Oscar skin peeling of
- Thread starter Snakemau25
- Start date
What is your ph? If it’s higher than it makes it significantly easier for hith to form. Your high nitrates are the cause and that should be corrected immediately. For the future I have found that adding rainwater (or RODI water) and botanicals can help prevent hith but that is not a excuse to stop water changes.
Ok, I know I messed up with the water changes doing them biweekly instead of weekly, I will fix that immediately. Ph is at 7.4. I’m ordering food with metro and garlic to feed him, was looking for NLSHex-Shield but it seems it’s out of stock everywhere, not sure if they still make it as it’s not even on the website anymore, so getting some from KenFish. I’m setting up a RODI unit for the tank
pH of 7.4 is plenty good enough with domestic strains of O's.
Good luck
Good luck
Why screw around with pH if there is no need? BIG mistake IMHO. Focus on keeping the water clean, with nitrates below 5 ppm, and keep all other potential stressors minimal, and you will be golden.
Well I found my lfs has hex-shield so will feed them that and hope with the water changes and all will do….
You can throw all the meds you can find at that oscar, and they may act as a temporary bandaid, but unless you get a hold of the underlying cause of the HITH, (the most important part of your last statement), it won't matter ( the nitrates)
HITH is a chronic condition, it didn't happen overnight although it seemed to just appear, no....its been festering for months.
If you think of it like......40 ppm nitrate is the equivalent of your tank being filled with 40% urine.
How long would you swim around in 40% piss before you got a skin condition (sorry if that seems a bit harsh)
I wish every potential oscar owner would read this thread before they get one.
I have seen this so many times, with scarred up oscars turned in to LFSs.
If you have a dog, it needs to be walked everyday, oscars (and any large cichlids) version of a walk, are large frequent water changes.
Last edited:
