Darkened Discus

[JPortRx3]

Hi All,

Discus owner for only 12 months.... only ever had to treat cloudy eye with Myxazin and was successful.

Yesterday i fed my discus and noticed one was quite dark - almost black in colour.... attached is a photo which actually makes it look lighter than it currently is.

This particular discus has always been chased around by the big one and always looks slightly darker but since the inroduction of a new discus things settled down.

It doesn't appear to be in any particular stress but still not 100%, fins aren't clamped, does no. 2's ok, has a bit of a flicker of the fins everynow and then - interestingly enough always in front of the big discus almost as if it wants to be noticed.

I added some iron for my plants on the weeknd so i hope that had nothing to do with it.

PH is 7.0 - i have alot of trouble dropping PH
Amonia is 0
Nitrate = ?
Nitrate = ?
Unfortunatley i dont have test kit for nitrate or nitrate as i have had very few problems to date.

When i noticed the problem yesterday i imediatley changed about 40% of the water and was still looking dark today so undertook another 40% water change and added some salt.

For you experts out there what should my next steps be? keep the water changes up or medicate?

Would really appreciate some advice :)

Jarrod

[the german]

hes a bit stunned as well,i tread my fish every 8-9 month with levamisole.
i would try that and see what happens in a weeks time.

the fish who are lower in the ranks get the most stress so they are the ones who are sensitive

[JPortRx3]

i would be surprised if it has worms - as the way it eats, i think it could eat a horse between two matresses.

I have read alot about levamisole, Big L and the like, would Sterazin work for that? - that's if i was to go down the path of medication, being from Adelaide not sure where i would get big L.

[DiscusEden]

Hiya,

I'm in Adelaide too & ordered some Big L yesterday, picking up Monday. Try any stock & feed place. If you're having trouble, pm me & I'll give you the name of my store or maybe a suggestion closer to you.

[ILLUSN]

if he's eating well and still stunted then i'd also be suspecting worms, a fair few runts have ongoing chronic infections of internal paracites and plug along for years, eating like pigs but never growing propperly.

other then that what your doing is fine, good water quality and a little salt every now and then whenss he's looking under the weather will do hime the world of good.

[JPortRx3]

Thanks for the help.

Still looks the same today, no real change... in fact looks like it's treading water a bit harder this morning - that could just be me reading into it to much.

I have never wormed them in the 12 months i have owned them so perhaps its time i go down that path.

Never thought worms would be a problem as i don't feed them live food - always frozen blood worms and dried food (spectrum i think). I guess that doesn't rule it out though.

I'll try Sterazin first as i understand that works with internal parasites such as worms plus i can source it much quicker.

Would i have to clean out the filter - change carbon and etc?

DiscusEden, There is a stock and feed place in Oaklands Park not far from me so perhaps i'll give that a go.

[DiscusEden]

Great idea. That's one of the ones I was going to suggest.

If you have any problems there, let me know.

[ILLUSN]

I believe that all discus have a small poulation of internal paracites in them, these are in low numbers and arn't a problem untill the fish gets stressed or "run down", then they seem to take hold.

before you start treatment remove any carbon from your filter, when the treatment is over you can do a water change and put it back (or change it if its due) and while your there give it a quick clean.

I realy like all the waterlife products, but i've never found sterizin all that good for paracites (its fantastic for sterilizing nets and equiptment), you'd get better results and value for money using prazi and levimenisole, if they're all eating add it to the food they'll be fixed up in no time.

[JPortRx3]

Update

Disucus was looking a bit better last night, a little bit more colour but still not 100% so i went through with the worming treatment.

I used Sterazin but the aquarium shop also suggest Aqua worm tablets soaked in water with live blackworms as a more effective treatment.

When i was ready to go with the blackworm cocktail i noticed the aqua worm packet said "do not use with loaches", so i pulled the pin on that idea.... is this stuff really that bad for loaches? .... im happy to waist my money on this product if its going to harm them - i actually quite like my two clown loaches.

