Hole in the Head

stlouiscards8 · 11-01-2009, 03:26 PM

My catfish has hole in the head and I have been doing consistent water changes and monitoring the water parameters. I have also been feeding him a better diet including shrimp pellets, sinking wafers, krill, bloodworms, and frozen brine shrimp. Also I have been soaking all the freeze dried food in Vita-Chem. I was just wondering how long it would take to notice any differences in his spots on his head. Anybody have any experience with this issue?

tonymac · 02-26-2010, 03:03 AM

14 or 15 years ago I made the mistake of keeping an agressive Synodontis Eupterus with Striped Raphael. The Raphael got tired of his nonsense and stuck my Syno with what I later found out were poison filled barbs on the tips of its pectoral fins. The Synodontis developed the worst case of Head and Lateral line Erosion(HLE) I have ever seen. His lateral line actually disappeared on one whole side of his body-it looked like a series of white blotches- which even appeared on his head. I quickly seperated them and to make a long story short the Synodontis outlived the Raphael by a couple of years. The HLE started in '96 or '97 and he lived until '02 or early '03. I compare HLE in fish to clogged arteries or heart or liver disease in humans-it kills slowly. So keep taking good care of it and your catfish should live several more years. In my experience you can't reverse HLE you can only stop it from spreading. Good Luck.
Go Cards

11-01-2009, 03:26 PM	#1
stlouiscards8 Teenie Weenie Fish Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 18	Hole in the Head My catfish has hole in the head and I have been doing consistent water changes and monitoring the water parameters. I have also been feeding him a better diet including shrimp pellets, sinking wafers, krill, bloodworms, and frozen brine shrimp. Also I have been soaking all the freeze dried food in Vita-Chem. I was just wondering how long it would take to notice any differences in his spots on his head. Anybody have any experience with this issue?

02-26-2010, 03:03 AM	#2
tonymac Teenie Weenie Fish Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 13	14 or 15 years ago I made the mistake of keeping an agressive Synodontis Eupterus with Striped Raphael. The Raphael got tired of his nonsense and stuck my Syno with what I later found out were poison filled barbs on the tips of its pectoral fins. The Synodontis developed the worst case of Head and Lateral line Erosion(HLE) I have ever seen. His lateral line actually disappeared on one whole side of his body-it looked like a series of white blotches- which even appeared on his head. I quickly seperated them and to make a long story short the Synodontis outlived the Raphael by a couple of years. The HLE started in '96 or '97 and he lived until '02 or early '03. I compare HLE in fish to clogged arteries or heart or liver disease in humans-it kills slowly. So keep taking good care of it and your catfish should live several more years. In my experience you can't reverse HLE you can only stop it from spreading. Good Luck. Go Cards