My Oscar Fish

Question
i have a 42 gallon tank it has an oscar, a pleco, and a wolf fish they all get along great...but ive noticed that my oscar fish has a small hole above his left eye, can you help???

Answer
Hi Nick;

It sounds like a disease called "Hole-In-The-Head". It is a dietary and water quality caused problem. Your tank really isn't nearly big enough for the fish you have in there so a bigger tank will be needed for him to get well and stay well. They may seem okay otherwise right now, but they will get bigger. All yours get over a foot long and need at least a 100 gallon for them all to live together as they grow. The HITH symptoms are just a symptom and things will get worse very soon I'm afraid.

All tanks need a 25% water change along with gravel vacuuming weekly too to boost his immune system and lower the organic waste in the system. If you haven't been doing water changes that often already, now is a good time to start. Even twice a week isn't too much. If you test your water for the levels of nitrAte (not nitrIte, it's different), you will be able to tell how often it needs to be done. NitrAte  should always be below 40 ppm. Keep changing and vacuuming to get it low so your fish can heal.

Also give your fish a good diet of a basic pellet food, and/or a gel-based frozen food along with cooked peas, crickets, worms, shrimp, etc. A well-rounded diet includes several different food items. Avoid live feeder fish though. They can easily introduce disease into your aquarium because of the stressful conditions they are kept in before you take them home.

Here are web pages with information about HITH and what you can do to help him get well;

http://www.aquariumfish.net/information/hole_in_the_head.htm#top2

http://www.duboisi.com/diseases/hith.htm

http://www.flippersandfins.net/HITHarticle2.htm

Good luck and I hope they are all okay...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins