Hole in the head

[andyb]

I am at a loss to why my discus keep getting HITH. Over the last 4 months i have had 3 discus suffer from it, treated with Sera Med Flagellol which cleared it in a couple of days, 2 of them caught it again about a month later. Now 2 more discus have got it.
tank; 450 litre Juwel, built in filter
gravel and live plants
tank 15 months old
water change a third every 5 days
gravel clean every 10 days
11 discus 5 to 7 inch
3 corys
1 pleco
8 tetras
temp 30 c
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
ph 7
kh 3
gh 5
Use 50% RO 50% tap. Forgot to mention treated discus in hospital tank not main tank. Can anyone help, there must be something underlying thats causing it, just glad i havent lost one yet

[Eddie]

Here is my take on the matter and believe me, there are no definitive answers as to what causes HITH. My theory is that it is a combination of both internal parasites, combined with an environment/diet that is nutrient/mineral deficient. I myself experienced HITH with a group of fish one time and it was when I left on vacation for a several weeks. The fish were not fed and my water is extremely low in mineral/nutrient content (low TDS like RO). Anyways, once I started the fish back on a mineral rich diet, the pitting stopped. Since that point, my fish have never had it occur again. I just recently went on vacation for 3 weeks and before I left, I bombarded the water with minerals. The exact same fish showed no signs of progressing pits. Its simply a theory but I have a gut feeling its related to nutrient/mineral deficiencies. If some fish have internal parasites, they are being robbed of nutrients as well. So in your case, I would look into feeding a diet high in mineral content first, then move to water supplementation.

Take care,

Eddie

[Ibenu]

Eddie what would be an example of Mineral rich foods/ diet you refer too, as well dosing the water with minerals looked like what? Mircos like planted tank folk use or something else?

[Eddie]

Eddie what would be an example of Mineral rich foods/ diet you refer too, as well dosing the water with minerals looked like what? Mircos like planted tank folk use or something else?

Calcium rich foods. Something that is balanced in vitamins. For my mixes, I use Andrew Soh's Pro Growth as a vitamin source and I add Calcium Citrate powder. This is all combined with other natural ingredients such as greens and carrots.

For water, I supplement with Calcium Chloride and Cichlid Salts to load it with minerals. Brings up the mineral content so the fish can absorb nutrients from the water as well as food. ;)


Eddie

[m.ingram]

Hi Eddie
I am interested in which chichlid salts you use as my water has no gh or kh in it .I can only find seachem chichlid salts are these ok .

[andyb]

Thanks Eddie the stuff you are taking about im not sure if i can get it in England. I never mentioned what i fed my Discus. 3 times a day with frozen discus life (garlic plus) which is a seafood based discus diet, also Tetra Prima and Discus flake all 5 times a week, Beef heart, Blood worm and brine shrimp around once a week.
I use Kent marine liquid R/O right in my water changes and also use esha vitamin supplement every month.
Any idea of what i can get here in England i will pop down to the fish shop tomorrow to see what they have got but they dont have a great selection for discus,
thanks Andy

[discusscotland]

A diet lacking in vitD can lead to HITH too , so a good source is the good old earthworm .
A good and varied diet will help greatly

[Eddie]

Hi Eddie
I am interested in which chichlid salts you use as my water has no gh or kh in it .I can only find seachem chichlid salts are these ok .

Yup, thats the one.


Thanks Eddie the stuff you are taking about im not sure if i can get it in England. I never mentioned what i fed my Discus. 3 times a day with frozen discus life (garlic plus) which is a seafood based discus diet, also Tetra Prima and Discus flake all 5 times a week, Beef heart, Blood worm and brine shrimp around once a week.
I use Kent marine liquid R/O right in my water changes and also use esha vitamin supplement every month.
Any idea of what i can get here in England i will pop down to the fish shop tomorrow to see what they have got but they dont have a great selection for discus,
thanks Andy

Hmmm....maybe try adding a different product to help reconstitute the RO water. I remember another member using RO right and it not having enough calcium in it. Mind you, it was for prepping water for fry but you may want to try adding some Calcium Chloride to the water. Plus some additional salts like Cichlid salts by Seachem. You'll have to mess around with the Cichlid salts, to not add too much. It will drive your PH to 8.2 and I prefer to keep it just under that when dosing new water.

Just some thoughts


Eddie