Disease outbreak!!!

[seecuta]

this is a bad one guys all my discus have caught what i suspect to be a water borne bacteria.

i have put a dead specimen under the mic and we saw dead flukes and signs of velvet. i didnt really dwell into it too much as i dont have much experience with the mic access is limited. but i suspect them to be loaded with pretty much everything feasibly possible! bloody discus

i have tried several treatments (all performed seperately and testing on several tanks), these include prazi, sterazin, meth blue + melachite green multi cure product, salt baths (both long and short), metronidazole, ichonex (for the velvet).

none have shown and conclusive results so some treatments were stopped early as the fish are getting worst day by day and time is running out

i have lost 2 large healthy, or was healthy specimens and tank of fry.


i am posting pics up as we speak.


thanks a bunch!

[scott bowler]

seecuta
is the slime coat comeing off the fish . what were your water test showing ? well let us know

[seecuta]

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w110/seecuta/disease/DSC04332.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w110/seecuta/disease/DSC04331.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w110/seecuta/disease/DSC04330.jpg


the full album can be viewed here
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w110/seecuta/disease/

[seecuta]

they were all in fully cycled tanks up with 0 ammonia or nitrites.

water change performed religiously

i did however purchased 10 adult discus and that would definately give them a poor water spike. i did not quarantine these fish due to lack of tanks running atm. real bad mistake.

[scott bowler]

are all the fish like this ? if so it may not be good news how low is you PH ?

[seecuta]

ph - 6.8

alot of slime coat loss but wont put it down to the plague due to the fact that they are not darkening or huddled up in a corner. the mucus coming off from the plague is a lot more than what we observe here.

[scott bowler]

ok thats good or not but when mine had it all the red or pigeon based fish didnt go dark and didnt loss much slime , this one my be a good one for the wise one merrilyn if she comes on . sorry mate good luck with it ,ill have a look at the books and see if i can find any thing scott

[nicholas76]

looks like the same bug that hit MACS fish


sorry to hear about your loss hope it encourages you to buy more and start over again.

[seecuta]

nic, dont say that

[nicholas76]

hey i dont want to scare you.

fish look semi ok, still with some degree of colour there not molting away black in colour..

i would have said velvet disease if they are shedding a great amount of slime but im not 100% convinced with those pictures.

similarities are rather scary.

merris what do you think bud?

[seecuta]

velvet was evident under the microscope but the treatment was and still is unsuccessful. currently treating with ichonex and salt. lets just hope i dont have a resistant strain of velvet.


PS: i gave them a Potassium permanganate bath yesterday to get rid of the flukes.

1 hr bath in 20ml/60ltrs with careful attention all the way through. i thought this was a fairly soft dose but it doesnt seem to be doing any good. i could even say its made the situation worst due to stress factor.

[mistakes r crucial]

Hi Seecuta,

How are the fish acting in the tank, are they head or tail standing at all or on their sides? The flukes, velvet etc will be secondary infections and keeing them at bay whilst you find the real cause is the challenge. Believe me I know why you've used so many different meds but the problem there is that eventually they could go in to toxic shock which will very often kill them anyway. My only advice would be to get a water sample and live fish to your vet to hopefully find the root of the cause.

Please don't tell me you've used Fenbendazole (Panacur) in water recently.

Best of luck with it.
MAC

[Merrilyn]

Sorry to hear of your troubles mate. Can you give me some more information. Are all the shis showing signs, both the newly purchased stock and the existing stock.

How long ago did you add the new discus.

It seems like you have several tanks. How long has this been going on, and how many fish were first involved. Was it just the one tank you put the new fish in, or did you put them in several tanks, and did they all begin to show symptoms at once, or did it go from tank to tank.

What else have you done differently in the last few weeks.

Anyone used any kind of pesticide, paint, spilled chlorine near the tanks?

As with MAC's fish, it looks like a poisoning of some kind, and that points to the water.

I need to know the results of your water tests, so can you post pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as well as temp and pH.

What do you use to treat the water, chlorine remover? ph Down, or any kind of water additives?

And the main thing, how long has this been going on.

Hopefully one of our resident medicos will see this post too, and offer some suggestions, but first we need to know the history.

[seecuta]

mac, fenbendazole was not used after reading your posts.

the problem emerged gradually as a few were quite lethargic and didnt eat or swim around actively like they used to. within in a week they began to float at the top and tilting on an angle.

this began in one tank but the problem seem to have spread to all the tanks (within 1 day) which i performed water changes on (seems to be selective to only discus). this means that the water from all these tanks are contaminated because i use the same hosings.

the only thing i did different before these symptoms began was adding seachem Prime which ive never used before. im not pointing the finger at prime in any way but this is "JUST" what happened to me.

no pesticides or toxic chemicals were spilled into the aging tank unless the it came from the water company.

the new fish were added about the same time the symptoms began, that is 2 weeks now.

i have lost 2 more adult discus today and the rest soon to follow.

im contemplating resorting to culling of all sick fish atm.

i would like to add that i still have 1 breeding pair holding 100+ fry in one tank which i refused to do any water changes since before the symptoms began. and they look 100%

MAC, Merrilyn thanks for your input guys!

PS: to add to the drama my car got vandalized at 3am last night. two windows and the rear lights were smashed before the alarm went off with me bolting out.

[seecuta]

can someone point me in the direction of a fish friendly vet. ive just wasted the last hr trying to get a consultation.

[Merrilyn]

Try this Vet

Dr Richmond Loh

TheFishVet
Highbury Vet Clinic
9808 9011

Dr Richmond Loh (BSc, BVMS)
Highbury Veterinary Clinic.
(03) 9808 9011
www.geocities.com/thefishvet

[seecuta]

thanks for that merrilyn but Dr Loh is way too far for me considering i dont even have a car anymore.

i had the discus mic'ed again today and there were no signs of velvet or flukes anymore. hence the treatment, PP 20ml/60ltrs 1hr bath, and ichonex + salt worked.

however we found tetrahymena (opportunist parasite) which confirms my first suspicion that it was bacterial.

i am now treating with doxycillin (tetracycline based antibiotic???) along with formalin+meth blue to hopefully knock off the tetrahymena.

fish will be moved to a disinfected tank in 3 days + full dose again.

will keep everyone posted.

[mistakes r crucial]

How are those fish going Seecuta? I've just noticed you said you were using Doxy. I hope you didn't get any algal/bacterial bloom issues using it.
MAC

[seecuta]

Hi MAC, the doxy and fmb treatment got to the root of the cause. I have finally got a handle on this marathon treatment and most fish are recovering and looking better. This is a pretty harsh treatment and i am still losing fish to date.

This has wiped out half my fish room and im gonna hold back from the breeding scene for a while. in the mean time, invest in UV sterilizers, books and a microscope.

[mistakes r crucial]

You and me both mate, it aint easy going through something like this.
MAC