# My Oscar has HITH



## cambelsoop (Mar 31, 2012)

After 2 weeks of medicating the tank with GENERAL CURE I did a water change and put carbon back in the filters as I sit here admiring my tank all of a sudden the my Oscar skin starts peeling off his head... He was doin do good the last two weeks, the holes were getting any bigger and the small one on the top of his head actually went away till this just happened. ..I will add a pic as soon as I figure it out


----------



## cambelsoop (Mar 31, 2012)




----------



## cambelsoop (Mar 31, 2012)

What do I do now.. .?


----------



## jwm922 (Jul 31, 2012)

Howya what are your nitrate levels like. If they are high, water change and add table salt, A very short term fix(not for the final solution) to nitrite in your water is the addition of some table salt. Do a water change, and then add a tsp of salt with the freshwater. It only takes a very small quantity to be effective, and a tsp is plenty to deal with high nitrite levels in that tank while not altering the water too much.


----------



## cambelsoop (Mar 31, 2012)

All of my levels as of 3 days ago be4 the water change was perfect.. I haven't fed him live minnows or goldfish in a while. Just blood worms ,beef heart, flakes, pellets,sinking wafers and they go crazy for the algae wafers I throw in for the Pleco...


----------



## Storiwyr (Apr 24, 2012)

cambelsoop said:


> All of my levels as of 3 days ago be4 the water change was perfect.. I haven't fed him live minnows or goldfish in a while. Just blood worms ,beef heart, flakes, pellets,sinking wafers and they go crazy for the algae wafers I throw in for the Pleco...


What are the actual levels? Forgive us, but a lot of times when someone says the water parameters are perfect, it turns out they didn't understand what we were asking.


----------



## cambelsoop (Mar 31, 2012)

I'm officially a putz ... I was doin the tests wrong lol the whole time. I prob should of read the instructions . When i did the big water change a few days ago it was probably a terrible idea do a massive spring cleaning on the filters... And I most likely killed all my good bacteria.. 
My actual reading r 
Ph 8.2 
Ammonia .25
Nitrites 5.0 ppm
Nitrates 80 ppm
I immediately added cycle and some stress coat since its 1:15 am ill do a water change tomorrow and slow the feeding down for a few days ... Ne other suggestions? Also what is prime ? Exactly who makes it and what's the Hitler look like. The ratard at my lps said she never heard of it LOL. I just walked out cuz she's always trying to sell me something I don't need


----------



## jwm922 (Jul 31, 2012)

I concur you are a putz  . At least ya caught it and hopefully your wet pet will be ok and stronger from the experience.

john


----------



## cambelsoop (Mar 31, 2012)

what is a good reading for Nitrates?


----------



## Catfish Dan (Apr 12, 2011)

20 ppm or lower is best for all fish, Oscars especially. You're seeing the result of poor water quality with your Oscar's HITH. Start doing daily water changes of at least 25%. Your first will drop your nitrates to 60ppm, then to 45 ppm, then ~30 ppm, and so on. They won't actually drop this fast as your Oscar is continually adding nitrates back in to the water. Keep doing this until you get your nitrates below 20 ppm. Once there, you may have to do 2 water changes per week to keep them there. Oscars are messy, messy fish! I'd recommend switching to a high quality pellet with lowered protein as your staple diet. Feed worms occasionally (once a week) as a treat. Feed just once a day. I know they beg and beg and beg, but believe me, they're not starving, just little piggies : ). Your Oscar can heal, but it takes time. Be patient and be diligent in your water changes. This is the BEST medicine for HITH. Good luck, and keep us posted.


----------



## Catfish Dan (Apr 12, 2011)

Also, Prime is a dechlorinator. It removes both chlorine and chloramine from tap water. You should dechlorinate (with Prime or a similar product) with every water change!!! Frequent water changes will also help get your ammonia and nitrite levels lowered while your beneficial bacteria become re-established. And no more beef heart!!! Read the 'Oscars 101' sticky at the forum header. It's loaded with valuable information.


----------



## cambelsoop (Mar 31, 2012)

I use stress coat to dechlorinate it also says it ads a slime coat to the fish to help them heal... I been doin 30-40% water changeable for the last 2 days and did 2 today the my ammonia is now at 0-.25 my Nitrates r still high but down to 40 ppm and my Nitrites r at 1-2 ppm the colors r so close on the chart its hard to tell I'm gonna keep up the water changes and c what happenes.. thank you all for your help I really appreciate it...


----------



## smitty (May 7, 2004)

Oscars require very clean water to prevent that. How often do you do water changes. I would pull 50 percent very week. cleaning the filter pads in aquarium water.


----------



## Catfish Dan (Apr 12, 2011)

> I use stress coat to dechlorinate


Read the label carefully. Stress Coat doesn't remove any chlorine or chloramine from the tap water. Now run out and pick up some water conditioner before your next water change!!


