Hey guys I had talked to you about one of my oscars not eating since last Tuesday. Well he is still not eating, but I noticed a pit on the side of his head. The other oscar has one two. I don't understand what I am doing wrong, why do they have this? My water parameters are amonia pretty much zero, nitrites zero, nitrates are pretty much zero and ph is seven. I use the good water testing kits by api. I do 20% water changes with gravel vac every three days. Am I over feeding them? I give them omega one pellets, about four per Oscar in the morning and then in the evening I give them as a treat I rotate between Krill, which I give two to three pieces, brine shrimp, two small chunks , one per oscar, omeaga one flake, small amount, blood worms two small amounts per each oscar. Is this doing to much or is something elese wrong?

Can you please post a photograph so we can see what you are talking about. Also, how big is your tank and what kind of filtration are you using?

does it look like this:



these are sensory pits and are totally normal.
Bad waterquality is usually the cause of hole in the head or hole in the lateral line disease.
With your waterquality at the moment, i doubt if it's HITH.
edit: Hole in the Head Disease is relatively easy to diagnose. In its very early stages you may notice one or two small holes appearing on the fish's head. Often the holes are very symmetrical, almost as if somebody has stuck a dart into the Oscars skin.
Could we get some pics?
I don't think you're overfeeding.
Another thing that comes to mind is that leaking of electrical current may be the cause of HITH in some cases. Could this be the case with your tank?
Is the tank grounded?

you say nitrates are almost at zero too?
Even when you are doing your waterchanges?
Maybe you should lessen the frequenty of your waterchanges and that way create less disturbance in the tank.
I mean, if there's no nitrates in my tank, i'll wait a little longer before doing a waterchange.
But i'm willing to be corrected on this last point, for i'm not sure if this has to do with your problems...for keeping nitrates low will normally help keep your fish healthy.

http://http://www.dropshots.com/Parrotman32#date/2010-07-04/01:39:31
Can you see the holes behind the eye?

www.dropshots.com/Parrotman32#date/2010-07-04/01:39:31
Sorry I messesed up the first time, here is a picture.

Yes, I can see the hole. To say absolutely sure whether it is HITH is difficult. However, I suspect that this is very early stages. Test your water again, make sure you use a good liquid test kit. Make sure the ammonia nitrites are absolutely zero and no higher. You must keep your nitrate levels as low as possible, especially now this has happened. I would suggest that you endeavor not to let them rise above 20 ppm, this will probably mean more than one water change a week. Get yourself some good quality pellets if you don't already have some. Do not give your fish anything like feeders.

Good quality pellets contain all the vitamins that your fish will need, however, it wouldn't hurt to introduce some more vitamins into their diet, you can get liquid vitamins that you can soak the food in, or just add it to your aquarium water. It's not absolutely necessary, but it certainly wouldn't hurt.

The key to preventing and curing Hole in the head disease is a regular tank maintenance. Making sure you don't have any dangerous toxins present in keeping your nitrate levels at an acceptable level will help prevent your fish from developing this disease. A healthy diet is also thought to help prevent it as well.

You cant have ammonia, nitrite and nitrate of zero in a tank of fish, so can you retest (use the bottle types not the strips) and make sure you follow the instruction exactly

Parrotman32 wrote:


You're ammonia should be zero, and like was mentioned before you should have a nitrate reading or else you have a tank that isn't cycled properly. Although with a Ph of 7 I would assume that ammonia reading would contain very little to no harmful ammonia levels (?) What's your current temp?

As to the hole in the head...it's either like noddy said the sensory pits (those fooled me for a while), or it is in the very, very early stages and can be 'nipped in the bud' before it progresses with making sure the tank is cycled correctly and vigilant water changes. HITH is tricky I think mostly b/c it's very hard to tell right off if it is or isn't...so I wouldn't worry too much right now.

In GoodFellas it's a right of passage and you've "come of age" when you get pinched the first time...and when you start an aquarium hobby (especially with Oscar's) it's pretty much the same thing when you post a "Is this HITH?!" thread. Everybody does it...

Now that I think about it Penn, I think it would be beneficial to add something about sensory pits and a pic in the HITH article to clear up some confusion as to what they are and look like. I know for me early on I thought the sensory pits were HITH and the lateral line was an injury or infection...

I do have the bottle type test kit if you want exacts ph is seven, nitrites are zero, nitrates are .20ppm, and ammonia is .25ppm. Am I not doing heavy enough water changes I do 20% with gravel vac, every three days. I just did one yesterday evening and theses are the results tonight.

Parrotman32 wrote:


Well, in a 75 gallon with 2 oscars i would bump it up to 30% every 3 days, you don't need to gravel vac every time though. I would stir up the gravel once a week. Keep up the water changes and regular testing.

It is hith there are more holes that look like craters. I test water and ammonia is still .25ppm, nitrites 0 nitrates are today at 20ppm, ph 7.6. I have antibotics such as metronizadol, but I want to cure it with out them if I can. So iam guessing i need a water change tonight? I just did one Saturday, it has only been two days? Tell my what to do and ill do it.

Okay, .25 of ammonia isn't the end of the world, but it certainly isn't going to help your situation. We need to find out why you are getting this, with an established Aquarium and a healthy biological filter, you shouldn't be getting any ammonia at all.I think it would be a good idea to really limit the amount of food going into the tank, this will at least do the same with the amount of waste the Oscars producing and not so much ammonia will be created.

Remind me of how many fish you have again and how big your tank is?