Green terror w/HITH !!!

**ekltestevez** · 06-19-2008, 07:53 PM

Hi ,
I just noticed that my green terror has HITH..What do I do??
I have had her for 5 years and the only disease she's had is Ich..and a clouded eye that went away after a water change and some Melafix...I need to know how to fix this before it gets worse.
Does Hole in the head Guard by Jungle work?
I feed her Hikari gold and ghost shrimp and krill occasionally.
She is in a 55 with a younger 2in. firemouth, 2 pleco and 1 clown loach...
I love aquariums and have managed to have clean well maintained tanks with out the use of any ph test kits or any other stuff like that. I have a biowheel filter penguin 330...and I use stess coat with water changes and I used Melafix with a water change for her clouded eye..thats about all I've ever put in my tanks.
And now I suppose I'm seeing the consequences for not paying closer attention to my water and diet quailty..
I guess I've sort of done ok though.. in 5 years she's only had a disease twice ..She's a beautiful fish , personable, active, and about the friendliest green terror you'll ever meet.
I would like to start testing the water more and doing all of these other things I have not been doing. I need a little help in this area 2 ..I don't even know where to start when it comes to what supplies I need to ensure good water quality .
Please help me cure this HITH and let me know what supplies I need ..
Thank you so much.

**skinni** · 06-19-2008, 08:36 PM

well the basics when it come to keeping an eye on water quality is just a master test kit. This includes drop tests for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate along with ph. IMO a good kit is the API master kit and it can be had for about $25. Weekly or Bi-weekly 25% water changes with Bi-weekly gravel vacuums will help keep the water quality up

Hopefully someone will chime in with some help on the HITH issue

**skinni** · 06-20-2008, 06:13 PM

bump so maybe someone can help with this

**fins_n_fur** · 06-20-2008, 06:21 PM

I checked out our beta version two fish diagnoser...the link is here. I hope this helps...but I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will respond soon.

**Lady Hobbs** · 06-20-2008, 06:34 PM

Regular large water changes and keeping that tank very clean will generally prevent this disease. It's caused by a parasite (Hexamita) and there are several treatments for it. Your fish may also need more nutrients like greens and meats.

**Lady Hobbs** · 06-20-2008, 09:20 PM

Oh gez.......look at these poor fish.......especially the bottom one!

http://www.worldcichlids.com/diseases/Adamhith.html

yikes

**Dave66** · 06-20-2008, 09:25 PM

Hobbs honey, the Heximita protozoa is present in the vast majority of water systems in the US, meaning HITH would be hundreds if not thousands of times more common than it is if Hexamita were the cause of it. It's a predator of other protozoa, meaning it exists in relatively low numbers much in the way lions are on the African veldt.
Heximita numbers soar when there's a largesse of food, like that of the decay in the pits on the heads of the Cichlids, or the plethora of organisms that gather on carbon that hasn't been changed out properly.
Remember, Heximita goes where the food is. Heximita eats other protozoans. Just like lions, they gather where food is most abundant. That's why when you remove the old carbon, you remove the majority of the Heximita which have gathered to eat the vast numbers of other protozoa.
The fact is that Hexmita is present in nearly all water supplies, just like the Ich parasite is. That isn't hearsay nor rumor; it is the truth. It is only when the fish is compromised are they vulnerable to them.
HITH is scientifically proven to result from malnutrition, usually coupled with poor water quality. Thus Heximita is a secondary infection, not a cause.
I've been doing research on the subjects of HITH and HLLE for more than 25 years, and I should mention that I have access to resources that most people don't.

Dave

**Lady Hobbs** · 06-20-2008, 09:30 PM

So, if it's in all our water supplies, what makes one fish get this and another doesn't? Is it because their systems have been weakened by poor water quality and not enough nutrients to fight it off?

I have a hard time believing ick is in all our water systems unless it's been introduced thru new fish. We constantly replace our water with new, clean the gravel, etc, and seldom does a person have ick unless they have brought it home with them thru new fish.

I think water would have to be looked at thru a microscope to ever know if this was true or not.

**Dave66** · 06-20-2008, 10:23 PM

Originally Posted by Lady Hobbs

So, if it's in all our water supplies, what makes one fish get this and another doesn't? Is it because their systems have been weakened by poor water quality and not enough nutrients to fight it off?

I have a hard time believing ick is in all our water systems unless it's been introduced thru new fish. We constantly replace our water with new, clean the gravel, etc, and seldom does a person have ick unless they have brought it home with them thru new fish.

I think water would have to be looked at thru a microscope to ever know if this was true or not.

Hobbsy,
Ichthyophthirius multifilis exists in it's latent form in water supplies, sorry, but that's the truth. It's a protozoa, but is a obligate parasite that needs a fish to complete it's life cycle. Thus it lays dormant until circumstances arise that make it possible to 'do it's work'.
That's a strategy many, many protozoa use; encyst and wait for favorable circumstances. That wait can last for thousands of years.
In healthy fish, their natural slime coat protects them from the latent stage of the parasite. It's only when that coat is compromised that the parasite activates, attaches to the unfortunate fish, and starts to proliferate.
It's unusual that instead of splitting in two to procreate, it releases hundreds of copies of itself.
Problem is, it's highly contagious. If a fish is introduced with the mature trophants (the white cysts) on it's skin, the other fish will be infected. Their coats protect them from the latent form; it takes a chill or other stress to compromise it to make them vulnerable to the activation of the parasite. The healthy fish with intact slime coats cannot repel the aggressive protozoan in its active state.
Thus the wisdom of having a quarantine tank.
You should have read it closer. Heximita, like all protozoa, proliferate when food is plenty. All sorts of protozoa take advantage of fish when the fish's health is compromised; Heximita is just the best known of them as it does the most damage in its foraging.

Dave

**ekltestevez** · 06-21-2008, 06:06 PM

Thanks everyone
I have changed some water out also syphoning the gravel. I stopped carbon filtration for treatment with the meds.
I bought API's General Care for the treatment iof the HITH it was the only thing the pet store had. It has 250 mg of metronidazole which is supposed to treat HITH. And I also bought her bloodworms and beef heart . I found out that they sometimes like peas too.
Does anyone know of any more veggies green terrors like?
Or any other foods high in the vitamins she needs?