hole in the head ..

K

knowy

AC Members
Mar 2, 2005
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:dance hey all, just a different question 4 ya,
i found me some american Eels that they sell for bait around here and the biggiest one had a horrable case of hole in the head diesses <sp>
it looked like a bite maybe but from experence i concluded it was hole in the head.
i treated him aggressivly with maracyn 2 for 2 weeks, because the LFS didnt have spaciffic <sp> medican for hole in the head. i also have in 80 degree water to help burn of the bacteria. it has cleared up very well and i thought might have finally gone away so i lowered the heat"wild EEls dont really care about heat" with the cooler water he became alot more active but i noticed he still had a dimple on his head , well within that same day his skin began to peel slightly > {bummer} so now the LFS still doesnt have the right medican to treat this reacurring diesse. i put more salt in the tank,raised the heat and decided i have to treat him again.. i asked them to order some treatment for me for hole in the head diesse and they said to my disbelief that they were back ordered and didnt know when / if they could even get it.. go figure, i have worked in many LFS and the main reason i quit them all was the obvious lack of care and respect for the animals they sell > dont get me started..
would anyone have any comments or cures for this aggressive strain of hole in the head,. i wish i could get tea tree oil and give that a go,.
please dont suggest i shldnt keep an american Eel for i certainly know what im getting myself into,. thanks....
knowy
 
Often HITH is caused in part by nutritonal requirements no being met--not certain that is the case here, though. I'd suspect possibly a parasite--the parasite damages tissues that become infected, so the antibiotic clears that up, but the parasite remains and causes the recurring appearance of the holes. I'm not sure if copper is safe for treatment with american eels, but may be worth a shot. I'd move him to another tank for treatment, and monitor the other fish in the main tank--if it is related to a parasite, it could spread. HITH is a tough one to treat, since there are multiple causes, and frequently will persist without constant treatment.
 
HITH is really incurable but is controllable. The HITH medications that are sold will kill hexamita, but Hexamita has been proven repeatedly to not be the cause of Hith. You can kill hex if it is there, but it still won't cure HITH. Whether or not you chose touse the meds, is up to you, but you shuld be aware that they won't cure it.
Here is one article that seems to be on track with my experiences.
http://www.aquasource.org/CMS/modul...ns&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=48&page=1
dave
 
ty for you great observations, im sure that the Eel is in need of vitamins and he will eat many things from local oysters to feeder fish and earthworms so i will look into ways of getting him the vitamins that in my opinion he is despertly in need of.
At 1st i had the feeling it was a bite from a larger Eel of the same species, im still leaning to that conclusion but i am sure that bateria has set in as well, i have him in a quaritine tank and i will start a 2nd treatment this weekend on him > hoping for the best ~! all the other Eels i have in the main tank are fine, no sign of stress or diesses.. thank you very much for your input and your quick response.. ill keep you informed on his progress..
knowy
 
Hexamita (Hole in the head)

Symptoms: What appear to be small holes in head, ulceration of lateral line.

Another name for this disease is "Hole-in-the-Head" disease. Even though this is a disease of the digestive tract, it often manifests itself as ulcerations in the head and/or lateral line. Discus and other large cichlids, especially Oscars, are especially prone to Hexamita. As it is a disease of the digestive tract, a wasting away or loss of appetite may be experienced.
An effective treatment is the drug metronidazole. A combined treatment in the food (1% in any food the fish will eat) and in the water (12 mg per liter) is recommended. Repeat the water treatment every other day for three treatments. Improvement in aquarium conditions has helped in the disease just going away with no treatment.
Click to expand...
from http://www.animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm#Hexamita
 
For many years, Hexamita was blamed for hole in the head, However when Hexamita is killed the ulcers remain. furthermore while amny hole in the head patients do have hexamita present it is not often in numbers that would cause the damage we see. so basically if Hexamita is in the tank, and HITH developes, Hex takes advantage of the open lesions, and can add to the troubles. It isn't the cause nor is the cure as easy as killing the parasite.
Because of mis-information like is quoted above, many people spend a lot of money on repeated medications to kill a parasite that was probably killed off during the first treatment. Eventually they either give up or kill their fish with medication. I have adopted several fish in my life that had HITH, and a clean tank and good nutrition will usually clear up all but the worst cases. Either way once you have HITH it will be there until the fish dies and requires some extra attention to prevent it from becoming a constant problem.

I personally believe thaat gold fish are the biggest contributing factor to this disease. But that is purely theory on my part, and i have no plans to put fish through testing of this theory. I can say that I have never had one of my Oscars develope HITH, I never feed goldies (I do feed guppies and other tropical fry) and I keep my tanks very clean. I have started using vitamins to some extent but have not done it religiously of late. The primary Key (I think) is in feeding proper food. Prepared foods such as cichlid pellets, spirulina sticks etc. will accomplish this easily. I then supplement with snails live shrimp and guppies so my fish can hunt. If I eliminate anything from their diet it would in fact be the live foods not the pellets. and when I have a fish that decides he won't eat pellets, I retrain him very quickly by withholding everything else.
Dave
 
great post daveedka and i agree w/much respect,
but my delima is this Eel was baseicly <sp> bait, sold as bait , and by trying to keep him alive i gave him anything he wld eat, at 1st i tried shrimp pellets, too no avail.. so i turned to oysters left over from a roast we had .. he wldnt touch them either, finally i broke down and gave him feeders and he ate..he has only had about a dozen.. that was good enough for me at the time. im sure the feeders didnt have the impact on him to cause HITH because when i bought him he already had this major wound that was a huge circle on the top of his head. i still think it was a bite or miscare due to being for all purposes bait.
maracyn II did the trick for a-while, cleared right up but as soon as i lowered the heat in the tank i saw pealing skin = bacteria.. i decided as well that feeder wldnt be the best for him and finally got him to eat the oysters and papared cooked shrimp . so all in all i have him eating..
thank you all for the advice , just another project to learn another part of this hobby life i luv so much..
knowy
" now if i learn to spell i wld really be doing something " ;)
 
Don't mis contrue my ramblings as an accusation of any sort, I was just expounding on my thoughts and responding to the hexamita info that keeps getting quoted. If you eel does have hith, and not just an injury with complications, it most likely started months ago, and probably has something to do with the way most bait is housed. Being a fisherman myself I often marvel at the fact that live bait ever makes it to the lake at all.
Good luck with your eels either way.
Dave
 
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