Hole in head!!??

Not one to panic, but a realist. Does appear to HIH disease? She (yes, she’s a she) is currently breeding, fry just started feeding off her slime when I noticed what appears to be an ulceration of some type.

PARAMETERS
pH 6
Temp 88°f
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10-20
Hardness 2° dKH

Normal activity (breeding), fecal matter solid dark brown, body color darkish blue (breeding). All seems normal except this ulcer/wound.
What do I do at this point if it’s HIH disease? If not what else could it be?
She is my favorite of all my fish, she eats from my hand and when I clean the aquarium she will rub against my hand, she’s a character...HELP
Thanks
Eric

It's a fairly shallow abrasion type wound, not to sure if it's HITH. I would get some pure metro on hand just in case it progresses, but for now I would get your nitrates <5, max 10 on before wc's and add salt 5tbsp/10gal and replace each WC.

Thanks Daniel. I will get nitrates down I’m using an AWC unit currently and doing approx 100% aged water but will now add salt dose as prescribed. IF it is HITH, what is the dose of metronidazole?
Thanks
Eric

Thanks Daniel, I’m currently using an AWC unit (see pic) to perform approximately 100% WC/day of heated, aged, aerated, ro/di water. I will start adding salt as prescribed. IF it is HITH disease what dose of metronidazole should be used, how long is normal treatment (in humans it can be 250-500mg 2-3 times/day for 5-10 days depending on organism I have no idea in the aquatic world), will it affect the nitrifying bacteria, and should I treat just the female in a separate breeder tank?
Thanks
Eric

I dose .05grams(50mg) per gallon once daily for 10 days straight. I also do 50% - 80% WC between each dose.

The dose frequency used in humans is why I dose 500mg/10 gal twice daily. I have dosed 3 times daily but it does not work when I am on my 12 hour shift cycles. Metro is only active in the water column/blood stream for 8hours. I think many people dose daily here on SD and have good outcomes treating Hex and HITH disease, but since metro is very mild on the fish itself I dose twice and change 50% water once daily. The gram strain bacteria metro treats is the opposite gram strain of the BB colony and therefore Metro does not effect the nitrifying bacteria. The length of treatment has to do with the lifecycle length of the Hex parasite more so, but since Hex is present in almost every aquatic environment and can flare up in stressful situations, like HITH, the 10 treatment option is best to cover all bases.

Awesome, I just picked up some metro will dose right away
Thanks everyone!

Do you have nitrates present in your tap water? 20 is high since your AWC system changes 100%/day. Does your AWC empty then fill or is it a constant trickle & overflow? The reason I ask is because the constant trickle & overflow systems mix clean and dirty water and never fully dilutes the bioload, so everything slowly creeps up over time. When the system empties and then fills it fully replaces dirty with clean keeping dissolved waste consistently low. If you have the trickle in trickle out system you could mitigate by doing 1 manual empty/fill per week to bring everything back down. How does your system work?

The AWC is based on the distance between 2 sensors. That distance could be a gallon or 100 gallons (tank or sump dependent). I think I’m going to make the distance greater (maybe 30%, and calculate once with 5 gallon buckets, if that makes sense). My water reservoir is a 55 gallon food grade barrel fed by a ro/di (150 gallon/day). Waste water goes down the washing machine drain.

Hi Eric, is this fish carrying fry?
Pat

Hey Pat,
Yes, at the time it was. I set up a 40b for the pair yesterday, they lay eggs and get to fry on slime b4 some tank inhabitant(s) gobbles them up.
Eric