How to heal/treat/prevent Hole In the Head

[ScottyNorq]

I think one of my Oscars has Hole In the Head. What should I do?

[Artemis JT]

Water changes, water changes, water changes...

Whats your water params?

GL,
Art

[ScottyNorq]

I have started doing more water changes. I guess I should just do 50% every two days. Everything is zero but nitrates usually jump past 40ppm after a few days.

[rich311k]

I would up the water changes, you may want to back off on feeding some too.

[chicken2]

I have started doing more water changes. I guess I should just do 50% every two days. Everything is zero but nitrates usually jump past 40ppm after a few days.

Nitrates really should be under 20ppm. You may want to try doing a daily water change to keep the nitrates down.

I would avoid any medication at the moment, and if you have any charcoal I would remove it from the tank. (I know there has been some debate over this, but I personally would take it out).

Clean, pristine water conditions seem to be the main solution to HITH, not wishing to offend anyone on this site as AC is an excellent forum, but take a look at www.oscarfish.com (I'm not a member on that site, but they have some excellent articles on HITH)

Good luck and hope your O recovers quickly.

[PopPopsfish]

Daily water changes of at least 30%, medications like metro work to help aid the healing process.

[Artemis JT]

Whats your oscars diet?

[Slappy*McFish]

Yup...what do you feed him?
They need a good quality food. Nutritional deficiencies can cause HITH, as well.
If you feed him mostly feeder fish, I would suspect that.
I feed my Cichlids freeze dried krill, crickets and Cichlid pellets. Occasionally, I'll give them raw fish, but I don't use feeders anymore.

Keep on top of the water changes as everyone else has suggested.

[Star_Rider]

current thoughts re HITH/HLLE

HITH has been associated with Flagellated Protozoa.. while HLLE seems to occur without the protozoa.
both are linked to deficiencies in diet. in the case of protozoa it is believed they interfere with nutrient uptake by the host.
HLLE seems to be directly related to diet deficiencies.

my experience with HITH is that is affects some fish more than others.. I personally believe some fish are more resistant while others more susceptible.
call it genetics otr what ever.
in any event clean water helps with the wound and helps the fish sustatin it's immune capacity. good diet will help also.

metro used with HITH seems to get rid of the parasitic protozoa.

the SX seem to be different..HITH literally small pits..HLLE seems to erode laterally .

[excuzzzeme]

For my Oscar, I perform a 30% WC 2X a week. I also try to supplement his diet with occasional foods such as night crawlers or garden worms. I do not add "feeders" unless I have raised them myself and those are limited to guppy fry or pond snails.

[ScottyNorq]

I feed him Hikari Gold pellots. I use to use BioGold Hikari but i picked up the wrong bag last time. Thats all I feed him

[Rbishop]

Water changes, and a varied diet works well for me. You have 2 oscars in a 72 bowfront? I would be doing at least 2 50% changes a week with controlled feeding. What kind of filtration are you running?