3 very sick discus PLEASE HELP

[jeff8428]

I have 3 discus that I think have tapeworm. Their feces is white and stringy and stays attached to the fish. One is in very bad shape ( I am not sure if he will make it through the night and the others seem to be on the same path. I have treated twice with API general cure which contains metro and prazi following thedirections exactly. Also, have been treating with fluebenol for two weeks this is mixed in with bloodworms but I don't think they are eating at all, if so very little. I have mixed garlic in the food and still nothing. Right now I just did a large water change and haven't added any other medecine. I have heard epson salt could be added and also a dip of prazi might help. what doses of these do you use per 10 gallons? Does anyone have any idea what they might eat better. I have tried bloodworms, brine shrimp, flakes, beefheart, and krill. Any ideas of anything I could do. have had them in a 30 gallon quarantine tank for three weeks. Have been doing 5 to 15 gallon water changes daily or every other day. My temp is 86 degrees. I have been raising discus for 2 years and never had these problems that the medecine did not cure. I am going to attach a couple of pics. Please take a look ( i guess I am not 100% sure it is tapeworms) but I think I have treated for about everything anyway. They don't seem to be breathing heavy and their fins and bodies look normal ( except how skinny they are getting, especially the one in the worst shape. The picture are actually of the one that is in the best shape, he happened to have the white feces hanging. appreciate any help you can give me.

[ILLUSN]

Very hard to see from those pics, the stools dont look segmented or "ribion like" enough.

I'd be thinking Hex personally.

if you really think its worms try an epson salt bath to get them to drop some so you can id them.

[jeff8428]

how do I do an epson salt bath, and how do I know wheteher it is worms or hex if I do? Also, what is the best way to treat hex. Is it okay to treat for both at the same time. Thanks

[*Chris*]

metro soaked food all the way thats a gut infection right there probably coupled with gut flaglettes
metro the whole tank everyone probably has it

[jeff8428]

I have treated with metro twice already. which is actually 4 times as per the directions. I guess I will try again

[*Chris*]

try a double dose or triple dose
it will fix them just keep and eye ont hem as soon as they are showing signs of severe distress do a small waterchange

[jeff8428]

well, just as I had figured the one discus did not make it through the night. I moved the other 2 to a new 10 gallon and added 3 times the amount of metro called for. The only thing I could get was called General cure it has metro and prazi both. I hope this works. Any other ideas or suggestions

[jeff8428]

i tried soaking the food in metro also, but they will not eat. Hopefully the triple dose in the water will help

[ILLUSN]

Try and get real metro tablets, the dosage you want is 25mg/L.

disregard whatever is printed on the bottle, metro is ineffective at low doses.

just out of curiosity, what it the concentration of metro in General cure?

[jeff8428]

250 mg metro 75 mg Prazi this is in one package and is supposed to treat 10 gallons. I used double almost triple that amount. As I said I have treated with this twice, but I did not know that light was harmful to the metro. I will now turned off the lights 24/7

[ILLUSN]

If you've got a 10 gal tank thats 40L.

you need 1000mg of metro for 1 treratment (4x your package), thats 1 dose, you'll need to do 3 doses 48hrs appart with a 30% water change before each dose for the drug to be effective.

because of your previuos treatments at a lower dose the flagellets might already be resistant. in which case you'll have to get the ph down to 5 to help them, also try and get some live brine shrimp, if they start eating again they'll have a better chance of recovery.

[Gajowa]

Hi
It could be flagella caled protoopalina symphysydonis. I see yor fish's fins are not in the best shape. I had similiar case. Discus had stringy faeces, fins sort of diamond shape. I keep checking poo under mikroscope and couldn't find anything, but one day I found that propoopalina. I used metro (pure substance) 2gr/100 l of water + 300gr/100 l of rock salt and rise temp to a 35 deg C. Treatment was for 10 days. No lights. Every day 50% w/c and additional dose of metro + salt. Treatment started at night and it realy worked. My fish are free of flagela

Barbara

[jeff8428]

I treated with the metrolast night, not long after the treatment there seemed to be the white feces (pellets) laying in the bottom of the tank. Does this mean the treatment is starting to work. I had treated with metro twice before, but at only 1/4 of the dose I am using now. Should I treat every 3rd day 3 times or do a water change every day and add metro and salt for 10 days straight. What is everyones opinion. APPRECIATE EVERYONES HELP

[jeff8428]

Sorry forgot to ask, incresing to 35 C is that correct. That is 95 F if I am correct. That seams awful hot. I have mine at 86 F. Should I raise it mora and to what. Thanks

[ILLUSN]

i raise thge temp to about 30-31C (bout 91F).

give the metro dose, 48hrs later do a water change (30-50%) repeat dose, 48hrs later another changes (30-50%) repeat dose, 48hours later 50-90% water change. keep the temp up and bring it back down slowly by about 1C a day till you get to 29C.

[*Chris*]

great work the metro is working great guns
keep up the water changes and keep redosing every 48 hours keep your temp at 31 and your set
then the hardest part is getting them to eat again
try and feed them whilst in the metro just a little bit should help them get the metro into there guts