my oscars been lying on the substrate for 2 weeks now. hes barly eaten exept for some crayfish pellets and mealworms. theres a blue clawed crayfish in the tank as well but theyve never fought. the cray sticks to his little cave the tank is a 4ft 55g and both the inhabitants are about 6inches long. i did a 100% water change and cleaned half the gravel a week ago. before he did this his diet was made up of ox hart, peas mealworms and tetra cichlid pelets. he also stole the crayfish pelets. i suspect he has hith because he has small holes in his head that look like skin pores. he also has indents on his head i will try to post a pic. please help!!!!!!!!1
HELP!!!!!!!!! oscars in trouble!
- Thread starter fishman13
- Start date
Did you say you had one oscar? or two?
100% water change isn't a great idea, since the water qualities are probably different.
He probably does have HITH. The treatment for it is the medication Metronidazole (Flagyl).
I don't know much about this medication, but I know that it cures HITH.
100% water change isn't a great idea, since the water qualities are probably different.
He probably does have HITH. The treatment for it is the medication Metronidazole (Flagyl).
I don't know much about this medication, but I know that it cures HITH.
nothing cures HITH despite the claims. Furthermore, minor hith legions typically do no cause a fish to show heavy outward symptoms of a problem.
Dave
I second that - "nothing cures HITH". I've kept Oscars before and they all had it. It would come and go. Sometimes the sores would be about the size of a pin head, and other times the size of a dime. Then, mysteriously, it would go away for as long as 6 months. It has been stated that one "cause" for HITH and lateral line disease is poor water quality. Best you can do is keep good water quality to try to avoid it. As far as him laying on the bottom, Oscars do this when stressed. I've had Oscars get stressed because I moved my bedroom furnature around!! Just make sure the water is good - no more 100% changes - and remove any stressors, and he should turn around.
Sorry for the short response earlier, I was pressed for time.
For many years a lot of people blamed Hexamita for HITH. Hex is a parasite, and a very opportunistic one. it will quickly attach to open sores on fish, and HITH is the perfect environment. Metronidazol kills Hexamita, and many other parisites very effectively, and is IMO a very good med when used within it's capabilities. However some cases of hith show no evidence of Hex, and most do not show hex in numbers capable of doing the damage found on the fish. When Hex is killed, Hith remains. It is generally treatable, and doesn't have to be a huge problem, but it will remain no matter what is done, and as mentioned above it will show up and recede based on several factors.
The two primary theories are water cleanliness as mentioned, and nutrition. These two factor go hand in hand very well and that makes it hard to seperate them. This article will give some insight on Hith and ways to treat and controll it. I am not totally sold on vitamin supplements, but do use them somewhat with my big cichlids. My personal feeling, is that Goldfish are the biggest contributor. I've never fed Goldfish to my oscars or anything else for that matter. I use feeders as treats, and never use any fish but guppies or the occasional rosy red. I keep my live offerings very limited, mix multiple foods, and kepp my tanks extremely clean. I have never had a case of HITH develope in any fish I bought young and raised. All of my experience with Hith has been with adopted fish. Most of which Came from nasty situations.
Now most importantly, The lethargy you describe is seldom seen with Hith except in severe cases. I would look at other issues. What are your water parrameters, how much maintenance, what kind and how much filtration. Does your tank match you tap in parrameters. As said a 100% water change can be a bad idea if your tank and your tap are not matched. the easiest way to keep them matched is through frequent water changes and cleaning. but either way testing is needed. We might be able to help more if we know more about the tank. Oscars generally aren't hard to keep aside from the need for good maintenance. and of course Pics will help a bunch.
dave
For many years a lot of people blamed Hexamita for HITH. Hex is a parasite, and a very opportunistic one. it will quickly attach to open sores on fish, and HITH is the perfect environment. Metronidazol kills Hexamita, and many other parisites very effectively, and is IMO a very good med when used within it's capabilities. However some cases of hith show no evidence of Hex, and most do not show hex in numbers capable of doing the damage found on the fish. When Hex is killed, Hith remains. It is generally treatable, and doesn't have to be a huge problem, but it will remain no matter what is done, and as mentioned above it will show up and recede based on several factors.
The two primary theories are water cleanliness as mentioned, and nutrition. These two factor go hand in hand very well and that makes it hard to seperate them. This article will give some insight on Hith and ways to treat and controll it. I am not totally sold on vitamin supplements, but do use them somewhat with my big cichlids. My personal feeling, is that Goldfish are the biggest contributor. I've never fed Goldfish to my oscars or anything else for that matter. I use feeders as treats, and never use any fish but guppies or the occasional rosy red. I keep my live offerings very limited, mix multiple foods, and kepp my tanks extremely clean. I have never had a case of HITH develope in any fish I bought young and raised. All of my experience with Hith has been with adopted fish. Most of which Came from nasty situations.
Now most importantly, The lethargy you describe is seldom seen with Hith except in severe cases. I would look at other issues. What are your water parrameters, how much maintenance, what kind and how much filtration. Does your tank match you tap in parrameters. As said a 100% water change can be a bad idea if your tank and your tap are not matched. the easiest way to keep them matched is through frequent water changes and cleaning. but either way testing is needed. We might be able to help more if we know more about the tank. Oscars generally aren't hard to keep aside from the need for good maintenance. and of course Pics will help a bunch.
dave
guess it would help if i actually attached the link.
http://www.aquasource.org/CMS/modul...ns&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=48&page=1
http://www.aquasource.org/CMS/modul...ns&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=48&page=1
PH isn't very important really, what are your nitrate numbers, and what is your maintenance schedule. The only question your PH numbers bring to mind is why are they different? If you just did a 100% water change they should be very close to the same.
As far as vitamins, I think the link covers that. I use liquid Centrum from the drug store.
Dave
As far as vitamins, I think the link covers that. I use liquid Centrum from the drug store.
Dave
JosephMCorbett said:
I second that my oscar is not a big fan of change outside the tank, lately he has also taken a serious disliking to most every decoration displaying agression towards the rocks then sulking until they are removed.
I have had to remove just about all the rocks and only a matter of time before the tank will be completely bare .
greenpuffer said:
I pretty much had to do that, almost all of my decorations had to be removed. When i rearranged the room that his tank is in(didn't move the tank), it took him a few days to readjust....he's really picky about his area....