Hi - I think my oscar may have HITH disease. This is my first oscar so I'm just not sure. The "spots" seem very symmetrical . I've taken some photos and included them here. I'm stepping up my water changes as a first measure. I was doing them every three weeks, but now I'll start doing them every two weeks. I have a 75gal tank with the one oscar, two silver dollars and a clown loach. My pH is around 7.0. Nitrates and nitrites are at acceptable levels and there is no ammonia present. Average tank temperature is around 78-78 degrees Fahrenheit. I would like know what other people think. Does this look like HITH??? Help please...

your picture did not work but im sure from them when you ge tthem up we will be able to help you
are you sure its not the sensory pits which are tiny pin prick holes in h=the head of the oscar
i beleive hith bad cases produce slimey stuff i i remember correctly .
get the pics working and wel all try and help
also if you havn't already have a look through this article from the site

www.oscarfishlover.com/content/view/21/41/

Yes, I see that my pics did not work and now my camera battery is dead and I'm waiting for it to recharge. I don't see anything slimy on my oscar. And I also don't know if these are the "sensory holes" that I've read about. Well, I understand that a picture would really help. I'll post as soon as I can.

in my previous post theres a link for a page on this site which shows a case of HITH and also a very good picture of the sensory pits.
HITH normaly looks fairly obvious as say 4mm or larger sunken areas on the fish commonly round the head area but also around the body.
i wouldnt worry yourself too much although it can be fatal it can be treated and oscars are very strong fish that can cope wth alot. so he wont just giv in like us blokes do when get flu hahaha

I figured out how to post the pics...sorry...I'm new to this forum. So do these look like the sensory holes? I also forgot to mention there's a pleco in the tank too.

sorry to say but this does look to me like fair case of HITH. with the right care it should clear up

you can get some medications what just add to the water which will clear it up. Two treatments ive heard of are dimetridazole and metronidazole which i would go to you vet and ask about
although there are also products you can get from your lfs which should help clear it up. i would also de regular water changes such as 25% every 3 days if you have good filtration so that you know the water is in top condition constantly.
im sure with the meds the oscar will pull through fine
as for the plec he wont of done it. plecs are nocturnal as ul know and they sometimes spooke a sleeping oscar which can result in getting grazed but the oscars wounds are not from that i dont think

I take it from your statement in your opening post, you have a nitrite reading. This is not good. It means your bacteria have failed at some point and you are in a mini-cycle.

Ammonia and nitrite should at all times be 0. If they are not, it means something has killed off their particular good bacteria.

Nitrate should remain below 20 ppm. You might want to step up your water changes to around 50% once a week and monitor nitrate levels for a while ...

that is, after your nitrites get back to 0 ... so, for now, keep doing a water change every day or two until the bacteria catch back up.

With HITH/LLE, clean water is of the most importance.


I do believe you have caught the very beginning stages of HITH. That is a little more than sensory pits or a scrape, it just happens to be in the spot of the pits.

Keeping the water as clean as sanely possible will be the key here. Reducing feeding will help a little, as well as making sure uneaten food is removed. Next gravel vac, try to dig in to the bottom and move around until it comes out clear (being careful of your sealant on the edges)

Make sure your food is high in vitamin content. Hikari Bio-Gold has just about the highest vitamin content of any food, and online, it is about the same or less as the Hikari Gold in the stores. To get him to eat the smaller pellets, you may have to withhold food for a couple days. If you don't want to get bio-gold, you can get vitamin supplements from most fish stores, and all hikari treats do have vitamins added, but, I don't think that may be the best route to add the extra vitamins. Hikari isn't the only brand to add vitamins, but one I personally trust.

78 is a good temperature. 7 ph is fine, really, ph just needs to be stable for oscars, they adapt well, but not so much to continuing fluctuations (same with temperature).

Just as a precautionary ... check to see if your dechlorinator removes heavy metals. Some do, some don't. It may be good to switch to one that does after what you have is gone if it doesn't. I personally use PondCare StressCoat, since it is highly concentrated and lasts quite a while. 15 ml treats 60 gallons.

I don't know the requirements of loaches and SDs, so to add salt, wait for someone who knows, or look it up. PimaFix and MelaFix work well together, and may help to prevent a secondary infection ... plus it is natural (tree oils), so it isn't like adding chemicals to the water, I have used it plenty, and not harmful in my experience. Smells kinda good to me as well They also make this in the concentrated PondCare label, double the strength of the API label, but the same product essentially (money saving).

I don't know if you have a Python, or other siphoning system, but if not, it will make changing water on the 75 much easier. Taking maybe an hour total including using a bucket with tank water to clean mechanical filter media and filter parts.

Also, carbon, may or may not be a factor. Don't know if you use it or not. Some say it could be the fine particles that are near impossible to fully rinse out, but come off and into the tank from a constant flow of water through it. Others say it can be that and the fact that most carbon filters need to be changed out weekly to remain effective ... and if not changed out in time, can leach the bad stuff back into the water, leading to illnesses and other problems.

