Need advice!!!!!!

[SwedishFish]

Ok my brother has cichlid (i dont know what kind sorry guys) and it was in 10g which hadnt received much attention due to him being busy all the time. He was alarmed to see his fish having red marking all over him. what is this? they look like wounds but i dont see how he could hurt himself that bad with no other fish around. I put this anti fungus thing in there so if its fungus its getting killed and if they are wounds they wont get infected. By the way they thought they had treatment for it so they took him to my house and put him into my healthier 10g and i am currently treating him! any advice?

[SwedishFish]

really anyone i dont know what do!!!to save this fish. please any help would be great. here is brief description this cichlid is yellow with balck fins with like a blue lining on them. he appears to have ulcerations how do those stop and heal?

[ChilDawg]

Didn't see this yesterday. Sorry, SwedishFish!

Okay, first you need to Google Hole in the Head Disease. I think that this is a form of it known as Head and Lateral Line Erosion (HLLE). If the diagnosis is correct, we can start giving you ideas for treatment...we need pix of the fish too, though, so we can tell if it was in the wrong water type.

[anonapersona]

Small, frequent water changes, using an appropriate dechlorinator, would probably be useful. If the tank has only ben topped off for a long time, the water parameters may be much different from the tap water, so do this in small changes maybe 10%, every day. Be sure to match temperatures too.

[SwedishFish]

it say head and lateral disease is for saltwater fish not freshwater. Im unable to get pix of it guys sorry but i willdo water changes and do my best to try and save it...... if all fails i guess i will have to put it out of its pain:( or let someone else try to take care of it. does anyone know if this is contagious?

[ChilDawg]

HLLE/HITH are not only saltwater problems. They hit most of the fish in the superfamily Labridae (Wrasses, Cichlids, Surfperches, etc.)...including cichlids. Please look at the symptoms and tell us if those seem to be similar. I am thinking that, if this was environmentally caused (I'd bet it is!) and if it is HLLE/HITH, the fish may still be salvageable. Many of the fish suffering from HLLE/HITH will not show symptoms once their water is cleaned.

[ChilDawg]

It may not be contagious if environmentally caused. If it is caused by a hexamita-like protozoan, it is very contagious. DO NOT USE the same nets in its tank as you do in your other fishes' tanks.

[SwedishFish]

uh-oh i have a banded gourami in the 10g with some cories too! i didnt think it was contagious. cause my brother said his tank had poor water conditions i think it was caused envioromenlty

[ChilDawg]

I don't know if those species are susceptible to HLLE/HITH, but I'd suggest removing them...especially in the case that the cichlid might decide to get all, y'know, cichlid-y.

[SwedishFish]

yeah but my 29g has really aggressive fish im afraid my prized Baned gourami named "Frodo" might get hurt! Cause i had a golden gourami that lived there a long time then was killed! i loved him but he died. Plus the cichlid is not in a cichlidy mood he is very unactive and is acting very weak.

[GoLdFiSh_GrL]

Cichlids normally r very active... well @ least the 1 my friend had was.

[ChilDawg]

That is not a blanket statement that you can apply to the entire Cichlid family...there are some rather inactive ones (Pike Cichlids and Nimbochromis spp.) that are ambush predators.

I'd guess that it was okay for now...I don't see any evidence that Gouramies get HLLE/HITH.

[SwedishFish]

yay thanks childawg you have been a big help :) and the cichlid is looking better the red that was on him is starting to fade. but he has like a pimple on his head?

[ChilDawg]

No prob, SwedishFish...I'll have to look about the pimple, but my gut instinct says "lymphocystis"...are you up to Googling that and telling me if that's what it is?

[SwedishFish]

i did some googling and it is not lymphocystis it is no where that severe. Im thinking it might be hole in head disease according to my book it says hole in head (HIH) looks like a pimple that burst eventually and keeps on bubbling away at its head until death! :(
I have no idea how to treat this does anyone know treatment medicines i can buy?

[OrionGirl]

Clean water conditions and a good, varied diet. HITH is one of those diseases that the exact cause is hard to define, because it is different for different fish. Some fish in a tank will never get it, while others get it in all tanks. Diet and water quality are definitely causitive though, so addressing those first is your best plan. The fish will take some time to fully heal, so as long as they are not getting worse, just keep up on the water and food.

[ChilDawg]

I didn't realize that the pimple was an HITH symptom, but it makes sense to me now...

OG hit it dead on, but nobody needed to point that out--she always does.

[SwedishFish]

thanks i am feeding them nutra fin max and i just did a 20 percent water change the cichlid seems to be doing better. i will keep everyone up to date ;)

[SwedishFish]

last night i examined the cichlid he seems to be more active infact very active during feeding. The bump on his head is going down and away and i think he is going to be ok :D

[ChilDawg]

Yay! I don't get a whole bunch of disease questions right, but it worked well! :):)

[SwedishFish]

i couldnt have done it without your help thanks man!