Help! My cichlid has hole in the head...

I noticed last night that my cichlid has hole in the head desease :wondering:
What should i do? I am going to seperate the fish this evening into a 'hospital' tank.
Hoping that my other fish wont get this disease... My plan of action is to up the vitamins by feeding a variety diet, & do 20% water change every 3 days. Am also going to up the temp to 28degrees. Only prob is that he doesnt seem to eat. Any ideas? Could i possibly treat the water with something seeing that he has lost his appetite? I hope this hasnt gone too far already...:blink1:

 

Add salt.

 

What kind of cichlid?

There are certain medications for hole in the head (I'm sure there's one by WaterLife). But yes, more variety in the diet with cleaner water does help.

As far as the feeding goes, try something that he won't resist - frozen foods work well.

 

what cichlid is it and do you have carbon in the filters?

 

honestly not sure what kinda cichlid it is, but he is light blue. I will post a picture tomorrow. There is no carbon in the filter. Have given bloodworm, but he is not interested in eating...

 

oscar, what is your opinion regarding carbon dust and HITH?

 

read lotsa articles on "google" both for and against the argument that carbon causes or excaserbates HITH in cichlids when i was trying to cure my oscar of hers.so i took the carbon out of my filter did almost daily water changes,increased temperature and live food diet and not to much later there was'nt a sign of HITH and its never come back.one can conclude a lot from that it was just my experience.

 

As far as i know is hole in the head is caused by a parasite or bad nutrition - my recomendation get meds and treat your tank aswell.

Source - wikipedia and internet

 

is it big enough to eat a cricket?if so rather buy a tub and throw one in if he doesnt eat it it will be easier to catch it instead of polluting the water with bloodworms(i imagine their frozen)plus moving food might be more tempting to him

 

Fronkie, there is a big debate regarding carbon dust and HITH. But i also cant see how that can be. i also cant see that bad nutrition is the cause, yes it surely would contribute but it must start with a parasite. I might be wrong.

 

HITH disease is usually caused by internal parasite/bacteria, so adding salt to this equation might not be the solution.

To prevent most, if not all, diseases you need to ensure that filtration is sufficient, feeding a well balanced diet is paramount, and keeping up with weekly water changes is a must. The majority of diseases are an outbreak due to poor water quality.

In the mean time, I'd also suggest exactly what you have done, (i.e isolate him), leave the lights off, and get a good medication. Waterlife will more than likely be the best as their stuff is really good. Follow the instructions on the bottle to the last dot.

 

Zoom you are right regarding the salt, it would not cure the disease but surely would speed up recovery when it is cured. That point is not always so clear, thus adding salt from the start would just be wise/.