----------



## cambelsoop (Mar 31, 2012)

The label reads.... "Removes chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals to keep water save for fish. Contains aloe vera which promotes healing and regeneration of damaged fish tissue and forms a synthetic slime coat to help prevent electrolyte loss. Proven to reduce fish stress. Which can result from changing water.poor water quality and handeling fish . Stress coat is proven to reduce fish stress by 40%"


----------



## cambelsoop (Mar 31, 2012)

Newest reading looks much better


----------



## Catfish Dan (Apr 12, 2011)

Ok : ) How's the little fellow doing?


----------



## cambelsoop (Mar 31, 2012)

He's looking good .. no.more skin peeling off that's a good sign I guess.. plus they look happy.. hungry but happy


----------



## jwm922 (Jul 31, 2012)

Glad to hear he getting better, Oscars seem to have the puppy dog look mastered, every time my wife passes our tank she says aw look they are hungary...


----------



## cambelsoop (Mar 31, 2012)

.

New readings.. I think I finally got the water right...


----------



## dsouthworth (Sep 7, 2011)

Looks to me like you still have ammonia and nitrite. 
Remember, any quantity of those two are unhealthy and extremely toxic your your livestock.


----------



## ryanjamesg (Aug 26, 2012)

cambelsoop said:


> I'm officially a putz ... I was doin the tests wrong lol the whole time. I prob should of read the instructions . When i did the big water change a few days ago it was probably a terrible idea do a massive spring cleaning on the filters... And I most likely killed all my good bacteria..
> My actual reading r
> Ph 8.2
> Ammonia .25
> ...


PRIME IS AMAZING. I had the same problem with all my levels in my tank. i did a 50% water change everyday until my tank was back to normal!

*	Complete conditioner for both marine and freshwater use
*	Safely condition water without a pH drop or overactivating protein skimmers
*	Provides essential ions and stimulates natural slime coat
No other aquarium water conditioning product is required to make tap water safe. Prime removes chlorine and chloramine (even in high chloramine levels), and detoxifies ammonia and nitrite. Provides essential ions and stimulates natural slime coat. Prime also detoxifies any heavy metals found in the tap water at typical concentration levels. When used during cycling, Prime enhances nitrate removal and does not cause a pH drop or overactivate protein skimmers. Great for setting up new aquariums, or when adding or changing water, or to remove nitrate. Use 1 ml for each 10 gallons of water. For freshwater or saltwater use. 100 ml treats 1,000 gallons; 250 ml treats 2,500 gallons; 500 ml treats 5,000 gallons; 2 liter treats 20,000 gallons.

Use 1 capful (5 ml) for each 50 gallons of new water. For smaller doses, please note each cap thread is approximately 1 ml. This dose removes approximately 0.6 mg/L ammonia, 3 mg/L chloramine, or 4 mg/L chlorine.
May be added to aquarium directly, but better if added to new water first. If adding directly to aquarium, base the dose on aquarium volume. Sulfur odor is normal. For exceptionally high chloramine concentrations, a double dose may be used safely.

To detoxify nitrite in an emergency, up to 5 times normal dose may be used. If temperature is > 86°F and chlorine or ammonia levels are low, use a half dose.

Principal Ingredients: Bisulfites and hydrosulfites, aqueous solution, buffered at pH 8, with ameliorating ingredients. Reducing agents.


----------



## witamygreatdanes (Sep 2, 2012)

OMG! How do you test for nitrate levels... I have been doing PH and ammonia testing, is this something different again?


----------



## fusion (Jun 21, 2012)

witamygreatdanes said:


> OMG! How do you test for nitrate levels... I have been doing PH and ammonia testing, is this something different again?


If you get the API master test kit, it has PH, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate all in one kit, yes you need to test Nitrites and Nitrates


----------



## cambelsoop (Mar 31, 2012)

Can tank size have nothing to do with these **** holes getting worse I feel so bad for this Oscar ... Like I'm a terrible person. And now my other Oscar is starting to get some spots and holes on his forehead... I'm searching for a bigger tank like a 150 gal... Right now they r in a 55 with other fish.. I kno I kno it's two small but can that be a reason for the HITH... My water levels r normal. The diet is good. Pellets, wafers,flakes, and some blood worms and beef heart like twice a week.. No more live goldfish or minnows.... I can't understand y he's getting worse.. Unless is the tank size... Which again I've seen people have their oscars in a 20-30 gal... I kno that's waaaay too small but they didn't have HITH ... What do I do without medicating the whole tank again... I don't have another small tank to make a hospital tank...

Thank you for ur help and sorry for the one big run on sentence I'm in a rush lol 
SooP


----------

