Help with new Discus

[Dearra]

I bought two little Discus last Saturday which are about 6cm. One of them is doing really well. The other one which I think is a Red Melon is not looking so good. When I bought him he had a bright orange body with a white face. Over the past couple of days his face has gone black, his orange is not as bright as it was and he seems to have a few black spots on his body. Also, his fins are clamped all the time and his gills look red.

I have done test on my water and they are. Ph 7, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20. Temperature 29.

What should I do. They are in a 70 Litre tank until they grow a little bit bigger before I put them in with the big kids.

I have had all my other Discus for 12 months now and never have had a health problem with them. (Touch Wood). This is the first.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Dearra

[Hearthemchainsdiscus]

Hello Dearra,

I do not know what your problem is, but I am going through something similar and I think what I had was discus plague.

You have some of the same symptoms as me. I bought a snow white juvi from a questionable fish store and it, I believe, infected my other 4 discus. The sympoms I had were dark coloured, clampled fins, hiding in corners and not being normally friendly, hardly eating, funky slime coat with sporadic white spots on fins and skin.

Check out the illness and medicatin section for a sticky on plague, there is a good article in there about it.

I did a 50% water change and then tried melafix and pima fix for 4 days, but it didn't help. I then did another 50% water change and added aquarium salts and metronizadol. I used Metro + from aquarium solutions and it is working wonders. I have used it for two days now and my discus are bouncing back into a healthy state. I will continue treatment for the recommended 5-7 days. I also have lowered the ph to about 5 - 5.5 and my water temp is 86 F.

Check out the sticky and see if what I've done helps. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[Dearra]

I spoke to my fish guy and he has given me some Formulin to put in the tank at a rate of 2.5mls per 60ltrs. Leave for 24 hours, do a 50% water change and repeat for 3 days.

They are still pretty active and eating fine at the moment and not hiding at all so I am pretty happy about that. So we will just see how things go.

Dearra

[ozarowana]

Sounds like handling stress from bringing the fish home has caused an gill flukes symptoms. I have experienced this numerous occasions. Usually it's just a clamped gill, but I guess that depends on te health of the fish to begin with.

I think all discus have flukes (can be alot or a little) and under stress they seem to be more susceptible to them.

Dieter Untergasser suggests healthy discus are immune to them.

Some breeders in the US think that discus and flukes are like cornflakes and milk.

Formalin should help with your problem.

[Dearra]

Wednesday 50% w/c - 2.5mls Formalin
Thursday 50% w/c - 2.5mls Formalin
Friday 50% w/c - 2.5mls Formalin

Saturday - Nitrate 0ppm
Nitrite 0.25ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
ph 6.6
Action taken: 50% w/c. Replaced with water from the big kids tank and
put in some filter wool out of the big tank. Put in
2ml Prime. Nitrite has now stabilized.

Sunday - Nitrate 5.0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Ammonia 0.25ppm
ph 6.6
Action taken: put in 15ml A.C.E. Ammonia Chlorine Eliminator. Ammonia
has now stablized.

I do not know where to go from here. The Discus is still not looking too good. His white face looks like it is bruised. with black spots over his body which is a dull satin look. Both of his fins are still clamped. He is still active and eating fine.

What should I do now. Just leave the water alone or do another w/c. And would the Formalin have caused the nitrite and ammonia.

Please help me
Dearra

[Dearra]

Things are not looking too good at the moment. He is now on his side. I don't think he will make it through the night. I was sold another product today called Rapid White Spot Remedy an Aqua Master product.

Active Constituents: 37mg/mL Formaldehyde
0.32mg/mL Malachite Green.

I was also advised to put in some carbon to remove any of the Formalin that may be still in the tank for 24 hours and then to put this product in.

I really am very worried now, I don't know what else to do.

At the moment the tests are: Nitrate 20, Nitrite 0, Ammonia 0, Ph 6.8, temperature 29.

Any help would be appreciated.

[colinM]

Dearra, careful with those frequent 50 % water changes.
Now its always difficukt to know the set up conditions although well done on the regular test results communicated.
Have u put the carbon in yet ?
If so do not add the latest solution as carbon will remove it also.

My suggestion (hope we still have time)-
Turn temp up to 32d.
By the look of things u have done reg 50% water changes, the reason I am careful of these is that depending on the size tank and filtration Bio load (good bacteria) this could have spiked your ammonia/nitrite this could be adverse to the condition of the fish.

If u have another Aquarium and things look OK are u able to remove some filter wool or another sponge/box filter with the wool from the tank ? this would help to stabilise the water conditions.

Additional aeration would help also.

Hope I am not too late to start to assist.

I always try raising temp and stable water cond before adding regular or too many chems... Lets see how we go-

Bets of luck Col.

[Dearra]

I have just done another water test.

Nitrate - 20
Nitrite - Mininscule amount
Ammonia - 0
Ph - 6.8
Temperature - turned up to 32

I just went and retrieved some noodles out of my sons tank to put into my filter, to hopefully lower the nitrite.

My little discus is better than he was last night. He actually came over to the front of the tank when I went over to it. He still does not look good though. I will not do any more treatments until I get the water stabalized.

I will do another test tonight.

[Dearra]

I added some Prime to the water and it has brought the Nitrite down to 0. Everything is stable at present.

I am not doing anything else until I am advised as to what to do.

My little discus is swimming and eating as well, and also doing a a bit of chasing the others around which I am really pleased about.

[colinM]

Dearra, good to hear u have stabilised a bit and the fish aint got any worse....

What volume tank do u have ?
What type of filtration ?
Aeration ?
Is the fish in a tank with gravel ?

This helps me to understand water parameters and will help other more informed forum members to get a pattern of Tank conditions, cures etc to advise further.

Regards Col.

[Dearra]

It is a 70 ltr All in one hexagon aquarium with a built in filter system. I also have a airstone running as well, plus it also has gravel. Hope that helps.



Thanks for all the help.
Dearra

[Dearra]

It is a 70 ltr All in one hexagon aquarium with a built in filter system. I also have a airstone running as well, plus it also has gravel. Hope that helps.



Thanks for all the help.
Dearra

[Merrilyn]

Dearra, just keep doing small daily water changes without adding any further medication for the moment.

Healthy discus can often recover from quite severe symptoms with just an increase in water temperature and daily water changes.

At the moment, I'd just wait and see. Don't be too concerned about the colour of the red discus. They don't darken normally, like blue discus, and red discus will often show black spotting, called peppering, from the pigeon blood gene. Watching the fish for normal behaviour, both eating and swimming, and normal coloured droppings is a more reliable sign with red fish.

[Dearra]

Thanks for the advice. He is acting normally at the moment, but what about the clamped fins. Shouldn't I do something about that. I will do what you suggest and just do little water changes and see how things go. Maybe I just hit the panic button too soon.

Thanks
Dearra

[Dearra]

After all athe stressing I was doing last weekend, I am happy to announce that all the kids are doing beautifully now. The Discus which I was concerned about when his face had turned black is now slowly going white, the colour it was when I first bought him.

I would like to thank everyone for all their support. It is really comforting to know that there are people out there willing to help others out.

Thankyou
Dearra

[Merrilyn]

Well done Dearra.

Glad to hear that the little guy is on the mend :P