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I am new to this board and want to thank you for such a nice welcome! It seemed my message posted twice which I apologize for. I don't recall doing that and I get annoyed when people post their same comment repeatedly. I will be very careful in the future! Unfortunately, Grouper, my Tiger Oscar, has become ill. A friend of mine came over and noticed a lesion on his face and by one eye that looked like small clearly demarkated hole that had been scooped out with a mellon baller! Grouper suddenly had decreased activity but his appetitie stayed moderate - nothing like he usually is, though, which was ravenous just a few days ago! My friend said he has seen this before & it is known as "Hole in the Head" disease - sounds frightening and it has been! My poor Grouper! Since his tank is so clean, I started treatment right away - after looking on this board and elsewhere on the Internet. I used "Jungle" Brand "Parasite Clear" Tank Buddies one tablet treatment for 10 U.S. gallons of aquarium water. This consisted of 2 large fizzy tablets of: praziquantel, Chlorophenyl, 6-difluorobenzamide, metrodiazone, and acriflavine and I followed the package instructions. By the next day, I had noticed his "snout"( for the lack of a better term,) was more white than it had ever been previously. He was lethargic, laying at the bottom of the tank so his face was by the filter where it sucks the water in (I had removed the charcoal from the filter as the medication treatment instructions suggested.) That day he ate reasonably well. I work long, odd shifts and wasn't able to repeat the treatment after 48 hours like the instructions said you could, but the vague directions didn't specifically say that you must give a 2nd treatment. I removed 25% of aquarium water. I did this 4 days later than the recommended 48 hours after initial treatment. In the meantime, I fed him as much as he'd eat, make sure no debris was collecting in the aquarium and then added 5 heaping tablespoons of aquarium salt since my sweetie, who had completely emptied the tank and cleaned it out just a week ago and I just realized we'd never replaced any sodium! I then added "Hartz All In One Instant Water Conditioner" as directed for a 20 gallon tank. The next day, his red color was coming back to his "snout," he wasn't aggressive about eating but I fed him small amounts over time & he did fine. I turned the air stone off before feeding him his main meal to acclimate him to calm water then fed him which seemed successful. I have been alternating between the Hikari sticks for carniverous fish and actual canned tuna drained of the spring water, which he seems to really like. Tonight (2/22), I emptied a little more than 25% of the aquarium water and added warmed Sparkletts water and maintained a steady temperature. I repeated the 2 "Jungle Parasite Clear" fizzy tabs, observed him for about 2 hours then turned out his light so he can sleep. I can indeed tell when he is asleep and his is able to sleep. He still recognizes us but his reaction times seem slower. I realize this condition is frequently fatal. I am a regsistered nurse so if you have anything to tell me from your past experiences that is brutally honest, I prefer you tell me as I can handle it. Of course I am going to cry and feel sorrowful but I certainly wouldn't hold any ill will towards you. I would like to know the best way to proceed. I can objectively say he looks better since treatment than before, which is all one can hope for at this point.
I welcome hearing anyones' experiences - good or bad - about Hole In the Head Disease. I am open to ideas as to what else I may be able to do to try to get Grouper feeling well again. I would be interested in what you think of me feeding him tuna canned in spring water. I would be interested in what you feed your Oscar to vary his diet. I have recently fed him "meal worms" rinsed of the sawdust (or whatever the powder is that they live
in.) Are "meal worms" truly a good source of nutrition? I am personally unable to feed my Oscar live gold fish or feeder fish. I am open to any comments and look forward to hearing from you when you have the time. Thank you for your attention.
Just bein' -
OriginL





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Originally posted by OriginL
I am new to this board and want to thank you for such a nice welcome! It seemed my message posted twice which I apologize for. I don't recall doing that and I get annoyed when people post their same comment repeatedly. I will be very careful in the future! Unfortunately, Grouper, my Tiger Oscar, has become ill. . . .[clipped] . . . I can objectively say he looks better since treatment than before, which is all one can hope for at this point.
I welcome hearing anyones' experiences - good or bad - about Hole In the Head Disease.

Looks to me like you are doing fine with the treatment. The fact that Grouper is eating and responding to you is excellent, and his color is coming back. My only personal experience with HITH is as follows (This happened in mid 1997 or :

"HITH attacked one of my Oscars recently. Up to this date, I had never actually treated a case of HITH. Fortunately, what I'd learned through study and word of mouth about the disease must be accurate, because I discovered that the outbreak was very treatable and the lesions, although aggressive, healed over very quickly. From the onset of the disease to the healing of the lesions took only about 2 weeks. Here's what happened:
One of my 50 gallon aquariums has two grown Oscars (Felixia and Napoleon) and a 5 inch Dempsey, in addition to a 12 inch Pleco and a little 3 Spot Gourami that the Cichlids ignore for some reason. At about the beginning of August, two holes began to appear just to the front and a little to the sides of Felixia's dorsal fin. At first I dismissed them as injuries; sometimes Cichlid tanks do get a bit aggressive. There was tufts of mold over both lesions at this time. Usually, injuries like this heal up in a week or so; however, these holes continued to grow. A week after the disease first appeared, there were several additional lesions beginning to grow on her, particularly by the gill covers and along the top lateral line. (Cichlids, you may recall, have two lateral lines instead of the usual single line.) The mold disappeared from the original holes, which continued to grow rapidly. It was at that time that I realized I had a case of HITH.
Felixia appeared to be feeling no discomfort during the onset. She ate normally and exhibited none of her usual signs of stress (rapid breathing, lying on the bottom of the aquarium, aggressiveness, etc.). I tested the water for nitrites and ammonia. After I was certain that aquarium conditions were ideal, I headed off to the local LFS, where I got a couple packages of Clout, a general aquaria medicine that treats protozoan and viral diseases. I removed the activated carbon from the filter, ceased feeding, and treated the aquarium with Clout for 4 days. After the first day the holes ceased growing, and during the rest of the treatment they appeared to "dry up", so to speak. After the treatment, I did a 50% water change and resumed normal feeding. Over the next 3 or 4 days, the lesions healed completely and are covered with a new layer of scales. It's evident where the larger holes were, because there are slight indents in those areas, but they are completely healed.

So, how did Felixia get HITH? I'm not certain. The only recommendation I did not follow from the discussion on HITH that follows is feeding a diverse, interesting diet. Felixia was eating only a couple of varieties of processed foods in addition to the occasional feeder goldfish."

I have recently fed him "meal worms" rinsed of the sawdust (or whatever the powder is that they live in.)

Oatmeal

Are "meal worms" truly a good source of nutrition?

Yes

I am open to any comments and look forward to hearing from you when you have the time. Thank you for your attention.
Just bein' -
OriginL

Probably the best, most balanced, information on HITH is at this link:

http://www.worldcichlids.com/diseases/Adamhith.html

That site is mirrored here at CichlidFISH, but I have been unable to link to it in the past couple of days. Worldcichlids dot com is maintained by one of our admins here at CichlidFISH (Tony -- Oscar2001) Just keep following the directions on the "Jungle" Brand "Parasite Clear" that you got, and Grouper should heal up -- GL and keep us posted!:thumbsup:

--Mark:cool:

That site is mirrored here at CichlidFISH, but I have been unable to link to it in the past couple of days.

http://www.cichlidfish.com/Adam/hith.html