At last resort try along with daily water changes, and agetting rid of all substate and changing filter medium, pull out the fish and swab him with hydrogen peroxide and then dipping him im salt water before returning him to the tank, do this 2-3x a day x3days, this is a last resort as it is a cure or kill.
HITH is not going away. Help!!
- Thread starter susieg
- Start date
Owner at a now out of business LFS told me that Hexamita can be brought upon by dirty water and nutritional deficiencies. He actually told me to remove the carbon out of my filter (I never use carbon other than to remove meds). Whatever grain of truth lies in here, I really don't know. Oscars are Omnivores, so try adding in some veggies. I have recently started feeding my cichlids dried seaweed. Not the kind they use for Sushi rolls, but this matted stuff. My marines don't like nori, but they gobble up that other stuff. My cichlids seem to really like it too. Bonus is that it is about 1/3 the price of Nori - not that it is expensive to begin with.
My suggestion: If you have followed the above advice, the HITH should be gone. Those craters will still be there until it heals over, but you will still see 'indents'. When your fish get a bad case of it, it will usually never heal over to where it started. I recommend NOT feeding Beefheart - gets the water way too dirty. The only meat I would feed it is whole frozen fish, shrimp that they will mostly swallow, and the occasional piece of liver (high in vitamins). Cut the liver way smaller than bite size, as you don't want your oscar to keep chewing it and having a big cloud dissolve in your tank. Add in some seaweed, spinach or any type of vegetable. Keep trying various veggies until your Oscar starts accepting some. Don't leave veggies in the tank for too long and add to the bio-load of your tank. Get a bigger tank when you can. 25% water changes/week. Clean your filter media the day before you do a water change in some aquarium water. You need all the bacteria on the media as you can keep, or you will make matters worse.
My suggestion: If you have followed the above advice, the HITH should be gone. Those craters will still be there until it heals over, but you will still see 'indents'. When your fish get a bad case of it, it will usually never heal over to where it started. I recommend NOT feeding Beefheart - gets the water way too dirty. The only meat I would feed it is whole frozen fish, shrimp that they will mostly swallow, and the occasional piece of liver (high in vitamins). Cut the liver way smaller than bite size, as you don't want your oscar to keep chewing it and having a big cloud dissolve in your tank. Add in some seaweed, spinach or any type of vegetable. Keep trying various veggies until your Oscar starts accepting some. Don't leave veggies in the tank for too long and add to the bio-load of your tank. Get a bigger tank when you can. 25% water changes/week. Clean your filter media the day before you do a water change in some aquarium water. You need all the bacteria on the media as you can keep, or you will make matters worse.
Rui, thanks my oscar already likes his peas,romaine and nori. I knew about the carbon and never use it he doesnt need it. The water is clear and very clean. I never have let his tank get dirty. Kept it vacuumed up because of oscars dirty eating habits. Liver is something I havent tried with him. Isn't the liver a filter for the bodies toxins? Didn't want to take a chance . Any opinions on this anyone? Am looking for a bigger tank now. Know anyone who is in the Pennsylvania,NJ,NYork area witha 90-100 gallon cheap? Whatever, is left of the beefheart my pleco eats. He's a pig. this is why I'm stumped. He should be getting better. The 'craters' are getting smaller. I am afraid when I stop the Melafix they will just get worse again. The thing about taking carbon out of the filters before putting in meds. is because carbon will reduce the effectiveness of the meds to notheing. Just like it reduces the ammonia in your tank.
I have a 330 Penguine and a Whisper 60 . Both hang on the back filters. I won that bid for a 90 gallon so they will have better water quality. Now all I need is a filter for that 90 gallon. 
Susie
SusieThe deal with removing the carbon, is that carbon can tend to be a little too zestful in its removal of toxins. It can actually remove some of the trace elements fish need as well. I heard on a web radio show that HITH can be improved with the use of filters that have the bio wheels. In your case, your penguin. I have a small oscar and he had HITH pretty awful. If this helps any, here's what I did:
1) 50% water change and a double dose of Aquarium Pharm's Stress Coat with every water change thereafter.
2) I used a higher quality HITH medication. In my case, Aquatronics Paragon.
3) I used this medication for 2 weeks (following the manufacter's instructions carefully.)
4) When I was done with the Paragon, I removed the medication with a 50% water change and fresh carbon in the filter for 24 hrs.
5) I then removed the carbon and began to use the Melafix for 2 weeks.
6) When finished with the treatment I moved him into a larger tank (55 gal. with 3 bio wheels and no carbon.)
7) Then I did 50% water change every week.
8) I feed him once a day (shrimp, Tetra food sticks, Hikari brine shrimp and Aquarian cichlid floating pellets.) I made sure I gave him food that had vitamin C in it. Also variety is key in their diet... but no feeders!!!
I hoped this helped even if just a little!
1) 50% water change and a double dose of Aquarium Pharm's Stress Coat with every water change thereafter.
2) I used a higher quality HITH medication. In my case, Aquatronics Paragon.
3) I used this medication for 2 weeks (following the manufacter's instructions carefully.)
4) When I was done with the Paragon, I removed the medication with a 50% water change and fresh carbon in the filter for 24 hrs.
5) I then removed the carbon and began to use the Melafix for 2 weeks.
6) When finished with the treatment I moved him into a larger tank (55 gal. with 3 bio wheels and no carbon.)
7) Then I did 50% water change every week.
8) I feed him once a day (shrimp, Tetra food sticks, Hikari brine shrimp and Aquarian cichlid floating pellets.) I made sure I gave him food that had vitamin C in it. Also variety is key in their diet... but no feeders!!!
I hoped this helped even if just a little!
I would use metro if the fish poops stringy white feces. If not i will just doDavidW said:
massive regular water changes and feed a variety of food.
