claire montgomery.

[mischa]

tient brains, and are also immunoreactive confined to the outer layer of the bead origins controlled by S-phase cyclin-dependent
Don't even waste your time on aff I have been a member there for 3 plus years and believe me it is more hassle then it is worth There mail system is always delayed for some reason There are like onl
What do you mean by "true hunger"? the study. Look at a few simple criteria, such as whether it was a human or animal study. If it was a salsa by hand after processing
If you have any good ideas for me, feel free to tell me We are always looking for something to play around with when we get bored. Techs are among the most mischievous people in the hospital It's p

[waitaki]

Hi Erica, To start with I think your ph is too high. Discus like ph between 6 and 7.

He probably does have worms. The treatment does put them off their food for a while. Just make sure you keep the water clean for him. And don't forget to re treat the worm treatment in a week.

I know it is easier said than done, but once the worms have been expelled he'll start to eat again, so don't worry too much {yeah right :? } Have you added salt to the water? About 1 gram per litre while in the hospital tank. Hopefully someone else will confirm this, also maybe turn the temp up to 30.

You will also need to worm the big tank.

Have you done a levemisole treatment? You can get some from a place in Belmont BioJohn's I think. But do that later don't over treat them at the moment.

[mischa]

Hi Waitaki
Thanks for your advice. I haven't tried any medication (apart from multicure for ich-another tank/ another type of fish) previously, it is all new to me. If the little discus hangs in then I re-worm in a week? I just hope it lives that long, it is looking so weak and unhappy. It is sad to see one of the fish looking so obviously unwell, particularly as the rest seem very healthy. Do you think I should worm the entire tank even though the others seem fine?

I agree that ph is higher than ideal. I plan to set up some water ageing tanks where I can lower the ph prior to water changes, particularly if I am lucky enough to get some breeders.

I will go and add some salt to the hospital tank and cross my fingers.

Thanks again
Erica

[waitaki]

Did you notice whether the little discus was doing white stringy poo? If he was that's worms.

The other thing he could have been the runt and was getting bully treatment, then the best thing would be to leave him in the main tank, they usually sort things out.

Worming is the better treatment than multi-cure at the moment. Just keep the water fresh, replace salt only by the amount of water you take out. He should come right.

I've got 2 in a hospital tank at the moment being wormed. Both came from Aquarium shop - I wormed them with Big L then moved them to the big tank. I should have done a general worming as well before moving them. 1 has started to eat and is doing black (as opposed to white stringy) poo. It has taken a couple of weeks. The other is small, I think he nibbles I noticed him eat a couple of mouth fulls but |I haven't seen him do poo yet.

[waitaki]

ps drop the ph slowly!!

[cityguy]

Morning All
I would really appreciate some advise to help save my sick discus.
Brief background: 320L tank, good filtration. Parameters fine, temp 29, pH 7.5. 25% water change twice per week. 2 adult discus and 8 juveniles varying in size from 5 to 10 cm. All discus seem happy and healthy bar one. I have added two small "grand flora" 5cm discus in the past month. One is confident and looks great (photo in intro forum). The other doesn't eat, hides, remains dark brown and has progressively become thinner.

My treatment sequence to date: i) try to feed seperately from main group (no joy)
ii) isolate in fry saver within main tank, try to entice eating with live worms (no luck with eating)
iii) isolate in hospital tank (28 degrees, same water as main tank), treat with Aquarium Science "Aqua Worm" (Praziquantel) This was two days ago. Tried live and frozen worms too entice eating this morning, little discus lives but still won't eat.
I am very concerned the discus will die. Any suggestions on how to improve this situation would be genuinely appreciated.

On a positive note, the information in the forum has been very helpful on providing me with treatment ideas thus far.

Erica :(

7.5 pH is a bit on the higher side but is no where lethal. Discus does well in this level of pH, and it also helps to lower agression in bullies. Did you quarentine the new discus's before you introduced them in the tank ? From what you say, it seems your fish has internal worms and you are on the right track by isolating it in the hospital tank and treating with prazi. Generally, prazi or any antiboitic takes 72 hrs to have some basic effect, so you should wait and watch. Keeping the temp at 30 degree with good airation would help further. There are other more experienced members in the forum, and I am sure they would soon respond to you with life saving ideas.

