Is this HITH?
- Thread starter Alexandrian
- Start date
It could be, but the image is hard to see clearly. I don't know if it is from the flash, but the area is blurry. Is it possible to take a picture of him without flash, with natural light. I'm sure it's difficult to get him to be still for a shot, but if you could try again it would be helpful.
In the meantime, could you post tank size, age of tank, other occupants, tank parameters: ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, ph, temp. Type of testing equipment: strips or liquid test kit. Water change schedule. Feeding schedule and type of food.
These are some of the things that will help the experienced fishkeepers, (not me so much), in their attempt to help with this.
To me it looks like it could be, but from the pic it also looks like it could be slightly fuzzy, as in columnaris, a bacterial infection.
Someone with more experience in HITH will come along, I'm sure. In the meantime, if you could provide the answers to the above questions I think it will be helpful.
In the meantime, could you post tank size, age of tank, other occupants, tank parameters: ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, ph, temp. Type of testing equipment: strips or liquid test kit. Water change schedule. Feeding schedule and type of food.
These are some of the things that will help the experienced fishkeepers, (not me so much), in their attempt to help with this.
To me it looks like it could be, but from the pic it also looks like it could be slightly fuzzy, as in columnaris, a bacterial infection.
Someone with more experience in HITH will come along, I'm sure. In the meantime, if you could provide the answers to the above questions I think it will be helpful.
Right now you need to ensure the water is as clean as possible. Like Melody asked, the information is very much needed in order to help. Better pictures are a plus. To get good pictures of mine, I act like I am going to give it food, and they always hold still enough to try to see it. Flash off works much better.
Thanks Melody Doucet for yopur respond
I was out of town yesterday so i couldn't publish better photos< I will do later today
Tank size: 160 L it was up and running for 3 months - cycling period not included
Ammonia lever: 0- Based on liquid kit
i don't have the nitrites, nitrates kit
ph is : 6,5 and temp= 81 F
the tank housing another 2 Oscars , 1 Pelco, 2 apple snails
I do 25% water change every 3 days
Food:
i am using a home made mix: Basa fish meat, Freshwater crayfish, Squid meat, Vegetables = 5 times per week
other meals : Basa meat and small shrimp
I feed them 2 times daily
this is the tank
I was out of town yesterday so i couldn't publish better photos< I will do later today
Tank size: 160 L it was up and running for 3 months - cycling period not included
Ammonia lever: 0- Based on liquid kit
i don't have the nitrites, nitrates kit
ph is : 6,5 and temp= 81 F
the tank housing another 2 Oscars , 1 Pelco, 2 apple snails
I do 25% water change every 3 days
Food:
i am using a home made mix: Basa fish meat, Freshwater crayfish, Squid meat, Vegetables = 5 times per week
other meals : Basa meat and small shrimp
I feed them 2 times daily
this is the tank
Thanks for the info and the tank shot.
It is still difficult to see clearly the area on the Oscar. I am going to attach some pictures, first of fungus, and then columnaris so you can compare these to your fish's trouble spot.
This is fungus
This is columnaris
Thanks for providing the information I requested.
It sounds like you are working hard to try to provide a good schedule of water change and feeding for your fish. Your food choices sound good, too.
One thing you do need to do is test for nitrites and for nitrates. 0 ammonia is good, but nitrites need to be 0 and nitrates at 20ppm or less.
Liquid test kit for those parameters is needed, as well.
Your tank size at 160 liters is a little more than 42 gallons, which is a bit of a problem. I'm not an Oscar expert, but I have read many, many posts by Oscar experts, and the consensus is that Oscars need really big tanks.
It seems that technically, based on bioload alone, 50 gallons is the minimum per Oscar, but that does not take into consideration tank dimensions. A standard 55 gallon long tank is not even adequate, because the fish will grow and not be able to turn his body around due to the narrow depth from front to back.
The consensus seems to be that an Oscar really needs a very large tank.
This link has a discussion about tank size by members who are Oscar keepers.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163778&highlight=Oscar&page=8
You have three Oscars and a pleco, if a common pleco they get quite large, too, and need a huge tank as well.
Water quality may be an issue with the problem your fish is having. I would isolate him in a quarantine tank, if you can, to protect the others in the tank.
Whatever is on your fish's head certainly may be helped by having pristine water conditions first and foremost, and I would start there until someone with better skills at diagnosing comes along that can suggest other treatment options. I've dealt with bacterial infections, and that may be what you have, but it could be HITH.
