Hole in head disease,, need help!

[lenjaisb]

Problem

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?

Discus have holes in the head, start noticing it about a month ago


2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds).

All discus are eating fine but the holes in the head are developing. Seeing more hold and getting bigger


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.

I tried to treat with Metronidazole for Hexamita but no success



Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.

Tank 130 gallons, 3 months old. 10 discus, 12 Black neons and 8 corydoras


5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).

40% everyday with age and treated water.


6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?

3 months old talk, bare bottom. 60x24x24


7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.

I age my water for 24h to match temperature, treat with water conditioner before adding to the tank.


8. What type/brand water conditioner do you use? Do you add it to the tank or aging barrel? How much do you use?

Sachaem Prime, I add the water conditioner to the barrel and mix prior adding to the tank


9. Parameters and water source;
Note: Water Parameters are important in diagnosing problems within a tank. If you don't own test kits for the following information, you can purchase them, test your parameters and post this info as soon as possible.


- temp __87___

- ph __7.6___

- ammonia reading __0__

- nitrite reading __0__

- nitrate reading __10__

What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.

- well water ____

- municipal water _100___

- RO water ____


10. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
no


11. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.

They are feed on a mixte of flake, pellets and homemade beef heart. 4-5 times a day. Last meal of the day if the beef heart followed with water change.



12. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.

The left image is taking on may 25 at the end of the Metronidazole treatment.
Right image is on June 16 when I notice the hole are getting bigger and still speading


https://i.ibb.co/2SLy9yN/hith.jpghith.jpg

[jeep]

HITH can be caused by several different reasons - water, diet, environment, filtration, hex, etc...

Your water change schedule seems sufficiently good. Nitrates excellent! You feed a varied diet but do you add vitamins and minerals to the BH? Do you know the KH of your water? The TDS? A lack of minerals can contribute to HITH. What kind of filtration? Carbon is believed to be a cause as well.

Hexamita is not really considered to be the cause of HITH but rather an effect. Hex is opportunistic and can infect an existing problem. Is this affecting one fish or several? If only one then it would be much easier to treat in a smaller hospital tank.

I would keep up with your water change routine, add 1-2 TBS salt per 10 gallons, feed a varied diet with a solid vitamin and mineral content, raise the temp to 90 and remove any carbon in the filtration if present. If you want to treat for hex again, treatment for hex is best at 93 degrees with metro.

[lenjaisb]

HITH can be caused by several different reasons - water, diet, environment, filtration, hex, etc...

Your water change schedule seems sufficiently good. Nitrates excellent! You feed a varied diet but do you add vitamins and minerals to the BH? Do you know the KH of your water? The TDS? A lack of minerals can contribute to HITH. What kind of filtration? Carbon is believed to be a cause as well.

Hexamita is not really considered to be the cause of HITH but rather an effect. Hex is opportunistic and can infect an existing problem. Is this affecting one fish or several? If only one then it would be much easier to treat in a smaller hospital tank.

I would keep up with your water change routine, add 1-2 TBS salt per 10 gallons, feed a varied diet with a solid vitamin and mineral content, raise the temp to 90 and remove any carbon in the filtration if present. If you want to treat for hex again, treatment for hex is best at 93 degrees with metro.

thank you first of all for taking your time for answering.

That's what's troubling for HITH, it seems that we cannot yet pinpoint what is the exact cause of it.

all the discus are showing HITH;

The beef heart recipe is compost of beef heard, salmon, shrimps, spinach, multivitamins and gelatin.
I only feed these once a day as I find it very polluting, I do water change right after their BH meal.

For the filtration, I currently run Fluval G6 rated for 160gallons + a sponge filter that was in place since the start in case I need to make an hospital tank. It does not have carbon filter.
I do my water changes daily with vaccuming the top and bottom of the tank. the mechanical filter is also rinse daily.

For the TDS, my filter indicate 370.

[jeep]

Have you ever treated for internal parasites? Also, can you post more images?

[CliffsDiscus]

Spironucleus protozoan disease inhabitant of the intestinal tract in many fish. Clean water is the way to control any out break the medication use for this disease is metro a!so known as flagyl and hexout.


Cliff