# Crap! Does My Caribe Have Hith? Help!



## Jen75 (Sep 9, 2011)

Hey Guys!

Please help!! I was just looking at Handsome Rob and noticed 2 holes-yes frickin' holes above his left eye/forehead area! Is this HITH and what is that exactly?

At first I thought it was the light playing tricks with my eyes, but there are definitely 2 small holes! The larger of the two is the approx size of the tip of a Q-Tip, the other is smaller. I did not notice this previously as he kind of sticks to one corner of the tank. Also, down the center of his face/forehead looks like the skin is splitting apart in a straight line! It's so hard to take a decent pic with my camera phone and he is shy....

What the Ham Sandwich? My poor fish!! Please help me fix him! I will have water test at local Mom & Pop shop tomorrow- I will share results when I get them.

For those of you not yet familiar with my setup: 55 gallon 2 TopFin 60 hanging filters. I have had the tank for 2 weeks- I am not sure what "has your tank cycled" means. But When I moved the setup to my home, I did not wash the gravel or filters so as to keep some BB present. I continue to change 10 gallons of water every other day as he was eating feeders.

*Update* I did just read up on HITH-OMG Sick! Well, I am pretty sure this was not entirely my doing as the fish has grown up on a diet of feeder goldfish from my brother. I read that I should begin feeding a proper diet ASAP and test water and fix if necessary. And perhaps add natural salt.

What do you all suggest? I understand it is difficult to prescribe a remedy with no pics, but any suggestions are greatly appreciated!


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## D.D.Denham (Aug 13, 2007)

If you take a minute and browse through the thread pinned above in the Disease, Parasite, and Injury about the rhom I had "Buzz", you will see in there that I posted what my regiment was for helping cure Buzz's HITH - hope that helps you a bit?!!








ps - if you can eventually get pics, that would probably help your fish the most, seeing as a misdiagnosis off the bat could really be worse off for your fish than HITH!!


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## blueouija (May 25, 2011)

How's the water quality in the tank? How often do you change the water and what % do you change?


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## Piranha-Freak101 (Dec 8, 2010)

Yupp.. from what you told me it is hith


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## Jen75 (Sep 9, 2011)

Hi Guys!
Update: Water parameters are great. Ph = 6/7, Amonia = 0, Nitrites = 0, Nitrates = 0 my tank has "cycled"
Tank is 55 gallon with 2 TopFin 60 hanging filters

Photos below: 2 small holes above left eye area, line of what appears to be splitting skin, and the shiny spot on the top of head looks like a hole but are actually shiny scales. But skin looks weird like translucent or something. Comments? Suggestions? I researched previous posts and am pretty confident I have the right diagnosis: HITH


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## CyberGenetics (Mar 29, 2009)

Thats definitly hole in the head.... You really need to get him on a extreemly nutritious diet asap/ but more importantly you need to make sure your water parameters are good. I really suggest you get a test kit because you need to be able to check your water parameters occasinally to make sure they stay in check. HITH in my opinion isnt somthing that happens instantaniously, it happens gradually over time at constant improper condition's. Anyway let us know what ur parameters are when you find out so we can take it from there if thats the problem


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## Jen75 (Sep 9, 2011)

CyberGenetics said:


> Thats definitly hole in the head.... You really need to get him on a extreemly nutritious diet asap/ but more importantly you need to make sure your water parameters are good. I really suggest you get a test kit because you need to be able to check your water parameters occasinally to make sure they stay in check. HITH in my opinion isnt somthing that happens instantaniously, it happens gradually over time at constant improper condition's. Anyway let us know what ur parameters are when you find out so we can take it from there if thats the problem


Parameters are perfect, see my above post.
Handsome Rob must have come this way and I just didn't notice until now....I know, poor little baby! His previous life in the basement in dim lighting fed only a diet of goldfish has made him an unhealthy fellow! Don't you worry guys, I'll have him in good shape soon! With all of your tips and suggestions to me as a new piranha owner, I won't let you down!!Cheers!


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## CyberGenetics (Mar 29, 2009)

opp's my bad, I skiped the writting and just looked at the pics befor i posted, my bad lol.

Anyway im glad to see your water is good! altho i find the fact that you have 0 nitrates a little fishy. Could be the plants in the tank causing this, wich would be good. but keep a eye on ur parameters as i already said.

best wishes!


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## blueouija (May 25, 2011)

Keep us posted on his recovery from HITH. Cool looking P.


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## MFNRyan (Mar 27, 2011)

Hole in head.. You should have at least 20 ppm of nitrates sometimes up to 40.. Sounds like what you have is new water in your tank lol...a properly cycled tank will turn ammonia into nitrite then nitrite into nitrates.. being it's a tank there is no where for nitrates to go.. so the only way to remove this is water changes. Your fish (especially on feeders) will produce a lot of waste and ammonia.. Nitrates are the end result of a properly cycled tank breaking down waste. Your plants will help keep water in check as they use the ammonia an nitrates to live. With the plants you have though I don't see them keeping it at 0 but maybe 20 or even 10. I would say ole handsome rob has got this from poor diet, poor water params and extended exposure to these things. Sounds like you are just what he needed though because already you are doing what you can to help him an keep him healthy. How has the diet swap gone? haven't fed him a few days yet? Also you don't want to dose with natural salt.. (unless I'm mistaken what natural salt is lol) but aquarium salt. Whatever the dose is on the back of the box, add another half to it. Something I do is get a cup of hot water. Put as much as I can get by with in the cup stir it to dissolve an pour in the tank this way. I do this however many times it takes to get the required amount of salt into my tank. On his head color looking translucent that is due to high levels of stress. could be water fluctuation, temp fluctuation, a lot going on in his tank but usually due to water params. So much of keeping a fish an it being easy him being happy is getting those water params in check.

P.S. nice pic ha ha we have a thread somewhere says show your mug shot.. most all of us have posted ours in it.. I think I did twice lol


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