discus in a bad way, please help

[djceri_g]

all my discus are healthy, untill yesteday I noticed one hiiding in the back and breathing very hard. I got home from work today and found him head down, thinkin ghe had died I caught him but he started swimming away. He is not in the emergency tank and dosnt look like hes going to make it, head down! What should I try and do???

[the_oracle]

I think it's best to isolate him immediately so that the rest won't be infected.

What did you do to her? I mean, any new additions? Overfeeding or she's spooked out (somebody knocked on the glass so hard that she banged against the wall?).

Check your water parameter. Make sure everything is under control.............


Sanie.

[djceri_g]

Im afraid hes just passed away! I am so devistated! I purchased 5 of them about two months ago and they all have been thriving! This one was spawing a few days ago! Last 3 days I have noticed that he/she never came to the front of the tank as the rest when they saw me, but always seemed bright and healthy! They only problem Ive had was some flickering a few weeks ago but that sooned calmed down after a doze of worming! I took a pic incase anyone can see anything bad but to me this is a big ????



http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z193/djceri_g/DSCF0116.jpg

[the_oracle]

I can't see anything wrong with apart..............Too bad things sometimes happened without answers.......
You'll have to observe the rest........Just in case this thing happens again............
My condolences.............


Sanie.

[sammigold]

Sorry for you loss, as sanie said, sometimes things happen with no answers, I lost one a few weeks ago in very similar circumstances, she was good colour, eating, and then she was just listless and died a few hours later...

[djceri_g]

I was watching the others closely last night and there dows seen to be slight flickering with them. Maybey another dose of wormer should be a good idea? I also noticed the temp was only 28! Maybey it went down after the lasst water change 4 days ago? That could have upsett the fish?

[sammigold]

fish can flick when their water conditions are not optimum... maybe check your parameters. ie. nitrites, nitrates, ammonia, ph.

A sudden drop in temp could affect them, although discus quite happily will live in 28degrees celcius and would deal with a slow drop in temp.... I'd be worried if it was 28 farenheit though!

maybe just do a few water changes over the next couple of days and add a little salt (cooking salt not table salt) at a rate of 1 teaspoon per 40litres.
Salt will help promote growth of slime coat and relax the fish.


cheers
sammi

[benjohnson]

You could have a bout of flukes if your fish are flicking off of stuff. Are any of them swimming up to objects in your tank and almost scrathching their gills on it? If so their gills are being irritaed most likely by something in your water or by flukes. A course of waterlife sterazin will clear that up in no time :-)

Check water first, and if all is well I would advise the fluke treatment mentioned above.

Hope that helps


Ben

[djceri_g]

The water is fine, No ammonia and nitrite, nitrate below 5 ppm. They aren't flickering against obects. I did do a dose of worming a few weeks ago, since then, the water has been a bit unclear. Not cloudy but its like white powder in the water. I do 30% twice weekly and its a bare bottom so i dont think water is a problem here, Ill do 50% water change tonight and add some salt.

[sammigold]

It may have been an unfortunate accident... I would keep observing, but don't assume the worst. Sometimes fish will occaisionally get itchy like us, I am sure. Maybe whatever is making your water cloudy is acting as a slight irritant to their slime coat.

cheers
good luck

[djceri_g]

i did a 50% water change last night and added some Tonic salt (the only salt I had) and I havent seen any flickering so far. Think I will do another water cahnge tonight to try get rid of this white dusty bits floating in the water. Because I have a black cackground I can see that the water isnt crystal clear as it should be. Maybey next time I am going to worm/medicate them i should move them to the hospital tank? Or will that cause stress?

[sammigold]

If you are worming/medicating all the fish you may as well leave them in the tank they are in. Unless you have plants that you are worried about. No point in moving them unless you have to. JMO

[djceri_g]

Is it safe to add salt the same time as worming? THanks guys!

[ILLUSN]

It's fine to use salt whilst worming, 1tsp/40-60L.