What is wrong with my Oscar!?

[Demi]

About a week ago, I noticed a pit in Aussy’s head &was told it was the beginning of HITH/HLLE disease.

About 2 days ago, I also noticed 1 of his eyes had a white’ish haze in part of it. The next day it looked worse &today he actually has a small lump growing out of the white haze.

I know why he’s developed HITH/HLLE – over Christmas I lacked in WC’s (He usually had 50% WC a week, but over that period I was REAALLY slack) &so I am thinking it’s due to not only the water quality from missing WC’s around that time, but also the small tank size.

I’ve been told to do even more frequent WC’s &make sure his diet is as good as possible. I don’t know whether it’s getting better or not. But for the past week I’ve been doing 3 50% WC’s a week (&plan on continuing it) &he has just had his usually diet (Hikari Cichlid Gold pellets +earthworms &vegies) but I plan on changing it to Hikari BioGold as soon as possible.



But this eye thing has me stumped. Should I be adding salt or something? Antibiotics/medication?
What could it be? WHAT SHOULD I DO?!


Freaking out right now. It’s obvious its getting worse...

Here are some photos of his eye;
1st two photo’s taken with flash. 1st one shows the lump (&his HITH dent/pit/hole)
3rd photo is just one without flash.

Sorry for the babbling, pretty freaked out !

 

[CLDarnell]

Hi Demi!

Have you actually tested your water? Are you adding Prime (or other similar conditioner) when you add new water in your tank?

 

[komodo182]

I am not an oscar keeper myself, but I know of a few questions others will want answered like what is the tank size and what is the water quality like before the water changes?

Mainly

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:

What is your filtration:
Size of tank:

 

[Lupin]

Don't change the diet. Add the new one and vary everything. We can rule out nutrition as the culprit.

Tom (komodo) has valid questions. Could you please answer them?

Is the tank also barebottom? If not, how deep is the substrate?
How often do you vacuum?

No meds at this point. Let's try the natural method of using salt. Get rock, pickling or aquarium salt. Any sodium chloride is fine as long as it does NOT include yellow prussiate of soda with it. The salt should keep possible infection at bay and aid in healing process of the eye. Keep water well aerated as salt can reduce oxygen level.

to MFK!

 

[Demi]

Oh god, this is going to sound bad, but... I don't own a testkit! Our LFS is only 5mins away &we take water samples there like once a month to get it tested, my dad has seen no sense in me buying one with the LFS so close. When I found out about the HITH/HLLE, I planned straight away to get water tested but I live in QLD &it's been flooding mania around here lately!

We rang a few days ago &they should be open either tomorrow or thursday, so I'll be getting water tested then as well as getting a testkit ASAP.

pH is always at 7 &everytime our water has been tested it's always come back fine (Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0 &Nitrates always under 30ppm) But that was when I had been very rigid with the WC scedual - I must of full on messed that up over christmas

Uum, it's 160L (I know, I know, WAY too small)
Filter is a AquaFX SPR-1100 (1100L/hr) +a small filter I have in there at the moment (400L/hr)
Yes, Prime is always added at WC's.
The substrate is about an inch or so deep, whenever I do a WC I make sure to stir the gravel up to get out any of the debris.

 

[Lupin]

It would be better if you get your own kit. API liquid test kit is best. I'd avoid test strips if I were you. The kit can last you several months so it's a worthy investment.

 

[Demi]

LFS was shut yesterday still D:
Buuut, I did get some aquarium salt &did another 50%WC.
I added 1tbsp/10gallons, so I added about 5 tablespoons.
Asked the lady at the pet shop where we got the salt from about it &she said it sounded like something called cloudy eye, so I am going to look that up now.

 

[Lupin]

Trouble is the cyst is involved so adding salt is a good step taken.

 

[Demi]

I think Aussy is getting better!
The lump on his eye has disappeared &the cloudiness has receded a fair bit his HITH doesn't seem to be looking any worse or anything either

 

[Red Devil]

His HITH will continue to grow ...if you do not use HITH medicine..but only use if you are positive that it is HITH.. they have sesory holes on their head..if you see anything getting bigger near the holes or some sinking skin.. you must wipe it out in the very beginning stages or it continues to get worse.. glad to hear if he does have it that it has not advanced yet... keep water as pristine as possible.. always do your water changes... and try to feed a varied diet adding veggies too.. the less stress also the better.. so if anything appears to be stressing him you will need to change the environment... and do not feel like this is your fault.. HITH is a very common problem with cichlids but especially oscars... sometimes they have it right from the lfs but it does not come out until something stresses him... once they have it it is very tough to get rid of ... but thats why you should act fast when you see it rear its ugly head..and i agree to use salt too... it is soothing to wounds or injurys and relieves stress... and helps prevent infections...the cloudy eye can be also due to injury,, it can even happen from a net when he was being moved... good luck