So lost on what happened and what to do.

[jackson17]

Ok. So my BP has hole-in-head disease and reading up on it here and it says its very hard to treat. He hasn't been active at all like he is and hasn't eaten at all either. My Jack Dempsey that usually out and about is just staying in a cave with the blood parrot, looks healthy though from what I can see. My bichir, never shows his face but hes alive so thats good lol.

I'm treating the tank with melafix but I'm afraid there might be ich also. Can I treat the tank with primafix also? I'm completely at a lost with what to do. If it really is that hard to cure should I ''put him down''. He looks to be suffering and there may be a second hole coming in a couple centimeters over from the first one.

I'm at complete lost at what to do. It's really starting to get to me to. Every time I get fish it starts off good, then something happens.

Is there anything else I can do? Salt? I don't want him to die but it's really not looking good.

[jackson17]

Anything? =[

[Sharkman]

The dempsey might be picking on the blood parrot. Have you seen any quarreling? How often and how large of a water change are you doing? Hole in the head often times comes form lack of water changes or too small water changes. Is the fish eating? If he is not eating and seems stressed, you could put the fish out of its misery. I would try whatever you can first before you decide to put it down. Keep dosing the Melafix. If the other fish are not injured though, the medicated water probably isn't best for them.

[jackson17]

The dempsey and the blood parrot havn't faught once. The dempsey is fine but the blood parrot is just not doing well at all. When I went back to the LFS where I got the BP I saw another adult jack dempsey with HLLE, and granted all the tanks are hooked up to a massive sump type system, it probably spread for there.

I just don't know what to do. The BP is still bright orange/red, but just has some white stuff and the hole. Color is fine, just wont eat now.

I don't have a QT tank to move it into =[

[jaysee]

Personally, I wouldn't waste my time trying to cure hole in the head. I also wouldn't want to put my other fish at risk.

If I were going to try and save it, I would absolutely use a QT.

I'm not sure about the use of other medications with ick meds...

It sounds like you might want to step up your water change routine and maybe cut back on feeding. What is your feeding schedule? What is your filtration?

[jackson17]

I do 25% water changes twice a week.

My feeding schedual is once a day, morning usually.

I have a whisper 60 (left side of tank), and a fluval 205 (right side of tank with output facing toward right side)

[jackson17]

Dam edit went away...

If I do Euth, should I continue treatment on the tank just to make sure all stuff is gone?

[jaysee]

I do 25% water changes twice a week.

My feeding schedual is once a day, morning usually.

I have a whisper 60 (left side of tank), and a fluval 205 (right side of tank with output facing toward right side)

hmmm...... and they are juvies..... I don't know what to tell you, sorry.

[Sharkman]

yea that wouldnt be a bad idea. Treat for a few more days and if the fish look like they are not getting worse then you should do a 40% water change to get the meds out of the water. good luck to you.

[jackson17]

Ok. Dam I liked this fish to =[[[

[Sharkman]

yea its tough to lose fish you really like. I have 2 blood parrots myself. Just be careful if you get another one, theres always the chance the dempsey may not like it.

[jackson17]

The dempsey is still a juvie so what I did was get a much bigger parrot 2-3x the size of the dempsey, seemed to have worked. Might be posting pictures of the dempsey to get a double check on the sex of it, think its a male. Might try and get a female and breed them I guess if I can't get a good parrot fish.

[jackson17]

Well that was very depressing =[

[thatcichlidguy]

These conditions are a pain to treat . Since root cause is poor water quality a Heavy waterchange schedule is a must . HITH is contraversial in that there can be a few things that can cause this. Poor diet , poor water quality, a parasite, and a combonation of the above together will cause it as well. For the parasitic form there are treatments that will work, for the others increased waterchanges to bring about better water quality and a proper diet are the only things that really stand a chance of working.

HLLE is similar in that it often is the result of poor water conditions and a poor diet . Whether it can or does have a parasitic cause as well I'm not certain of since I'm less familiar with this particular ailment. In either case big time waterchanges should be performed to increase water quality and a more nutritious diet provided . Often that alone can halt and in some cases reverse both HITH and HLLE. If you know for certain that your dealing with the parasitic form then chemotherapy(medications) should be provided and this will cure it. However the afore mentioned diet and water improvements should be implemented as a prophalactic against future outbreaks as truely healthy fish rarely suffer from either condition.

[jackson17]

I feed them Hikari Cichlid pellets. Is there anything better to feed them?

[Sharkman]

that is a good base food to feed. They will also enjoy brine shrimp, blood worms, california blackworms. Also, if you are going to breed the dempseys, be careful of the other fish in the tank, the Dempseys will become extremely aggressive during breeding and eventually bully or kill the other fish so they are best when kept by themsleves.

[jackson17]

I have blood worms also. I feed them the hikari pellets and once a week blood worms. I thought that was the best you could pretty much do

[thatcichlidguy]

Doesn't hurt to make your own frozen foods. There are several recipes for them on the web. they generaly contain stuff like market shrimp (what we eat) spinach , kelp (from asian markets), peas, carrot, and other ingredients you can get at the grocery store and some like vitamins supplements from the LFS. All are simple to make and are good and often better than pellets . The DIY foods oftem contain various proteins and amino acids and other oganic compounds that get processed out in the fish food making process. Best of all it's fresh. Way better than some pellet thats sat on a shelf for months.