HLLE- Hole in the Head and Weird Hump?

[Bwanny]

Hey guys I could really use your help. I've done just about everything I could think of to save this Oscar with HLLE or commonly known as Hole in the Head disease and I really don't know what to do. I currently have a 125 Gallon aquarium with 2 Oscar's and a Pink Severum. I've tried antibiotics before and after a few weeks nothing seemed to be getting better and getting antibiotics in this tank is extremely expensive. Has anyone ever had success at treating Hole in the head? If you did what did you do?

I also recently saw this protruding hump coming from my pink severum's head and I'm not sure what that is. Can someone shed a bit of light on these issues?

The filter I'm using is One Fluval FX6 canister filter. I'll soon be getting a second one to help with filtration.

I feed these fish every other day.
I do a water change once every 3-4 weeks.

PLEASE HELP!

 

[Demeter]

HITH is thought to be the result of poor water quality or diet related. I can’t remember for sure but I think it was parasite related rather than bacterial.

Your water quality looks good but weekly water changes are better. Your boy may be lacking minerals that regular water changes replace, this is what sticks out to me the most. I would exent the nitrates to be much higher in that tank. Did you recently so a water change? Just to cover all the bases, did you shake the #2 bottle for 1min and the shake the test tube for 1min? The nitrate test needs a little more attention than the other test and it is common for some to skimp on it.

Also try varying their diet and maybe even add a vitamin supplement. If that doesn’t work look into anti-parasitic meds. I can only imagine how expensive it would be treating such a large tank, perhaps quarantine the oscar for treatment.

As for the bump on the other fish, I can’t see it. Are you referring to the nuchal hump?

 

[Bwanny]

HITH is thought to be the result of poor water quality or diet related. I can’t remember for sure but I think it was parasite related rather than bacterial.

Your water quality looks good but weekly water changes are better. Your boy may be lacking minerals that regular water changes replace, this is what sticks out to me the most. I would exent the nitrates to be much higher in that tank. Did you recently so a water change? Just to cover all the bases, did you shake the #2 bottle for 1min and the shake the test tube for 1min? The nitrate test needs a little more attention than the other test and it is common for some to skimp on it.

Also try varying their diet and maybe even add a vitamin supplement. If that doesn’t work look into anti-parasitic meds. I can only imagine how expensive it would be treating such a large tank, perhaps quarantine the oscar for treatment.

As for the bump on the other fish, I can’t see it. Are you referring to the nuchal hump?

I didnt know that about the Nitrate test so I'll double check that. Also I'll try feeding them everyday from now on then and try to switch up their diet. I'll also try to do more water changes as well. What kind of vitamin supplements would you recommend? Is it added to their food?

Lastly yes that strange little hump of the Serverums head. That is a new hump that I have not seen before. I was worried it was an illness. It's not really even on both sides? I'll give it some more time.

I just recently upgraded to a 125 gallon so a lot of things are changing. A few weeks ago my sick oscar laid eggs for the first time since I've had them. Crazy.

 

[Demeter]

I've never used supplements but one I've heard often is Vita-chem:

What have you been feeding them normally? Oscars can benefit from frozen foods for people (like shrimp or muscles) and a good earth worm a couple times a week can add some natural nutrients. The occasional bug like freeze dried crickets or perhaps even meal worms would do them well also.

As for the bump, I do believe it looks like a normal nuchal hump, which is common in some mature male cichlid species. I'm not too well versed in American cichlids though so perhaps make a new thread for the severum just to make sure.

 

[Bwanny]

I've never used supplements but one I've heard often is Vita-chem:

What have you been feeding them normally? Oscars can benefit from frozen foods for people (like shrimp or muscles) and a good earth worm a couple times a week can add some natural nutrients. The occasional bug like freeze dried crickets or perhaps even meal worms would do them well also.

As for the bump, I do believe it looks like a normal nuchal hump, which is common in some mature male cichlid species. I'm not too well versed in American cichlids though so perhaps make a new thread for the severum just to make sure.

Great! Thank you so much. I checked the Nitrate levels after doing those things to the bottle and vial. You were 100% correct. Out of the 4+ years I've had fish I didnt know that they had to be shaken so vigorously. I usually shake the bottles but not a whole lot before using them and after doing that my Nitrates were over 160ppm. So I instantly did a large water change. I couldn't believe it. I guess I found the source of this poor water quality thanks to you!

I'll try switching up their diet a bit. I usually feed HicarI cichlid pellets both sinking and floating and they're always loved them. I'll look into frozen shrimp and try that as well as some bugs. I'm also going to try to get some more vitamins into their diet to promote some more healing.

 

[DIYfishkeeper]

Great! Thank you so much. I checked the Nitrate levels after doing those things to the bottle and vial. You were 100% correct. Out of the 4+ years I've had fish I didnt know that they had to be shaken so vigorously. I usually shake the bottles but not a whole lot before using them and after doing that my Nitrates were over 160ppm. So I instantly did a large water change. I couldn't believe it. I guess I found the source of this poor water quality thanks to you!

I'll try switching up their diet a bit. I usually feed HicarI cichlid pellets both sinking and floating and they're always loved them. I'll look into frozen shrimp and try that as well as some bugs. I'm also going to try to get some more vitamins into their diet to promote some more healing.

To be completely honest, withe advanced stage of hole in the head and lateral line erosion it is unlikely he is going to make it... I'm really sorry for you and feel for the loss of a beloved pet. In the future, large cichlids require a lot of maintenance, weekly 30-40% water changes and monthly filter maintenance. Dont deeply vacuum the substrate as that is part of your bio filtering. Just surface clean for decomposing matter. Make sure you don't rinse your bio media with tap water as the chlorine will kill your beneficial bacteria. The fx5 if properly maintained should be enough filtration for that tank. Good luck with your fish! I'll pray for a positive outcome with the oscar!

 

[Bwanny]

To be completely honest, withe advanced stage of hole in the head and lateral line erosion it is unlikely he is going to make it... I'm really sorry for you and feel for the loss of a beloved pet. In the future, large cichlids require a lot of maintenance, weekly 30-40% water changes and monthly filter maintenance. Dont deeply vacuum the substrate as that is part of your bio filtering. Just surface clean for decomposing matter. Make sure you don't rinse your bio media with tap water as the chlorine will kill your beneficial bacteria. The fx5 if properly maintained should be enough filtration for that tank. Good luck with your fish! I'll pray for a positive outcome with the oscar!

Thank you! I typically wash filter pads with old tank water and I never wash my media containing the beneficial bacteria. When I gravel vacuum I do dig into the substrate which I thought was supposed to help with keeping the water cleaner but now I know! Crazy I'm learning this much so far into keeping fish. It's clear I need to learn a lot more!

I'm not giving up on her yet. Shes been through a lot with this family so I'm praying for a recovery over a long fight. Shes still very responsive and eats so I just hope she keeps that up. The FX6 is holding up well with this tank so far so I'll keep cleaning the pads every month.
Thank you guys for all of your help.

If anyone has any other treatments for it please feel free to share