My Discus's head has turned black

[orki159]

Hi,
Hope you can help??
I noticed today that one of my discus's head on one side only had turned dark,
I imediately checked my water conditions
PH: 6
Nitrite: 0
GH: >50ppm
KH: 110ppm
I have a 300 Lt planted tank with 8 discus 5 Rummynose, 5 Cardinals, 2 large clown loaches, 1 flying fox and 2 bristlenose cats which I had 3 yesterday but found 1 eaten this arvo.
I feed them tetra bits daily but for the last week have also been giving them live black worms.
The discus in question seems to hide at the back of the tank in its own area and seems very agressive to the other discus chasing them away.
Feeding is as normal

I have attached a couple of photo's which arent great because it would come out for a feed and then go straight back to its hiding spot.

[benjohnson]

Err... blimey , never seen that before !! Generally a discus will goa bit darker if their stressed, or if they are feelin frisky and want to mate. That would usually by across the whole body though, not just its face solidly like that !

They also get a bit aggressive when they want to mate too, and chase the other fish about a bit more than usual.

Does he seem relatively healthy other wise ? Cant quite make it out from you piccies, but is it a spotted leopard? It could be something to do with its genes, maybe has some pigeon blood in him and thats doing it . There are plenty of others on here who could comment a lot better on that than me though

Cheers,
Ben

[orki159]

Hi Ben,

Thanks for the info, it seems to be OK other than the darkness on its face and I have noticed it chasing the other fish away from its spot in the tank, the weirdest part of it is its only on one side of its face the other side is compleatly normal.

[Th0mas]

From what I've heard, this is relate to nerve problem. Could be many reasons for such symptom, and usually non-reversible.

Have seen this on krib, apisto, discus in the past. Never had a cure for it.

Good luck.

[taksan]

THat is #%^&&**( BIZZARE

[fishgeek]

as thomas says something is irritating the local nerve to that area of skin
the nerve's control melanphore dilation and hence pgmentation

it isnt an uncommon occurence after inj of medications ... sometimes this can occur for simple reverible reason, inflammation swelling of bruising... ie swam into tank hard when scared!
otherwise anything upto and including cancerous growth pressing on the nerve

just keep the water quality good and hope that it is a inflammatory or traumatic cause

andrew

[djceri_g]

Ive seen discus strains with a big black patch on their body, could it possibly be the strain and the black showing now as he/she is growing? Just a thought>

[djceri_g]

take a look at these

[djceri_g]

take a look at these

[Merrilyn]

Welcome to the forum orki159. Nice to have another member from Melbourne.

The advice from our resident medico, fishgeek, and our good friend Thomas, is right on the money.

Hopefully it's temporary nerve damage and will heal given some time.

Fascinating photos djceri_g. That blue diamond in the second pic is just incredible.
.

[Th0mas]

Hate to speculate it but TB can also shows this symptom on the fish as well.

How long have you had this fish? Any new fish introduced?

[orki159]

I have had this fish for about 12 months and just introduced a juvinille Yellow a few weeks ago

[fishgeek]

what happened to the fish?

andrew

[benjohnson]

Both of my pair of breeders have those black half moons across their tails and the back end of their bodies ( much like the first pic you posted djceri_g), hadn't seen them before up until i bought them. Not sure how they got them ( Guess its a genetic thing) but they never fade or get stronger so must be a permanenet thing!!

[orki159]

It just faded away and has compleatly gone now [/img]

[fishgeek]

thats leasing to know, sounds very much like some nerve irritation that has resolved
lets hope just bruising type incident

andrew

[dynamixcoder]

ive had this happen to an adult discus slamming into the glass from getting startled, it seemed to resolve itself 3 weeks later but came back for a day, then its been gone ever scince.. so far about a year!

mine actually was black 1/2 the body, it doesnt happen alot but still does happen... so far I havent seen a perm case of it.