Jewel cichlid and HITH

[Scrup]

Anyone ever have a case of this? One of mine is not looking so hot, seems to have sunken in sensory pits, whiteish looking flesh around them. Not a condition I am familiar with, so I figured I would ask if it has happened on a fish this small.

[MCHRKiller]

HITH "can" happen on any fish especially cichlids, however some are more commonly prone to it than others. Normally HITH is caused by diet, water conditions, stress, and stray electrical current in the tank. If you address all of those concerns the fish should heal on its own, I would probably add some Melafix to help the pits heal. What are you feeding, and what are your water parms?

[Scrup]

Water was fine last night, 0a,0ni,>10na, ph is a steady 8, weekly 20% water changes and the such. They get a mix of flakes, brine shrimp pellets, veggie pellets, algae wafers, and cichlid pellets, and every 2 weeks a mix of frozen bloodworms, brineshrimp, and krill.

I'll see if I have enough melafix to dose the tank I suppose, if not I'll try and locate a tank somewhere...all my spares are currently in use aside from a 6g...:scry:

Just wanted to make sure it was a possibility. I was under the false impression it was a cichlid specific ailment, and usually only affecting large ones at that. Thanks!

[MCHRKiller]

Try adding some Selcon food soak to your regimine, it is used largely with marine fish who have high dietary demands. It also contains a good amount of vitamin C which has been known to improve HITH.

[m1aman]

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[Scrup]

I'll look into the selcon, I have some similar food additive I use when I make my own food (just been too lazy lately).

I think I may have found the culprit though. Saw my small male skunk loach harrassing him non stop for about 5 min, swimming beside him, eye to eye, then I realized what was happening.

Judging by the cut they gave me before, they could have easily just taken a few pcs out of him, and he seems to have some scrapes all along his side on his gill cover and around the front of his face. Still, better to be safe than sorry.

On the bright side, I am 100% positive one of the skunks is gravid, and has been super chummy with the small male as of late.

Will try and get some pics sometime soon. Thanks again!