I haven't used carbon ever in my Oscar tank, nor have my bettas ever experienced any carbon in their filters. An unnecessary expense and risk to me. Whatever carbon claims to solve, water changes solve better. If you tank smells, then it needs a water change ... not carbon hiding the smell. If it has contaminants, it needs a water change, not carbon soaking it up and potentially releasing it again when the carbon becomes saturated with bad stuff. Carbon to me is like a gimmick, and one that has worked well with an uninformed public. Just like bio-media should almost never be disposed of.


Just running through the list of things, not saying any particular one is the problem, but I figure it doesn't hurt to list some suggestions and possibilities

Best wishes. Hope to see progress soon. Remember, water can never be too clean, the levels in the wild are near pristine from a constant supply of fresh water

P.S. If it does get bad, there is a product that is for Hexima (sp?), but I believe you must manually apply this to the affected spots, which I assume requires removing the fish from the aquarium and having him 'in the air' on a table or something. Not my first choice ... since I am sure that is quite traumatic.

That is HITH. Lots of water changes is supposedly the best way to cure it. Apparently try to keep nitrates below 10. This can be very difficult especially if your tap water has a level of nitrates. My tap water has nitrates of 10 so below 10 is impossible for me. I would suggest 50% water change twice a week and as already said reduce feeding. HITH can take a long time to cure. Good luck

With an established filter you should have ammonia and nitrite reading of zero. From what you say you have a reading for nitrite. Have you been cleaning your filter often enough or have you enough filtration for your tank. You need filtration rated for a tank twice the size, avoid internal filters and go for external or sump filters

to add to the filter rule ... this is how I usually find it to be said ...

hand on back - power filters ... 10x the size of the tank, so, 55 gallon tank would need 550 gph rated or greater worth of filters. This is because these are very inefficient. I personally have 750 gph worth of these filters on my 55 gallon, and they are bio-wheel equipped models.

canister filters ... 5-8x tank size, so at least 330 gph for a 55 gallon. Much more efficient.

wet/dry/sump ... 3-4x ... 150 gph for a 55. These are the most efficient if set up properly. Lots of oxygen contact for the beneficial bacteria, usually loads of mechanical media to keep solid waste from re-entering the tank and polishing the water crystal clear.

A good combo would be a good bio-wheel filter mated with a good canister filter for a 55 setup 400 hob, 300 canister. For larger tanks, scale it up, overstocked tanks, scale it up as well.

Even with adequate or more than adequate filtration, frequent water changes are quite a necessity.



All of this is with a helpful intent, and not to overwhelm of point fingers. We want your oscar to be healthy and happy, as well as you to be happy and stress free.

Oscars are one of the most demanding, but rewarding fish. Cichlids in general are messy eaters which doesn't help with water parameters.

It looks as though you have done a pretty good job, the level of orange looks like you feed a good food, for I have seen some dull colors in Os before, the slope of the head shows he is not stunted from my horrid experience of seeing a stunted O in a pet store.

So, nitrates seem to be the problem here. BTW, what is your feeding regimen, O's diet?

Thanks for all the posts! There's alot of good info here.

I did a big water change yesterday (around 60-70%) and vacuumed the gravel with my Python. Every time I change the water I add Neutral Regulator to help keep the pH in balance and to remove any chlorine in the water.

As far as filtration, I have a Marineland / Aquaria Multi Stage Canister Filter C-Series: C-360 360GPH. BUT I'm also using Chemi-Pure and after reading up on the use of carbon, I'm considering discontinuing the use of carbon altogether. I'd be interested in hearing other opinions on the use of carbon.

I feed my Oscar Hikari Cichlid Bio-Gold+ and I supplement this with the occasional freeze dried krill, frozen blood worms, frozen tubiflex worms and frozen beef hearts. I usually feed all my fish every other day since I've read that overfeeding can create water problems. I take care to remove any unfinished food that may be floating around, but I rarely have to do that since I'm feeding them every other day.

Today I did pick up some medication from my local pet store. It's a product by API called "General Cure". It was the only one I could find that specifically listed treatment of HITH disease. The active ingredients are 250 mg Metronidazole and 75 mg Praziquantel per packets. The package only treats 100 gallons and I have a 75 gallon tank. I'd be interested in hearing if anyone has used this product before.

I'm stepping up the water changes and I'll see how this goes before I use the meds.I 'd like to see if i can get things under control naturally first. If I do decide to use the meds, I'll toss the Chemi-Pure.

Thanks again for all the great advice!!

realy hope he pulls through for you by the sounds of things you have arough idea if not a good idea of what you are doing. and also pleased your taking steps to curing him alot of people in this world would have just gave up.
hes got a great diet so im sure hes alot healthier than he apears minus the HITH.
looks a nasty case of HITH but with the care your giving him from what ive read he should pull through in no time at all.
keep it up and keep us informed of how you get on with him

cheers drew