Hole in The Head

[eddyred]

I have 3 oscars in a 125 gallon aquarim they have developed hole in the head I do water changes every week and clean the substate as best as I can I use only well known and trusted foods on occasion I feed live goldfish I have lots of troubles keeping nitrate levels under control I can do a water change and have levels reading around 20-40ppm and two days later have nitrate levels at 160 ppm or higher I am at a total loss as of what to do number 1 how can I get rid of the hole in the head [I understand that this is a secondary infection and difficult to get rid of ] and 2 what can I do about nitrate levels I am at the point of doing a 125 gallon water change and starting over HELP !!!

[Fishguy2727]

what filtration do you have? how much water do you change at a time? how big are the oscars? any other tankmates? stop with all live food. its the best way to introduce parasites and diseases.

[eddyred]

I use an undergravel filtration system with 3 penguin 550 powerheads and I also have a magnum 350 pro canister type filter with 2 biowheels I change 60 % water weekly also 2 pleco's and 1 pictus cat live food was only fed 1 or2 times monthly

[Fishguy2727]

any live food ever could have introduced it, it only takes one. i usually hear water quality may cause or at least contriute to HITH, so you may want to up it to 75% weekly and add more filtration. i would add at least one fluval 405.

[kimmers318]

Have you checked to see if there are nitrates in your tap water? I have heard of people finding that they have readable levels in tap water, and thus they are putting nitrates back in when they are trying to take them out :(.

[William]

Is there any debris etc hidden away anywhere in the tank. Are you using any roots or similar that you have collected yourself in the tank?

[eddyred]

I collected some rocks from various sources mainly the mississippi river but they were boiled and bleached and thoruoghly rinsed before intoducing them to the tank there are no roots or natural driftwood in the tank all the plants are artificial and I do not believe that the tap water has any readable amount of nitrate in it I also have a 55 gallon that I keep african chiclids in and a 20 gallon long that I have a clown knife and two blue cobalt lobsters in I have no problem with either one of those two aquariums but those fish are nowhere near as dirty as the oscars my nitrate level today was over 160ppm I changed out at least 90 gallons today and got it down to around 20ppm no wasted food and no feeder fish I will monitor every day for the next week . but the other important question was how to get rid of HITH now that it is noticably present ???

[Fishguy2727]

no certain way to do it. my jag started to get it, but that was after i wasnt doing water changes for a while. once i started those again it seems like its going away. however i have also added meds lately, mainly for velvet, so they may have had something to do with the turn around. from what i understand there is no reliable way to deal with HITH. seems everyone has a different opinion, from treatment to cause.

[kimmers318]

If you continue to see climbing nitrates, especially only in this tank, step up the frequency of water changes and try adding another filtration system. In my opinion, although I know others like them, undergravel filters suck. The magnum 350 filter is rated for 100 gal aquariums, we use one on our 90 gal, and one on our 64 gal with success. The 90 gal has 2 oscars and a pleco. The climbing nitrates can cause all manner of disease issues so it definitely can contribute to whatever caused the hole in the head to begin with making it hard for the fish to fight it off and heal.
Also, what tap water treatment are you using? We have had good success with stresscoat, it claims to help the fish with their slime coat to fight off skin diseases naturally, and it has helped our fish with nipped fins. I have also used it along with heat and water changes for the 2 cases of ICK I have dealt with....never used ick meds. You can safely squirt it right onto the fish themselves, so it may help. Keep us posted on how things go.

[Fishguy2727]

there are much better filters out there than magnums. UGFs are a bad choice for cichlids, they can actually make things worse.