OSCAR HOLE IN THE HEAD SOLUTION!!!!

[TwistedPenguin]

If you can prove you fed a varied diet w/vitamins & your nitrates were never above 20 ppm the entire time of your 'experiment'......then I might be more apt to believe you.

 

[rajatariqmustafa15]

I think my Oscar fish has HITH but it's not a whole but a white and dark black patch Please help me

 

[tomomothy]

I agree that the problem is water quality in almost every case. The carbon seems to be a breeding ground for the heximita and for some, removal of carbon along with aggressive water changes cures the problem. It seems to have to do with the way the carbon interacts with your particular water chemistry. To say that carbon is the culprit is not proven without a careful examination of the VOC's, DOC's and the carbon itself.

For some, use of carbon is essential to maintaining a good water column. For others, (like me), it's a waste of time and money to use it.

WHat this guy said. I have read many publications and articles on HITH and if you search you'll see a lot of posts about it here on MFK. Carbon stores bad things in your water and it can break away and get stuck in the scales of your fish.

There are several universities that did a study of food quality, water quality and carbon quality vs HITH. The only constant tie to HITH was carbon. They noticed tanks with no carbon had no HITH, tanks with high quality carbon had some HITH and tanks with cheap carbon had rampant HITH. Obviously water quality is a big factor too, since carbon absorbs "bad stuff" and if it is saturated with said "bad stuff" it will accelerate things. Nutrients in food are important to help your fish boost its immune system, fight the infection and regenerate, but from what I have read its not the true cause.