Unwell Leapard

[tanzy]

I am having trouble with my Leopard Discus (Phoebe). She is always very dark in colour, her eyes are dark and she is a little bit on the thin side. She also only holds her fins full when she is eating or if I walk past the tank. She eats really well and has a very varied diet but is not putting on any weight, she is always at the front of the tank and also swims around my hands when I am cleaning, but she is the most picked on fish in the tank.

I have had her for about 4 months now and she was quaranteened and showed no signs of anything so I placed her in the main tank which had recently been through all worming and fluke treatments, she was thriving and growing well but this has occured in the past month so I dont see how any worms could have got to her as I have not added anymore fish.

Water stats are : ammonia - 0, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 0, ph - 6, temp - 30, water changes are 50% every second day. Aqua one 1000 and ehiem 2217 filter plus 36w pondmaster uv

If anyone has any suggestions it would be very appreciated.

p.s All other fish are in perfect heath and growing well


Thanks

Kell

[tanzy]

This is a photo of her now but she decided to hold her fins up because I was near the tank. I have also included a photo of her before she became unwell. Her colour was once a lot brighter and her eye was once nice and red, sometimes she is twice as dark than this photo.

Thanks

Kell

[Merrilyn]

I think you should worm her again with Levamisole.

A fish that's eating well, but not putting on weight usually has a parasite burden.

Some parasites are quite difficult to eradicate, and take more than one treatment to remove.

[tanzy]

Thank you Merrilyn,

I will do the Levamisole treatment again.

Kind Regards

Kell

[tanzy]

I have set a qc tank up for Phoebe and started a treatment of Metro. She seams to be doing well and has eaten some food that contains some Metro. My little girl appears to be very happy in her new tank which I am over the moon about (I really love this fish). If she goes well with Metro I will then treat with Levamisole and prazi. I hope this is going to fix her, but I am really unsure because her symptoms do not really match anything that I have read about or experienced in three years of keeping Discus. I am going to keep my fingers crossed.

Kind Regards

Kell

[Merrilyn]

Good luck with her Kell. I'm so glad she's improving on the metro. It's an antibiotic, but also removes internal parasites, so will help on two fronts.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed too :P

[tanzy]

I have given Phoeb's the full treatment of Metro and sadly her condition has not improved. I have now done two 70% water changes and run carbon for two days to remove the medication. I have now started a Levamisole treatment, so I really hope that this will work, she has stopped eating and looks horribly skinny, she still swims around my hand and kisses it when I am cleaning her tank, she is one special fish. I am fairly worried that I may lose my favorite fish.

Kind Regards

Kell