I think my oscar is getting hith. He has a couple small crevices above his nose and there are small pin prick holes appearing. I have a 55 gallon with a fluval 404 canister and i do weekly water changes. I think that i can make it go away from more water changes etc. What should i do to help him? Im putting melfax in the tank daily for the past 3 days. I have started noticing this on my oscar less than a week ago so its still early.

A photograph would be very handy, I can have a good look at it determine whether or not your fish is indeed developing hole in the head. could you tell us how big your tank is and what filtration are you using? Then you need to test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and pH. Poor water conditions are normally the reason wy fish develop hole in the head. If your water is okay, have a look at your maintenance regime. When you do water changes, are you making sure that the water going in is of a similar temperature to the water already in the tank? stress is what causes fish to develop hole in the head disease. It is not just a poor diet and poor water conditions that causes it. If the fish is constantly exposed to sudden changes in water temperature, this could also bring on the symptoms of hole in the head disease.

Finally, what type of food are you feeding your Oscar?

So if you could get back to us, we will try and help you

I will get a picture tomorrow, i dont have my camera here. I had 2 trays of bio max and i was using carbon in the other 2 chambers. I took the carbon out when i started using the medication. Since then i decided to stop using carbon altogether and today i put another tray of bio max in. 55 gallon tank with a fluval 404 thats rated for a 100 gallon tank. I have a mix of live and fake plants. I feed them mostly the hikari gold but i vary it with other stuff too. My oscar has 3 crater like holes above the nostrils. One is in the middle of his forehead and the other two are a little lower and out but uniform. A lot of pin prick holes are popping up that i dont think are sensory things. Also occasionally i see what looks like a white string hanging out from him, twice so far actually. I did a 25% water change today. I will get my water tested tomorrow, i dont have a tester. I have had my tank for a little over 3 months now and i have had my oscar about 2 months. I got him when he was 2-3 inches and now he is around 5-6 inches. i distill the water before i put it in the tank so no temperature change issues there. I normally do a 10% water change weekly. i have a 2 inch jack dempsy and a 3 inch midas and a 2 inch exotic plecko. I know i will have to upgrade to a larger tank in the future but there are plenty of hiding spaces for my fish now. Thanks for the help, ill update tomorrow with the picture and water test results.

I cant get the pictures up becasue i cant get them small enough. He developed a white sore on his chin thats a little puffy and is red in the center. It looks like its open. On his head he has 3 crevices and there are a lot of small pin prick holes appearing. Im going now to get my water tested, ill post the results when i get back.

send the photos to my personal e-mail address

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When you send them, I'm going to remove my e-mail off here because it will just attract spam

I dont think you are changing enough water each wk but we will find out if this is the case by your nitrate result. Carbon or should i say the dust that is in with the carbon is thought to also result in HITH and is a possible as you say you used it antill a short time ago.

OFL ill send the pics now. The water test came back with everything good but the ph was a little high. What should i do to get it down?

You need to post the actual results, some fish shops can have a very loose definition of what is ok. Buy yourself some testers for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. It will save you money and heartache in the long run, they act as a early warning system if things start to go wrong

Dont worry about the Ph too much, Oscars can live in a variety of waters. The water is very hard round my way and oscars do fine, yet they can also live in soft water areas

Have a look on the site for pics of bigger fish so you can know the location of the sensory pits and see if they match with your pin prick holes, if not then it sounds like HITH

OFL, when you get the pic can you post it in this thread please