DO my discus have an internal parasite?

[cgronko]

Hey,
I just got these discus and it looks like there feces is not right. its really skinny and light colored with a big white round thing on the end. Anyone know what it is and how to treat it. Thanks!

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t248/cgronko/DSCN0931.jpg

[ILLUSN]

big gamble moving fish of tat size, let them settle for a week then try some levimenisole

[Hollowman]

Did you buy them?

[scott bowler]

look like they might have gill fluke too the gill plates look a little split ,

[ILLUSN]

look like they might have gill fluke too the gill plates look a little split ,


was thinking that too mate, fry that size wont handel pp at any more and 2ppm, maybe try and get some weight on them first.

[cgronko]

I bought them that small because thats the only size i could afford. I wanted alot of them but cannot pay $50 a pop. These guys were $7 each so i got them. They are swimming around and eating but the thin strings of feces are not a good sign. The bigger fish have normal feces(you can see them in the picture). Will it spread to the other fish? oh yeah and also the gills do look like they are split. What should i get to treat this?

[Merrilyn]

Yes they do look like they have worms, but I wouldn't treat them with anything just yet. Worm treatments are a form of poison, a mild poison yes, but it still has to be strong enough to kill the worms, and that may be enough to kill your babies.

I'd like to see them a lot fatter and a few weeks older before you try any medication.

I think you have them on their own in a bare bottom tank, is that right? If so, excellent. How big is the tank.

For very young fish you should be doing water changes daily, or better still twice a day to maximize their growth. They really need to be fed around 6 times a day with high quality, high protein food like finely minced beefheart, freeze dried blackworms and quality flake or granular food.

Raising fish that young is not an easy task. It's very time consuming. They need pristine water conditions, any reading of nitrate will slow their growth, and ammonia and nitrite will kill them. Keep the temperature up, around 30 degrees, and offer food as often as you can manage.

After a couple of weeks, you may find that the worm problem has sorted itself out, or if they still show signs of worms, you can safely administer levemisole for round worms, followed by praziquantal for gill flukes and tape worm.

[cgronko]

Hey,
Thanks alot for the info merrilyn, I have 30 of them ranging from nickel to half dollar size in an 85 gallon tank. The tank is a bare bottom with a fluval 305 that has a pre filter sponge over the intake and there is also a sponge filter in the tank. The tank has been set up for over a year and is well cycled so no ammonia or nitrite will ever be present unless i overfeed. I gravel vac after every feeding of beef heart(around 5 times a day) and change 50% of the water daily. They are all eating and seem to be very happy and its only been 3 days since i got them. The water is exactly at 30 degrees. Their gill plates definitly are split, i didnt know if it was just because they were so small or if this was gill fluke? Should i add salt to the tank? and if so how much per gallon. I hope the problem just clears up on its own with the good quality water.

[Merrilyn]

No salt for the moment, just those big water changes and good food.

Split gill plates or gill plates that don't fully cover the gills is a genetic problem, not environmental, so just good food, warmth and clean water at the moment, and let's look at them again in two weeks.