# ???heater burns, hole in the head??



## pottsburg (Aug 30, 2006)

I didn't know where to post this, but I'm getting P's in 2 weeks and I threw in an oscar a week or two ago just to make sure he'd live okay, so I don't lose $130 in fish.......

WHen I got him he had two little marks on his head, but now they have gotten worse. He does like to hang out with his body on the heater which is where I guess the marks on his lower half are from. I'm just wondering if all this is heater burn or diesase??

Could this just be the fish, or is it something in the water that I can check for and fix so that my P's dont get it??


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## pottsburg (Aug 30, 2006)

bizzump


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## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

You should try to get a head-on shot of him, but it looks like it could be HITH.


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## thebluyak (Apr 14, 2006)

maybe its the angle but that fish looks bad from that side shot


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

Definite get a frontal shot. If you can a close up would be good enough. Does appear to be mucus excreting from the skin but not sure. If it is mucus, then most likely cause is "Hexamita". Post up quick because if it is Hexamita you do not want your p's going in that tank anytime soon.


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## pottsburg (Aug 30, 2006)

Great, he looks worse today than he did yesterday, I thought I was seeing something but wasn't sure. Starting from his head there was like a bit of mucus and now it's working it's way back, it looks like a film on him. This is something to do with the water or is it the fish? Guess I shouldn't be getting P's in exactly one week like I planned, or can I?? How do I fix this? Thanks guys........and this is excatly why I got an Oscar for trial before I got my P's.....if this is deadly and happened to $130 of fish, I'd have cried.

another one


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## pottsburg (Aug 30, 2006)

Oh yeah, I just remembered, when I first got the oscar, he had one or two of those little spots that you can see on the top picture...didn't notice it until I got home, and I thought it would be something that would go away.......guess I should have returned the fish..........oh well


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

Treat with Metronidazole.


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## pottsburg (Aug 30, 2006)

is it contagious? what is it??


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

Here is a decent link on it. ClickMe Though the causes of it are really unknown.


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## zippa (Apr 29, 2005)

Oscars for some reason seem to be prone to hith....I use to have a couple really large oscars that had it a few times....


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

Here is a pic of my rhom last year when he got struck with Hexamita. As you can see it progresses really fast. This happened over a period of a couple weeks. I didn't know how to treat until it was to late.

View attachment 123500


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View attachment 123502


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## Citizen (Sep 29, 2006)

HITH is extremely common in oscars. Nearly all of the Os i owned had it at one point or another, despite superb water conditions and filtration. The truth is everything you read will give varying reasons for why it happens, but in my honest opinion its something that occurs almost naturally and is rather just set in motion by something small. The good thing is it is very treatable and, atleast in Os, non fatal if treated (and sometimes non fatal if left to run rampant). As for being worried about new fish, i wouldn't be. I would make sure all of the water perameters are good, and do frequent water changes to ensure the new fish health, but other than that i dont "think" you have anything to worry about.


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## Tinkerbelle (Oct 14, 2004)

Keeping his water conditions extremely pristine will help with it, although reoccurances are likely.


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

Since Hexamita is an internal parasite that is probably in his gravel from pooping I would put the Oscar in a hospital tank and break down the tank and clean it and remove the gravel, or nuke it with potassium permanganate.


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## pottsburg (Aug 30, 2006)

Thanks a ton guys. Sounds like this is the oscar version of chicken pocks! I'm going to throw it in my 20g and nurse him until he is fit to give away. Jerry, again, you're the man!

Do I need to bother with salt too, and should I crank up the temperature in the hospital tank to 84 or 85 to help, or is the high temp only for parasites?


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

If you use potassium permanganate no need to raise the temp. It will nuke 99.9% of the tank. No salt needed for treating hith. Only Metronidazole for the fish. You can raise the temp a bit but in a 20G oxygen levels may not be as plentiful so you want to be careful there.


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## mraber (Oct 16, 2006)

this has nothins to do with the topic but i dont no how to post a new one because i am new........ but my S. Sanchezi had red under the chin and the fins, but when i checked on him this morning, the red was gone and now it is just grey...... its looks like it has just lost the pigment but i do not see any other markings........ is this normal or is there something wrong?


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## thebluyak (Apr 14, 2006)

mraber said:


> this has nothins to do with the topic but i dont no how to post a new one because i am new........ but my S. Sanchezi had red under the chin and the fins, but when i checked on him this morning, the red was gone and now it is just grey...... its looks like it has just lost the pigment but i do not see any other markings........ is this normal or is there something wrong?


Click new topic on the upper left hand corner.

Did you look at the fish right after the lights come on?

Tonight look at the fish in the middle of the night with a flashlight, you will notice all his red will be gone
when fish sleep they lose their color

perfectly normal









edit: the new topic button is on the right, sorry


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