HITH---PLEASE HELP

[newcichlidlover]

Hello all,
I need major help for my 2 tiger oscars!!!!!!!!! On Saturday evening I noticed, what I believe to be HITH disease. They seemed to be eating and playing as normal, so I decided to wait until Sunday morning to get some med's. BAD IDEA :( , the disease/parasite seems to be getting worst. One of them seems to have it more than the other. He has a scale that seems to be falling off, and has either another scale or some white stuff growing by his other gill. Nothing is coming out of it, just there. The other has a few holes by the lateral line and the head, but that is it. But whats making me even more nervous is that last night i went to check on them and one was kinda lying close to the top--the lights were completely off until i turned them on---and when i tapped the glass he moved :) . In addition, when I feed them the didn't run up and grab the food as they normally do. Don't know if that is due to the disease/parasite or the sudden bright light.

So my question is------what is the best way to handle this situation, is it tooo late, or do I.....they have a chance? I don't have the bottle in front of me, but I am treating them with med's. The guy at the LFS said that the medicine would kill the parasite, but not heal the wounds. And of course that medicine they won't have in until Wednesday, i think it starts with a "M". I have added more aquarium salt to the tank, in addition to raising the temp to 80-82 degrees. If I need to do anything else please let me know. Also, if i forget to say it THANK YOU :D :D .

[newcichlidlover]

OOppps, I forgot to say that i took the filters with the carbon out of the tank. SRY

[Rudy]

metronidazole most likely.
HITH or other parasites is caused by one of two things. Feeders is a huge cause, and water quality is the other.

It sounds to me like you are having issues with water quality as both fish have a problem. What are your Ammonia, and Nitrite readings?
How long has your tank been running for. Is it cycled completely

The problem with oscars is that in a lot of cases unless you are very diligant with your water changes is that they create to much waste to control the water quality so they essentially poison themselves.

There is a product from Jungle I believe called Hole in the head control. A friend of mine had a real problem with this disease and had great success. You can cure it completely as long as it has not gone on for too long.

You are best off treating the fish in another tank though, as your biological filter will take a beating from the meds. Especially if you have to treat it with two medications. If you do decide to keep them in that tank to medicate them put in an airstone, and 1 tblsp of salt per 5 gallons to ease the stress of the meds.,

[newcichlidlover]

Rudy, you are the greatest :D . Don't get me wrong the other wonderful "fishologist" in this forum are great too.

I have been slaking up on my water changing duties. Hopefully that is the cause and this thing can be cleared up soon. I don't want to lose my babies.

I checked my "stats" the other day. Ammonia is 0, Nitrites is 0, PH is 7.8, and GH is 15. But that was right before I noticed the HITH (maybe Friday or Saturday).

The tank has been running about 2 1/2 months now.

Unfortunetly, I don't have an empty tank I can treat them in right now. I have been trying to set up a quarintine tank for about 4 weeks now, but never got around to it. Boy am I learning my lesson. I will go out today and get the airstone, and I already have the salt in there.

Once again, thanks Rudy, and if you can think of any more helpful advise, please let me know.
-Lisa

[Rudy]

No problem. Only other thing I would suggest is once you are done medicating, do a large water change, put some carbon in there to suck out the meds.

Then go down to the LFS store and trade them sponges in your filter for yours. You will need to build up your bacteria cultures to help prevent this from happening again.

One thing I find with some LFS is that they are quick to sell you a general cure first. This is usually not the best answer. You are always better off figuring out what the problem is before treating it.

Thats what us fish dorks are here for.

[blturner70]

HITH is caused by poor water conditions or a nutrient deficiency in diet. You forgot one important test, Nitrate. I keep nitrate in my tanks below 10ppm at all costs, however 20ppm or less is descent. To do that I have high filtration levels and weekly water changes. Your oscar got this from poor water conditions, medications are of no good in this case. Do a 50% water change immediately and keep doing them every 5 days but about 30%. This will help the problem, make sure you vary the diet and feed high quality pellets/food. No feeders, they are nutritionally worthless and spread disease. Also if you are using carbon in your filters it is recommended to use high quality carbon, no cheap crap. That can also possibly be a potential cause of HITH. Change your carbon every month, again old carbon may contribute to HITH. Gravel vac every water change, get all the crap out of your substrate. Try the above and you should see improvement or at least no furthur craters within the next 3-4 weeks.