Hith?

[oif_vet]

I recently finished cycling my new 75g tank (it took way longer than expected!) and was given a 4 inch Oscar by a friend to join my 2 Convicts. Four days after being in the tank, I noticed a loose flap of skin on his forehead. It has since fell off and left a slight indentation in the center of his forehead. I suspected this might be hole in the head syndrome, but I am not sure if it is normal for the flap of skin to hang on his head when developing the condition. From what I understood, HITH is a gradual indentation in the head that does not come so dramatically. Is it possible my new fish sustained his injuries by colliding with something in the tank or is this most likely HITH? I know he often chases the Convicts and it seems plausible that he wounded himself on one of the hiding spaces in the tank. I currently have .5 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrite, and 20 ppm nitrate and feed a very varied diet. I am also looking to control the ammonia, but I wouldn't think those levels could cause HITH so quickly. Any ideas?

 

[minxfishy]

Oscars are notoriously clumsy and often scrape themselves on ornaments/wood etc causing scale damage. Normally with good clean water and a couple of extra water changes (maybe add some melafix) these heal up quickly without any lasting damage. HITH is normally caused by poor water conditions and a bad diet. So I doubt its HITH - YET. Obviously left in bad water .5ppm of ammonia whilst not life threatening isnt good, so a water change to keep the ammonia level at 0 will help and a poor diet and it could worsen the injury or develop into HITH. So keep on top of the water changes, feed him a good quality cichlid pellet as a staple diet, along with some thing like bloodworms, prawn, some cooked shelled peas occassionally and Im sure it will clear up in no time.