I got a beautiful Green Terror from a guy who was going to dispose of it because it has hole in it's head. I talked him into letting me take him to see if I could heal him. I've done a little research but not really finding anything definite so I thought I ask you guys....

Is there any medicine I can give him? Is it curable? Whats the best method of treating it? Etc... Any advice would be great as I've never dealt with this before.

Thanks

Don't know about medicine, but ultra clean quality water and a good varied diet are the best thing for it. I have always believed water quality is the biggest contributor to HITH. Diet may also contribute. Do 40-50% water changes every couple of days for several weeks and make sure you are feeding quality foods and vary the foods. Even if you just rotate the kind of pellets you are feeding it will make a difference. Cheap food is something to avoid in my opinion. IE Walmart brands. Keep to well known brands and maybe some cut shrimp or earthworms once in awhile and you will be surprised how well it recovers. Try to stay away from live feeders unless it is something you are growing out yourself.

Depending on how bad a case it has, it may go completely away or may leave scars.

as mentioned clean water, clean water, good food.
I found this mdeication helpful METRONIDAZOLE:

www.bigalsonline.com/edealinv/servlet/Ex...p;CAWELAID=388702542

Cool, thx for the advice. Thats pretty much what I gathered from Internet searches. The guy didn't know a lot about them and was only changing the water, not cleaning the gravel, plus I could see lots of pellet food laying on the bottom starting to mold...

He said the hole has doubled in size over a couple weeks and I'd say it's 1/4" to 3/8" in diameter now. He is very lethargic and just lays on the bottom of the tank. His color is still good and seem to be breathing ok but just lies there. When he does move he doesn't swim around, just kind of drags him self along the bottom...

I put him in a empty 15 gal that I had. I know it's a little small but since he doesn't move I figured it would be ok for now. I tried a little flake food and a few pellets but he doesn't seem interested. I hoping once he gets use to the new water that his appetite will return. Unfortunately I have been getting my flake food at walmart but the pellet food I get from a lady up north who gets it in bulk and says it's high quality. (my other fish like it and I think she sells to a few other people on here...)

Do you have any suggestions on brands and types to alternate between? What ever you think is the best diet for him let me know and I get some.

Thx again for the help...

Yeah that Wardley food is junk!it's all grains... See if you can tempt him to eat with an earthworm, or maybe let some rosies swim around, water is medicated anyway...

How big is he? If he's a good size he can go a day or two w/o food..15 gal sounds a bit small.?.?..don't overfeed....change water daily, as advised by Clint....

He looks full grown to me. ( 6"-7" ) I have plenty of other empties i can move him to, that one was just up and running at the time so I did like a 80% water change and put him in for now.

So when you say earth worms do I just go outside and find some or buy them at the store?

** Sorry for all the questions... I only have Africans so I'm not that familiar with the larger CA's...

If you can find earthworm outside they should work as long as you can be sure they haven't been around any pesticide lately. I usually by a tub of red wigglers at the bait store and feed them as long as they last.

I use the pellets from up north too. I also use hikari, ken's and I just ordered some from angels plus that everyone seems to like. I also have earthworm sticks that I just ordered. Some seem to like them, some are unsure. They are fairly new so I will give them awhile to get used to them.

A bigger tank would definately be better. It will be harder to keep the water clean in a 15. If you have a 40 or 55 gal, that would be better. Let us know how it does.

Well I moved him into a 30 gal later that night and got him some medicine and night crawlers yesterday. I'm still a little worried b/c he still wont eat. I've tried several different things and wasn't interested in any of it. Just lies with his belly on the bottom of the tank and when he does try to swim around his belly still drags along the bottom...

I went ahead and treated the tank and will be doing water changes every other day as per dosage instructions. Hopefully he will snap out of it and start getting better...

Few fish will eat if they are sick! Do the daily water changes with meds and try feeding him in about 3 days.

I think HITH is a combination of water quality and diet. I had a Chocolate cichlid that would get HITH at the drop of a hat, but he was a very picky eater. I found that providing vitamin C in the form of orange slices to the crickets and worms that I fed him would help clear up HITH rather quickly if he started to show signs. I do 50% water changes once a week in the warmer months as well. Hope that helps some.

xdoomsongx wrote:



Vitamin C interesting? I used to have 4 oscars in the same tank one would get HITH, the other 3 never did. The orgin of HITH has always baffled me? for years I thought it was tied to nutrition, then then as the HITH takes hold bacterial infections occur in the pits.

Never thought of Vit C as most animals are capable of producing internally...I only thought Guinea pigs needed supplementation.

Vit C added to the water would that affect PH? since it's an acid base? I was thinking about using an Orange slice in a seaweed clip.
attached to the glass in the aquarium..thoughts? or just dose pellets with vit drops?

I honestly can't remember when or who might have told me about the vitamin C. If I start to notice signs of HITH I get crickets and worms, though I usually have some worms around, and then gut load them with orange. The crickets will eat the orange, the worms I just kind of squeeze the orange on to whatever I have in the box for them. I will say that I haven't had a fish get HITH really bad for a long time so it may just be effective at onset, if it helps at all. I certainly feel it does though. Keep us posted on how the fish does, hope it will start eating after a fast.

I found this info BUT I HAVE NOT TRIED IT so I am only posting as a possible option. I would wait and see what the others that have had success treating this would say to the info I found before trying it. I hope the fish gets better!!!

Dennis B

Hole in the Head, Head and Lateral Line Erosion
Symptoms - Small holes or indentations in the head of fish, sometimes markings along the lateral line of the fish. Loss of appetite.
Cause - No scientifically proven cause. May be due to poor water quality, lack of nutrition (vitamin D and calcium), use of activated carbon for too long.
Contagious? - Yes.
Treatment - Frequent water changes, vitamin enriched foods, add greens to the diet, decrease the amount of beef heart fed, discontinue activated carbon use. Use a medication such as Paragon or Hole N Head Guard.
Prevention - Regular water changes to promote tank health, a vitamin enriched and varied diet.
Mortality Rate - High as it is difficult to cure

Well he's finally started eating but not much. First he ate a piece of flake food and that went on for a few days and would only eat one piece each feeding. Over the weekend he finally snatched up half a night crawler so I was pretty excited. The medicine said to treat every other day up to three times so that didn't last long and unfortunately the hole doesn't seem to be getting any smaller. I still do the water changes every other day but I'm still a little worried by the amount of time thats gone by with out much improvement.

I could be wrong, but I don't think the holes in the head will go away. I think you can stop them from growing, but once they are there, they don't seem to fully heal. I could be wrong, but I read that in a book somewhere.