I have been treating my oscar with an off the shelf medication called general cure, in hopes to cure my fish.
How will I know when to stop treating, when the directions say it won't close the holes but cause them to scar??
I can't tell if the are healing or not?
Help!!
Michelle

how is it looking. has there been any improvement? if its clearing up I would continue until its all gone. if you have been treating for some time with no improvement you may as well stop. the best solution for HITH is perfect water condition. this dose not cost much but is mainly time and effort. the holes will cover over but will notice if you view the fish closely. By colour difference.

there are times that medication causes fish to refuse food, thus,
once it started taking food again is already a good sign.

i concur with marcus, pristine water is the first defense of fishes
against any kind of fish illnesses.

I rescued an oscar suffering from hith and hes currently healing at the moment. His process went from holes, to holes that looked like they were turning white and filling up slightly, then colour started to form (being tiger started to turn black). Now i can see scales forming and tiger colours forming (orange. Still not silking smooth head but getting there.

When the holes go back to normal oscar colour then the HITH is healed, although you may still have pits where the HITH was. I agree with marcus, lots of water changes and the real good water quality is the best way to cure HITH. In practise this means minimal feeding and daily water changes

good water quality is the by far the best way to combat HITH. no nitrites or ammonia and nitrates should stay below 40.
i am also fighthing HITH at the moment and winning thanks to good water and a varied diet (no meds). in a little over a month he has come a long way:

almost 5 weeks ago:


2 weeks ago:


a couple days ago:

hey Thor, you are winning the fight with the HITH because you started fighting it
the right way.

some people applied medication immediately upon noticing something with their
fishes without knowing first what is the cause. in so doing, they aggravated
the situation instead of helping the fish. there are some medicine that make
fishes refuse food for a while. during that period, other illnesses crop-up.
often than not, medication failed until they realized that they should keep
the water in tip top condition before any medication. in that note, most
people thought medication causes the healing without giving consideration to
pristine water...

What I do when the oscar's I sell, get HITH, I do a 40-50% water change every other day..and You may wan't to feed them good food like hikari cichlid gold..or other dry food's, do not feed them meaty food's like feeder's or brine shrim ect. Good Luck