Until you can reduce the number of fish in that tank, and/or get them a huge tank, I would take extreme measures to help insure their health.
I would reduce the temperature of your tank in case this is columnaris. Columnaris likes warm temperatures and cooler may help to impede it, somewhat, if this is bacterial. I've read that the comfort range for Oscars is 74 to 81 degrees F, so I'd go to the lowest comfortable temperature for him. (I don't know the celcius conversion off the top of my head but you can look it up),
I would increase your water change to at least 50% every two to three days, and I would over filter the tank. I forgot to ask what size and what kind of filtration you have, but I would filter that tank as if it were a 300 gallon, to help reduce the effects of the bioload you have.
The appropriateness of the number and size of fish in a tank is more than just a visual matter. In other words, your fish are still fairly small and to the fishkeeper the tank may not look overcrowded and the fish may not look to big for the tank, yet, but there's more to it than that.
Fish produce some kind of biochemical messenger based on tank size and other occupants that give them a sort of feed back, as it were, about the tank size and crowding.
They begin to be affected by this feedback and this causes them to become stunted in their growth long before it is apparent to the fishkeeper, and this can contribute to other health problems, as well.
I would try to rehome some of the fish if you are not able to get much larger tanks for them.
I'm not meaning to be critical, I'm just trying to help
and I'm merely repeating what I've learned from the fishkeeping experts here on AC.
Quarantining the sick fish is very important, not just to prevent infection of the others, but, also, a fish that is sick or has a lesion or trauma to the body is likely to be a victim of aggression by the others in the tank.
I hope these suggestions will be helpful, until someone that is more knowledgeable than me comes along and can provide more help.
If you could try to get a good sharp closeup of the fish's head and lesion, it would be helpful.
As someone suggested, try getting a picture while feeding him. You could hold a tasty bit of food over the tank near him while someone else takes his picture. Maybe we can get a better look at the problem area.
It is still difficult to see clearly the area on the Oscar. I am going to attach some pictures, first of fungus, and then columnaris so you can compare these to your fish's trouble spot.
This is fungus
This is columnaris
Thanks for providing the information I requested.
It sounds like you are working hard to try to provide a good schedule of water change and feeding for your fish. Your food choices sound good, too.
One thing you do need to do is test for nitrites and for nitrates. 0 ammonia is good, but nitrites need to be 0 and nitrates at 20ppm or less.
Liquid test kit for those parameters is needed, as well.
Your tank size at 160 liters is a little more than 42 gallons, which is a bit of a problem. I'm not an Oscar expert, but I have read many, many posts by Oscar experts, and the consensus is that Oscars need really big tanks.
It seems that technically, based on bioload alone, 50 gallons is the minimum per Oscar, but that does not take into consideration tank dimensions. A standard 55 gallon long tank is not even adequate, because the fish will grow and not be able to turn his body around due to the narrow depth from front to back.
The consensus seems to be that an Oscar really needs a very large tank.
This link has a discussion about tank size by members who are Oscar keepers.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163778&highlight=Oscar&page=8
You have three Oscars and a pleco, if a common pleco they get quite large, too, and need a huge tank as well.
Water quality may be an issue with the problem your fish is having. I would isolate him in a quarantine tank, if you can, to protect the others in the tank.
Whatever is on your fish's head certainly may be helped by having pristine water conditions first and foremost, and I would start there until someone with better skills at diagnosing comes along that can suggest other treatment options. I've dealt with bacterial infections, and that may be what you have, but it could be HITH.
Until you can reduce the number of fish in that tank, and/or get them a huge tank, I would take extreme measures to help insure their health.
I would reduce the temperature of your tank in case this is columnaris. Columnaris likes warm temperatures and cooler may help to impede it, somewhat, if this is bacterial. I've read that the comfort range for Oscars is 74 to 81 degrees F, so I'd go to the lowest comfortable temperature for him. (I don't know the celcius conversion off the top of my head but you can look it up),
I would increase your water change to at least 50% every two to three days, and I would over filter the tank. I forgot to ask what size and what kind of filtration you have, but I would filter that tank as if it were a 300 gallon, to help reduce the effects of the bioload you have.
The appropriateness of the number and size of fish in a tank is more than just a visual matter. In other words, your fish are still fairly small and to the fishkeeper the tank may not look overcrowded and the fish may not look to big for the tank, yet, but there's more to it than that.
Fish produce some kind of biochemical messenger based on tank size and other occupants that give them a sort of feed back, as it were, about the tank size and crowding.
