New Discus - to medicate or wait?

[siemanthepieman]

Last Tuesday I introduced a new Discus to my planted tank and it has not looked too good since.

It has a cloudy eye on one side, and the tips of some of it fins have white deposits/lumps on them.

I have had this happen with new Discus before and understand that it can happen when they are moved or tank parameters suddenly change - so I was not too worried about it.

I suspect that what has happened is that the Discus sustained some damaged when the LFS netted it, and that the stress from the transportation and new home have given rise to some sort of bacterial infection.

It is now day 6 in the new tank and while it is looking better than day 1 it still a problem with the eye and some small white deposits. I do not have a hospital tank.

I am wondering what people think about this and, in particular, whether you would suggest I medicate the whole tank (and what with - preferably not salt) or just do some water changes and wait it out.

Thanks

[ILLUSN]

you should have quarentined it before putting it into your plant tank, it would have given it some time to adjust to your conditions, I'd stick it in a bare bottom hospital tank (a bucket will do) with a heater and an air stone, I'd add salt at 1tsp/40L and see if it picks up, is it eating? if it is some extra vitamins in the food will go along way to helping get better.

I wouldn't medicate yet not untill you know whats wrong with it.

[peppermintman]

I have found when transporting my large breeding pair of discus that one scrapped its eye on the side of the bucket and just put Melafix in a hospital tank and she cleared up just great in 3 days.

[Merrilyn]

Hi Simon, did you check the pH of the shop tank against the pH in your tank?

If there's a difference, your fish could be suffering from pH shock. I assume the other discus in the tank is still acting normally and not showing any adverse symptoms.

I'd suggest you now do some large water changes, at least 30 per cent each day for the next week, and keep the temperature at 30 or 31 degrees. You should see some improvement after a few days, but do let us know if there is any change in the condition.

It's very important to quarantine new fish before adding them to your tank, so try to organize a quarantine tank before your next purchase. One of those big plastic tubs (as long as it's made of food grade plastic) makes an ideal temporary tank, and will only cost a few dollars.

[Nitecongt]

howdy dein sinq, sorry to hear about your sick fish :( I can hook you up with some mela fix if you need a drop or 3 :)

[siemanthepieman]

I have been doing regular water changes - although only 10-20% and only every second or third day.

I thought about rising temp but wasn't sure if it is a bacterial infection or not and I believe rising temp is not a good idea when bacterial infection is concerned.

The Discus concerned is looking better everyday - today the fins appear almost back to normal and the eye is becoming clearer. My tank parameters are quite stable doing what I have been doing and I figure this is better than trying too much and causing fluctuations and more stress.

Thanks for the offer Nitecon but I might hold off at the moment - if it starts to take a turn for the worse again I'll let you know.