-2
Effectively treats a wide variety of gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial diseases including: Furunculosis (aeromonas), dropsy, gill disease, fin and tail rot, black molly disease,Hole-In-Head. Active ingredients: Nitrofurazone, Furazolidone, and Methylene Blue Trihydrate. One capsule treats 10 gallons of marine or freshwater. Safe for use with scaleless fish.
Cupramine
This buffered active copper is safer than copper sulfate or chelates for eradicating ectoparasites with a 4X concentration gap between the minimal therapeutic dose and the toxic dose.Treats wide variety of diseaseincluding Hole-In-Head disease. Fully ionic and effective at low concentrations. Safe for filter bed and can easily be removed with chemical filtration. 100 ml treats over 500 gallons of marine or freshwater.
Good Luck treating him!!!!!!!!!!!
Furan-2
Effectively treats a wide variety of gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial diseases including: Furunculosis (aeromonas), dropsy, gill disease, fin and tail rot, black molly disease,Hole-In-Head. Active ingredients: Nitrofurazone, Furazolidone, and Methylene Blue Trihydrate. One capsule treats 10 gallons of marine or freshwater. Safe for use with scaleless fish.
Cupramine
This buffered active copper is safer than copper sulfate or chelates for eradicating ectoparasites with a 4X concentration gap between the minimal therapeutic dose and the toxic dose.Treats wide variety of diseaseincluding Hole-In-Head disease. Fully ionic and effective at low concentrations. Safe for filter bed and can easily be removed with chemical filtration. 100 ml treats over 500 gallons of marine or freshwater.
Good Luck treating him!!!!!!!!!!!
Large cichlids are prone to HITH, it is one reason I don't care for oscars, varied diet and clean water are a help and there are now products just for hith. Gut load crickets to get those veggies eaten, vary your brand of foods, expect it to heal slowly. If you use cupramine or other copper based meds remove all you inverts first.
jenBLKAROWANA said:Hole in the head is very common in Oscars. You need to remove the carbon from the filters, and treat with GENERAL CURE (aquarium pharmicutial product) as directed. Wait 48 hours, and repeat the doseage. Wait for another 48 hours, and then do a 25% water change. Add the carbon back to the filters to remover any remaining medication. This treatment may be repeated if necessary. Also, you may want to add in some salt to the tank. DR.WELLFISH AQUARIUM SALT (aquarium pharmicutial product) helps to reduce the stress on the fish. 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons, do not add it in all at once, soread it out over 2 days, and also "melt" the salt down in a large cup of warm water, this gets it circulating into the water faster.
Hope this helps!
Jen
P.S.
check out this link too....
http://www.aquariumpharm.com/disease/hlle.html
adding to what jen said
add vita-chem to you oscars diet, they have a new formula thats 10x more concentrated.
ther is this medication called CLOUT. i have had great luck treating my oscars with this over the years. But you must seperate the oscars and pacus, if you choose to use this medication. Pacus and pirahna cannot tolerate this medication for some reason.
