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I have 2, 5 inch oscars in a 55 gallon tank and they seem to have gotten HITH. I feed them different things like worms, crickets, cichlid sticks, cichlid pellets, and live feeder fish. I don't know but I thought the better the variety of food the more supplements they get and they shouldn't be disease e as much as those with a bad diet. It seems to come and go on the fish. They have good water quality. Filtration includes an aquatech 30-60 and a marineland magnum 350 pro with biowheels. What am I doing wrong? I also change some of the water about every 2 weeks and give the gravel a good cleaning. OSCARS ARE MESSY! Can someone give me some advice?

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HITH can also be related to water quality. What are your test results for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?
I would also advise upping your water changes to weekly.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

This is a good artical also

[link=http://www.aquasource.org/CMS/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=48&page=1]http://www.aquasource.org/CMS/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=48&page=1" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link]

As a discus keeper, I consider HITH to be both a water quality and food quality problem. Since your fish are oscars, I can easily envision overfeeding the begging animals with a result of declining water conditions. You can test your water quality by taking a sample of the water to your local fish store and ask them to run a nitrate test. I'll bet you nitrates are well above the 20 ppm recommended maximum. If you are, then it means water changes on a regular basis to get them down and a Nitrate test kit to keep track. Assume that you will need at least a 25% water change each week. More is better, say 25% every 3 days.

Beyond water conditions, I would feed the fish a balance of cichlid chow and earthworms. Forget the feeder goldfish as they are likely to carry disease. The cichlid chow from Hikari or other manufacturer will contain necessary nutrients and vitamins. Eartworms will be the treat!

Last edited by Bob Wesolowski at 24-Sep-2005 07:43

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

With fish that eat live food, ammonia is a problem. The dead fish that are missed or in half can really raise the ammonia. You may want to cut back on some of the live food.

cut the live food out unless you grow your own feeders the chance of you getting major funkys is in evitable stick witha a dry or frozen food and at least a weekly water change my cousin has his oscar tank plumded in and be prepared to get a bigger tank they get way to big for a 55

HTH can also be a result of lack of vitamins and nutrients-try to soak your pellets/sticks in zoe, zoecon, or vitachem, which will provide essential vitamins.

I'm probably going to get seriously reprimanded for this, but when my guys were battling it I put low levels of salt in the water - it doesn't help clear up the hole in the head but they never got any secondary infections and I think it helped to heal the wounds from the hole in the head - just a thought. Wish I could tell you how to cure it but I lost the battle..... :#(