Help! Oscar with HITH.

[Oscartheoscar]

I have a 1+ year old Oscar and I’ve always taken good care of him and his tank with water changes weekly if not twice a week. Recently I noticed some pitting going on on the top of his head and around his nose as seen in the pictures. Over the past two weeks I have changed his diet to include healthier items such as frozen krill and beef heart, done massive water changes, added a little aquarium salt, kept all lights off to avoid stress, if any and medicated with API general cure. I have seen no improvement, if not a worsening in his condition and I’m not sure what to do. He’s currently around 8” long, in a 55G and running on a marineland c-220 with the carbon removed (for medication and also because I read that some people say that it can cause HITH)

 

[tlindsey]

I have a 1+ year old Oscar and I’ve always taken good care of him and his tank with water changes weekly if not twice a week. Recently I noticed some pitting going on on the top of his head and around his nose as seen in the pictures. Over the past two weeks I have changed his diet to include healthier items such as frozen krill and beef heart, done massive water changes, added a little aquarium salt, kept all lights off to avoid stress, if any and medicated with API general cure. I have seen no improvement, if not a worsening in his condition and I’m not sure what to do. He’s currently around 8” long, in a 55G and running on a marineland c-220 with the carbon removed (for medication and also because I read that some people say that it can cause HITH)
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Welcome aboard
Can you list your water parameters?

 

[Oscartheoscar]

Thanks!
Nitrates Both 0
PH 6.8-7.0
Carbon hardness 80 ppm
General hardness 120-180 ppm

 

[kno4te]

Make sure the water is clean. Remove any and all carbon. Add salt 1 tsp per gallon. Keep nitrates less than 20ppm. Treat with metronidazole and can use methylene blue on a qtip on the affected areas.

Change to a brand pellet like nls cichlid pellet. Can soak with vitamins prior to feeding the Oscar.

 

[kno4te]

Welcome aboard
Can you list your water parameters?

+1. Get those numbers.

 

[duanes]

What size tank, and how much water is changed when doing a water change?
And just a comment on healthier diet.
Beef heart has over the last few years (all mammalian or avian meat for that matter) has more or less been considered "unhealthy" for fish.
That type meat contains fats that are indigestible for most fish species, and the fats tend to quickly foul water.

 

[justarn]

If your in the UK use waterlife octozin.
Clean the gravel and filter media in tank water.
It's usually dirty water/sunstrate/media and bad diet with wasted food rotting in the tank that causes it.
You need a bigger tank. Do 80% WC x2 pw week with tap safe.
Get at least a 100g tank. 55g is not acceptable nowadays.

 

[duanes]

Ah... I now see the tank is a 55 gal, didn't notice the first read.
To me in a 55 gal, with an 8" oscar you should (IMO) be taking out, and replacing about 25 gallons every other "day", minimum.
It's not just about nitrate, there are all kinds of hormones, pheromones and other organics building up and concentrating in such a small tank, and none of these get filtered out, so need to be removed to keep a large oscar healthy with water changes.
And I agree with Justarn, a 100gal would help a lot, a 55 is not a realistic tank size tank for any but juvie oscars.
If it were me, I'd also be trying to add tannins, from wood, leaves, peat or even old tea bags.
In South America, many rivers get a seasonal dosing of tannins which are antibacterial. This does not mean let up on water changes, it just means add tannin infused water with the water changes.

 

[justarn]

My oscar is 13+" wouldn't look right in even a 100g tbh.
The tiles below in my 300g are 12" wide.

 

[Galantspeedz]

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/hole-in-the-head-flowerhorn.695739/#post-7842190

not sure if this will help.. could be either HITH or bacterial infection for my case but either way i cured it with metro