They begin to be affected by this feedback and this causes them to become stunted in their growth long before it is apparent to the fishkeeper, and this can contribute to other health problems, as well.
I would try to rehome some of the fish if you are not able to get much larger tanks for them.
I'm not meaning to be critical, I'm just trying to help
and I'm merely repeating what I've learned from the fishkeeping experts here on AC.Quarantining the sick fish is very important, not just to prevent infection of the others, but, also, a fish that is sick or has a lesion or trauma to the body is likely to be a victim of aggression by the others in the tank.
I hope these suggestions will be helpful, until someone that is more knowledgeable than me comes along and can provide more help.
If you could try to get a good sharp closeup of the fish's head and lesion, it would be helpful.
As someone suggested, try getting a picture while feeding him. You could hold a tasty bit of food over the tank near him while someone else takes his picture. Maybe we can get a better look at the problem area.
Thanks excuzzzeme and Lexi_D for your respond
It came to nothing, I believe i was so worried for nothing, It is healing fast, Just a bad injury he got in one of the conflicts against the other Oscars
As usual it is healing very fast as usual with those fighting lovers
Stupid fish really scared me
It came to nothing, I believe i was so worried for nothing, It is healing fast, Just a bad injury he got in one of the conflicts against the other Oscars
As usual it is healing very fast as usual with those fighting lovers
Stupid fish really scared me
Dear Melody
Your respond meant a lot to me
thanks for giving such attention to my thread
It's really encouraging that you think i do my best to make my Oscars happy
They will be moved to a 250 L tank later this month, In fact i don't like the Pelco specially when its growing rate starts to freek me off, But somebody told me once that Pelcos works as a living water quality test so when ever something wrong with the water quality the Pelco will show the first siegns long befor the Other fish, It is the same raison i am keeping the Apple snails for< To give me a fast feed back about the water quality
As i said above it came to nothing it was only a bad injury and it is healing fast as expected
thanks for your respond and detaild replay:thm:
Your respond meant a lot to me
thanks for giving such attention to my thread
It's really encouraging that you think i do my best to make my Oscars happy
They will be moved to a 250 L tank later this month, In fact i don't like the Pelco specially when its growing rate starts to freek me off, But somebody told me once that Pelcos works as a living water quality test so when ever something wrong with the water quality the Pelco will show the first siegns long befor the Other fish, It is the same raison i am keeping the Apple snails for< To give me a fast feed back about the water quality
As i said above it came to nothing it was only a bad injury and it is healing fast as expected
thanks for your respond and detaild replay:thm:
BettaFishMommy
finkids make me happy :-)
if you are adding to the bioload of the tank simply to have creatures that tell you when your water quality is going downhill IMO that is a bad idea. it is up to the keeper to monitor the health of a tank, not the creatures in the tank.
as for the snails, your oscars will soon, if not already, try to eat the snails. whatever fits in an oscar's mouth usually ends up in there. i would move the snails to a tank of their own or to a more community friendly tank.
i'm not trying to be mean, just wanting to ensure your fish and inverts are getting the best environment possible.
even though the oscar is not ill and only has an injury, i would still increase your water change schedule. cleaner water aids in faster healing, and you don't want any infection to set in. and with your stocking so high i would be doing a lot more water changing than you are anyway. 50% every couple days minimum, IMO.
good to hear a larger tank is in the near future!
as for the snails, your oscars will soon, if not already, try to eat the snails. whatever fits in an oscar's mouth usually ends up in there. i would move the snails to a tank of their own or to a more community friendly tank.
i'm not trying to be mean, just wanting to ensure your fish and inverts are getting the best environment possible.
even though the oscar is not ill and only has an injury, i would still increase your water change schedule. cleaner water aids in faster healing, and you don't want any infection to set in. and with your stocking so high i would be doing a lot more water changing than you are anyway. 50% every couple days minimum, IMO.
good to hear a larger tank is in the near future!
Ummmm maybe some of the more sensitive pleco's would tell you if something is wrong but most so called "common" pleco's are pretty hardy fish. I once had several pleco's in my 20H with no filter and rare water changes (carryin for my grandpa while on his death bed came first I worked after work went to help care for my grandpa I was rarely home) and most managed to survive. Oh and pleco's are poop machines so I wouldnt keep them just to indicate bad water quality. Just my $0.02.
Glad your Oscars are getting a bigger home. They are fun to watch.
Glad your Oscars are getting a bigger home. They are fun to watch.