My 3 y/o Discus has hole in the head, please help her!

Today I found out my favorite fish "Jackie" ( I would like to think
she is a girl) has hole in the head.
She has not lost her appetite & is behaving normally except for
sometimes trying to scratch herself on the driftwood.
I read somewhere on the net that earthworms fed to the fish by itself
will cure it without a need to use medication, I will also perform
50% water change twice a week until she cures herself & then go back to
my maintenance schedule of a 50% water change every other week.
I would like to stick to the earthworm method because I never liked
the Idea of using medication on my tank, and my former quarantine tanks
1 is full of guppy fry and the other, a 30 gallon tank is empty & has
no filter, so If i were to use medication it would have to be in the
main tank.
My x girlfriend added the rams, the gouramis & a female guppy without
placing them in quarantine before introducing them to the tank. But
maybe that is not part of the problem, or perhaps I am wrong.
If anyone has an advice Jackie & I will be very grateful. And if anyone
thinks different I encourage them to post their advice anything that
can be useful.

Thanks in advance.


55 gallon Tank
Emperor 400 Power Filter
ph 6.8-7.0
Temp 82-84
ammonia nitrites & nitrates 0
5 Aponogeton plants from Wal-Mart

1 6" Discus
2 4" Clown Loaches
8 Cardinal Tetras
5 Fancy Guppies
5 Ottos
5 Amano Shrimp
2 Dwarf Gouramis
3 Zebra Danios
2 German Blue Rams

i have a book, the disease is actually called hole-in-the-head or HLLS
with stands for head and lateral line erosion

symptoms says pit like holes in the head of the fish
also says the fish will act normal, fed normaly, wont appear to have any
discomfort.

causes: the exact cause of HLLE is poorly understood but it is generally
thought to be environmental nature, involving such parameters as
improper water quality, nutritional deficiency and generalized stress,
also goes on to say that oscars fed solely on feeder fish will get this.
also says high nitrate levels and overcrowding are othger predisposing
factors.,

heres what it says for treatment...

this condition has been aressted and reversed by improvments in water
quality, peforming more frequent and larger partial water changes,
better diet and eliminating agressive fish from the tank

some imput i have, i usely do a 30% water change every week, i have not
seen this problem in and of my fish, i have some pretty agressive fish.
there not big enough for feeder yet, so i feed them just a flake or
pellet. something i read out of the book for also says ur fish wont get
all the vitamins, etc that he needs for a good diet just on feeders, so
if ur feeding it just feeders, maybe u should get some flake too. or
zucchini once in a while, they will also eat spinach, lima beans,
romaine lettuce.


hope this helps with any questions u had, i didnt read anything on
worms. so i dont know.. my books just says better water... get u a test
kit if u dont have one $30 and u can test for everything. btw the book i
have is on cuchlids very good book by barons.
DelfinThen.DeleteThis@gmail.com wrote:
> Today I found out my favorite fish "Jackie" ( I would like to think
> she is a girl) has hole in the head.
> She has not lost her appetite & is behaving normally except for
> sometimes trying to scratch herself on the driftwood.
> I read somewhere on the net that earthworms fed to the fish by itself
> will cure it without a need to use medication, I will also perform
> 50% water change twice a week until she cures herself & then go back to
> my maintenance schedule of a 50% water change every other week.
> I would like to stick to the earthworm method because I never liked
> the Idea of using medication on my tank, and my former quarantine tanks
> 1 is full of guppy fry and the other, a 30 gallon tank is empty & has
> no filter, so If i were to use medication it would have to be in the
> main tank.
> My x girlfriend added the rams, the gouramis & a female guppy without
> placing them in quarantine before introducing them to the tank. But
> maybe that is not part of the problem, or perhaps I am wrong.
> If anyone has an advice Jackie & I will be very grateful. And if anyone
> thinks different I encourage them to post their advice anything that
> can be useful.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
> 55 gallon Tank
> Emperor 400 Power Filter
> ph 6.8-7.0
> Temp 82-84
> ammonia nitrites & nitrates 0
> 5 Aponogeton plants from Wal-Mart
>
> 1 6" Discus
> 2 4" Clown Loaches
> 8 Cardinal Tetras
> 5 Fancy Guppies
> 5 Ottos
> 5 Amano Shrimp
> 2 Dwarf Gouramis
> 3 Zebra Danios
> 2 German Blue Rams
>