Albino Oscars with beginning Hole In Head disease

[CWO4GUNNER]

I noticed about 2 weeks ago that both of my 6" albino Oscars were forming red marks on their heads, I thought from striking the tank lid from the occasional jump at feeding time. A week later the marks turned to what looked like scales missing right on top of the head. Then I noticed they stopped feeding even after a water change with great water parameters. So Having had good luck with pond tablets and UV I first took my UV sterilizer off its 12 hour timer and turned it up to 24 hours continuous running. Then I dropped in just 1 (good for 50 Gal) Pond Fizz-Tab Parasite Treatment which among other things kills Flagellates Hexamita and spironucleus which are associated with hole-in-the-head disease. Just like the directions said the redness and holes were almost gone in 72 hours and my Oscars are back begging for food. This is the 3rd time in 2 years I have used these large pond Fizz-tabs in both parasite and fungus treatment and not only are they a bargain at $12-$15 per 1000 gallons of treatment but they work better then any small package treatment I have used in QT tanks without all the QT fuss. It also never hurt my plants. Sick fish seem to know its treatment and mouth the big fizzing tablets and stay close where it is dissolving. Because the whole tank is treated secondary infections are rare. I think my Oscars were infected by my python hose shared with my Koi tanks are carriers of some of these pathogens but are immune showing no symptoms. No more sharing hoses between tanks on water change day unless very hot tap water is run through first.
http://www.junglepond.com/details.asp?item=PT504

 

[Ratlova30]

Congrats I'm glad their doing better and thanks for tips about the tabs.

 

[CornBreadjiffy]

please send me the full name of the tabs in a private message or email please for my future reference thanks and great to hear everything is going so good for you again

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

I did post the product info and manufacturer in a link above. As per the product optional treatment instructions I dosed twice with 48 hours and a 25% water change between tabs even though I saw great improvement in the first 24 hours. I also added 5 gallons of RO to the water change mix to lower TDS back below 1000 PPM. Amazing how easy it is to see the onset of HITH and its rapid disappearance with this treatment on light colored albino Oscars, don't think I would have noticed as soon with dark Oscars.

Both Albino Oscars and most importantly the largest of the 2 which was more affected and would not eat or swim right, are now eagerly accepting food and almost all traces of the disease are gone on the head. To me thats pretty amazing especially since all I did was treat the whole tank with 2 tabs, so easy, convenient, and thorough.

 

[platytudes]

Great tips as always, Gunner! Very clever of you to discover these. A bargain is absolutely right I paid a lot more for my small package of API General Cure. Unfortunately this was all they had at my store, and I panicked when I first saw pinholes in my cichlids and ran out and got whatever I could.

There is more information on these tabs below, for anyone who is interested:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Fizz Tabs Parasite Treatment [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Pond Fizz Tabs Parasite Treatment with praziquantel removes external and internal parasites from fish including flukes, internal worms, lice, anchor worms and flagellates such as hexamita or spironucleus associated with hole-in-the-head disease. Special ingredients have been added to protect fish from secondary infections. And, with the added benefits of allantoin, fish experience the soothing effects of this natural protectant as it helps heal.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]• Boosted with Praziquantel and Allantoin
• Clears Internal and External Parasites Fast
• Helps Prevent Secondary Infections[/FONT]​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Details: Remove carbon from filter during use. Add one tablet for each 50 U.S. gallons (189 L) of pond water. For internal parasites, repeat treatment two more times, waiting 48 hours between doses. For external parasites, repeat treatment up to three times, once a week. Make a 25% water change before each dose. Active ingredients: metronidazole, praziquantel, trichlorfon, diflubenzuron.[/FONT]

 

[platytudes]

Incidentally, a nutritional imbalance (particularly a Vitamin C deficiency) is also considered to play a part in HLLE/HITH. Maybe you could try feeding them some broccoli crumbles? Most of my fish love these. Kale is very high in Vitamin C, but not too many of my fish will eat this.

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

They make other FIZZ tabs as well for other aliments like fungus and have an assortment of water and fish treatments in Fizz tabs like CO2 Fizz tabs for plant groth. They even have a new Fizz tab that uses the powerful ingredient "potassium permanganate" used by professionals when all other medications fail to save fish from any fungi, bacteria, parasites or protozoans. "potassium permanganate" is very potent and should be used as a last resort for such diseases like rare fish plague. All of these different Pond Fizz products by Jungle can be found on ebay for great prices.
"With the power of potassium permanganate, Pond Fizz Tabs Oxy Clear tablets clear cloudy water of organics and are effective against many external fish infections caused by fungi, bacteria and parasites to include protozoans and flukes."