Anyway, i completly cleaned my filter, removed carbon and put new pads in. Soaked the black worms in a jug filled with correct dosage of Sterazin and water. Then put the cocktail in one of those feeders and they took to it no problems - its a bit hard to tell if there is improvment at this stage as i think disturbing the tank would have caused a bit of stress.

Did notice a few small abrasions on its side and looked like it wanted to crash into things, maybe to rub itself? - could it have some kinda of skin infection also?

[the german]

it seems like that you dont like our advice because even after we said many times you should use levamisole you still dont do it so what can i say,dont think this ready to go chemical mix stuff what you get in many LFS is any good.

[JPortRx3]

Calm down German... no need to be a key board warrior and get all arrogant up in here - all advice is taken on board and is greatley appreciated, in particular ILLUSN.

Correct suggestion has been made to use levamisole, if you actually read my previous post - i said, i preferred to try something i can get efficiently first, rather then hunting around Adelaide's stock and fodder outlets all in one night nad be unlikley they have it... hence i was willing to give Sterazin a go while i search for or order levamisole - if it doesn't work, it doesn't work its all trial and error - happy to accept a few errors as a novice.

[the german]

im calm as mate,and trust me im not a K. warrior :wink:
there are your fish so its really up to you what you do to them.

and i actually read your posts :wink:
levamisole is more than easy to get everywhere mate.
why trial and risk to make mistakes when you get lots of good advice??

[ILLUSN]

When i was ready to go with the blackworm cocktail i noticed the aqua worm packet said "do not use with loaches", so i pulled the pin on that idea.... is this stuff really that bad for loaches? .... im happy to waist my money on this product if its going to harm them - i actually quite like my two clown loaches

Whats the active ingredient? if its Prazi, its fine for clowns at the recomeneded dosage, if your worried use it at the rate of 400mg (4 tablets)/ 100g of food.

just crush a tablet up and disolve in the smallest ammount of water (it disolves pretty rapidly, use warm water to help it out) and add dried food till its soaked up, feed your fish this food and their treated, usually before the poor loaches get any where near it LOL.


when you can get some levimenisole use that as well.


Did notice a few small abrasions on its side and looked like it wanted to crash into things, maybe to rub itself?

this is usually an indication of flukes, prazi is the recomended drug, although word around this forum in particular is that the flukes are becoming resistant.

after your worming treatment is done give all the fish a Potasium permangenate bath and it should be taken care of.

[JPortRx3]

Since we are on mate terms :wink:

Personally my view is if your going to post, be constructive (which i must say you have been and i have found really useful and apprciate until the post in question) - not everyone has your years of discus experience. That's why these sites are so usefull for beginners like me, so we can work through new problems and learn.

I have every intention of using the advice - yours included. After several calls chasing Big L - which being a novice, reading other posts i assume is the best brand of Levimisole, correct me if im wrong? i had no luck and need to order, so the efficient option to me at the time was to take advice from my aquarium shop for a short term solution which may or may not work but at best might get my discus back on the road to recovery (at the cost of a few bucks) - think that sound fairly reasonable?

Thanks, from your new mate J

P.s. dont think we need to go back forth on this - although it is fun :D

[ILLUSN]

Play nice people :P

if your having trouble with BIG L try here, they ship australia wide and there postage wasn't too bad either.

http://www.vetnpetdirect.com.au/product.php?productid=16807&cat=393&page=1

it would be nice if one of our sponsors would pick up this product as it would save a lot of messing about for us all.

hint... hint... hint... :wink:

[the german]

all good mate :wink:

[JPortRx3]

Hi all,

well its been a week and not much improvement to be honest.... still swims like thorpie, eating well, although its fins are in perfect condition its scales however are looking a really wosre for wear (all pitted and almost white if catch it in the right light).

I have stopped using Sterazin an put some myxazin in the tank as i understand it treats body sores, bacteria, body rot and etc.... must say not really helping much and its the third dose.

still looking to get Big L... ASAP...so thanks for that suggestion

I do have some aqua worm tablets containing prazi but im concerned if use them they will kill my clown loaches.

Does anyone have any suggestions?