how would be the best way to help him, I have started to change water 30% to 50% every other day and added some medicine does this help
I continue with water changes at least twice a week. Goal would be to keep your tank cycled and nitrates below 20 ppm. I’d even consider adding some tannins to the tank to keep the water, soft and acidic if you have hard water. Gold would be to be consistent with your water quality.
Leaves from the cattapa tree I read it provides good health
This fish appears to be very young, certainly less than a year old? Isn't hole in the head more typically seen in much larger, older specimens?
Those marks look to me as though the fish got stuck in an ornament or abraded itself on sharp rocks or something similar. They seem to have flaps and shreds of tissue hanging loosely on them. The pics I have seen of HITH usually look like eroded craters, smooth and with no flaps of skin at the edges. Just an opinion, I have no personal experience with it.
duanes
RD.
Those marks look to me as though the fish got stuck in an ornament or abraded itself on sharp rocks or something similar. They seem to have flaps and shreds of tissue hanging loosely on them. The pics I have seen of HITH usually look like eroded craters, smooth and with no flaps of skin at the edges. Just an opinion, I have no personal experience with it.
duanes
RD.
Looks like HITH to me too.
And while meds are a pretty good temporary bandaid, unless you get to the root of the problem, HITH will just continue to reinfect, over and over.
To get to the root, water changes, lots of them, and (as suggested above) at least 50 % twice per week forever.
What water changes do is dilute chronic disease causing nitrate, which it seems oscars are susceptible to.
And if your water is hard with high pH, the bacteria that cause HITH are more virulent and ubiquitous.
In the rivers oscars naturally inhabit, nitrites are usually undetectable, and because the water is also soft with low pH, those HITH bacteria are not as prevalent, so no need for oscars to build resistance to them.
To me any nitrate level above 5 ppm is too high, so I maintain undetectable nitrate levels in my tanks
unless of course your water is naturally soft with pH below 7.
Below is how my average nitrate test comes out (the tube on the right)
Below a test of the water where I catch my cichlids
And while meds are a pretty good temporary bandaid, unless you get to the root of the problem, HITH will just continue to reinfect, over and over.
To get to the root, water changes, lots of them, and (as suggested above) at least 50 % twice per week forever.
What water changes do is dilute chronic disease causing nitrate, which it seems oscars are susceptible to.
And if your water is hard with high pH, the bacteria that cause HITH are more virulent and ubiquitous.
In the rivers oscars naturally inhabit, nitrites are usually undetectable, and because the water is also soft with low pH, those HITH bacteria are not as prevalent, so no need for oscars to build resistance to them.
To me any nitrate level above 5 ppm is too high, so I maintain undetectable nitrate levels in my tanks
unless of course your water is naturally soft with pH below 7.
Below is how my average nitrate test comes out (the tube on the right)
Below a test of the water where I catch my cichlids
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thanks so much for the information i change water almost every other day and my PH level is at 7 and i have added a bit more bio filter
