HITH

Question
QUESTION: I have two oscars in a 56 gallon tank right now. I change the water every week (every other week every so often), and I recently got a new Magnum filter for my tank. I started noticing my tiger oscar (I have one tiger and one albino) getting HITH. I have treated HITH before with Melafix, and its gone away within the treatment process, so I began treating this outbreak with Melafix, and it's just gotten worse. More holes (?) are popping up, and I hope to be able to cure it. (I love my fish dearly) What is the best way to eliminate HITH?


ANSWER: Hi Stephanie,
  Hole in the head is a symptom moreso than a disease.  The symptoms appear most often to be associated with poor water.  

  The problem is that as your oscars get larger, they eat more and make more waste which degrades the water quality faster.

  When you "change the water", how much do you change?

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: They have gotten quite large now (7 inch tiger, 5 inch albino), so that makes sense. The only reason I still do have two is because they are inseparable :P.
I do about 30-35% water changes weekly. I stopped the Melafix treatment with about 2 days left because it wasnt helping, and I just did a water change yesterday.

Answer
Hi Stephanie,
  30-35% is good.   Be careful not to overfeed.  The problem with oscars is that they eat alot and they tend to be messy eaters, creating a lot of free nitrogen in the tank, which seems to aggravate hole in the head.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>