# hole in head?



## beccam (Nov 16, 2010)

i noticed on one of my fish this morning little dots all over his face. 









No other fish are showing these signs,
just did a water test everything came back clear
they eat dainichi foods ( XL pro, Color fx, ultima krill)

could this be hole in the head? and if so what would have caused it only in this one.

Thanks!

Rebecca


----------



## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

Fish will show disease symptoms at different times, depending on stress, immune response, age, etc. So only having one fish sick is pretty normal.

Great picture, but I'm having a bit of trouble seeing which spots are on the fish or in the water or on the glass. I can see the small white pits on top of his nose, but are the spots under his eye, just above his lip and under his jaw also what you are talking about?

Is there any sign of slime or swelling? If we are only talking about the small pits on top of his nose, I'd just keep an eye on it for changes. If the other spots are what we're talking about, they look a bit like columnaris, which would require serious treatment.


----------



## beccam (Nov 16, 2010)

sorry about the water spots... i went and circled the spots that are concerning me with red. there isn't any slime or 'fluff' in or around them. i have read up on the Columnaris and he isn't showing any of the symptoms. it sounds really nasty.


----------



## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

No apologies necessary- it was a great picture, I just needed clarification.  I'm glad it doesn't look like columnaris, although that can be treated.

A common treatment for HITH is metronidazole- which can be given in food and/or the water column. Even better news is that metro doesn't stress fish or the biofilter, and is safe to use proactively.

The sudden appearance of the pock marks seems odd to me- are you sure you didn't notice them before? Does this fish get into a lot of fights?


----------



## beccam (Nov 16, 2010)

not to sound like a bad fish owner..... but i don't pay a ton of attention to him, i have another very nice looking male and a female who mate often, therefore my eyes tend to follow them.... i have over 50 fish in my tank. i have thoroughly checked all my fish now, and he still appears to be the only one. he's not a fighter at all, up until wed this week i have not had a single fight in my tank ( the fight broke out between 2 of my male red fin borleyi and no one else was involved) i know loaches are sensitive to medication, would the metronidazole hurt them? i do have other tanks i can treat him in if absolutely necessary, i would rather not try.... my tank is 2.5 feet deep.... huge pain to pull them out.

thank you for all your help and information on this, i do really appreciate it!

Becca


----------



## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

I'd wait for right now- keep an eye on him (color, weight, size of pocks). Clean water is probably the best treatment for HITH anyway- so instead of medicating at this stage, I recommend increasing the frequency and size of your water changes.

If you see the pits changing in size or color, try to grab another photo and we'll go from there. :thumb:


----------



## kman108 (Jun 5, 2010)

one of my prize peacocks displayed a similar array of pock marks around it's face. I started to get a bit worried that it might be HITH. There was one particular pock mark on the top of it's head that didn't seem to be a sensory pit and it was quite large. Did some water changes and now it seems to be going away, although i can't be quite sure about it. Crossing my fingers. I've had other peacocks/haps/mbuna in the past that have shown this sort of thing and it has always gone away.

i've also had suspicions that maybe it could be clorine "burns" from my water changes, i dunno.


----------