[mischa]

Thanks Cityguy and Waitaki
I appreciate you both taking the time to offer your advice. Sadly, the little discus is dead. I didn't see any evidence of white poo. I have been checking the other discus carefully, they seem healthy and do dark brown poo. This is my first discus loss and I don't care to repeat it. I believe when you take on the care of any animal you become responsible for keeping it healthy and happy. I feel a bit guilty for failing the discus but will try to learn from the process. Although I am not really sure what I should have done differently? Should I have relocated and wormed the discus sooner? Was it worms? Did relocation stress it unecessarily when it was already very weak? Aagh...too many questions. Will cross fingers and hope the process never has to be repeated.

Thanks again for your support
Erica :(

[samir]

2 adult discus and 8 juveniles varying in size from 5 to 10 cm. All discus seem happy and healthy bar one. I have added two small "grand flora" 5cm discus in the past month.
:(

my 2 cents worth... you have discus ranging from 5cm to 10 cm in the same tank = bad idea. you cannot add new 5cm discus into a tank that has two adults and 10cm juveniles. Discus are like chickens, they harrass the weak. i would have been very surprised if you didn't have a problem.



ii) isolate in fry saver within main tank, try to entice eating with live worms (no luck with eating)


the fry savers are for guppies, discus get very stressed in them. your ph is fine, if it stays at 7.5 without any headaches ,dont mess with it. most discus nowadays have probably spent 20 generations in that kind of ph so a low ph isin't absolutely necessary.

[waitaki]

really sorry to here about your little discus :cry:
that is just too sad

[ILLUSN]

prazi will only kill tape worms, use levimenisole for round worms, though if your fish isn't eating, levimenisole can make them worse.

keep him in the hospital tank, treat with levimenisole, keep offering food, especially after lights out.

do big (50% or more) daily changes, if you have it add some fishtamins to the water. keep him in that isolation tank untill he fully recovers.

[mischa]

Hi again and thanks for taking the time to offer advice and support . I will definitely not add any more small discus to my tank. I would not like to cause them any undue stress. I appreciate Samir pointing that out. I was also unaware the fry saver was a bad idea. Will move straight to the hospital tank if I need to isolate a stressed fish again.

I have just completed another 25% water change and will do the same again tomorrow. Will closely monitor the fish for any signs of ill health so I am able to act on them sooner and (hopefully) more effectively.

Thank you all
Erica :(

[cityguy]

I agree with Samir, it was probably stress, I think its always better to keep "less than tank capacity" number of fishes in your tank, and probably of the same sizes to create a pecking order and low line harassment for the smaller guys.

Fishkeeping, and that too discus keeping is more of an art, so we all are in the process of perfecting us, don't feel low, cheer up.

[Andrew Soh]

I feel that the small discus you added in is stressed.......being one of the smallest.

It is natural that even if a group of discus are of the same size, some are domineering while a few are extremely sensitive. So maybe you got one that is sensitive and it felt threaten with some many bigger discus around.

Buy a new tank and 5 smaller discus of 4cm and then addthat discus inside. In no time, you might see him eating and chasing other discus away.

Another method is to separate them according to size into different tanks.

If this doesn't work, treatment is needed.

Take care,
Andrew :wink:

[mischa]

Hi Andrew and thank you for taking the time to offer advice. It certainly seems I have made an unfortunate mistake in adding the two smaller discus to my aquarium. Ironically, the remaining little one is quite dominant and is first to the food. My two adult discus are the most recent additions, fortunately both have been very peaceful.

I would love to have more than one discus aquarium but have pushed my budget and partner far enough, unfortunately. I will have to make sure I make new additions more carefully in the future. Discus are such beautiful fish it will always be tempting to increase my "school".

I hope to be saving for "breeding tanks" now as I think two pairs are forming . There is certainly "shivering" and head bowing". Fingers crossed.

Kind regards
Erica :)

[Andrew Soh]

My two adult discus are the most recent additions, fortunately both have been very peaceful.

Yes but they are biggest.....in the tank. At least they are not the smallest... :wink:

Andrew