Free : Wild discus

[plakatkeeper]

Hey Everyone.

I have 5 wild discus that i wish to move on to an expeirenced home.

My fish are refusing to eat and i have tried treating them with everything i can but dont seem to be getting any improvement.

I would hate to see these guys die so i would like to give them away to someone who can potentially fix them.

There are 5 heckels, one blue and one green.

Pick up only, and please, only those who feel as tho they have a shot at fixing them.

Many thanks, Phil

[OZFISH]

I'll take them :) PM Sent. I am local in ST Marys so can pickup asap.

Kevin.

[TW]

If it falls through with Ozfish, I'd be interested as well.

[OZFISH]

Phil,

Just for your info. I have about 100 Discus and have been keeping fish for about 30 years and breeding discus for about 2 years. I have a good supply of Metro, worming meds, antibiotics, various other fish treatments etc. I Also work from home so can monitor them most of teh time day and night. I will give it my best shot. I have a few hospital tanks ready for them as i try to always be ready just in case of sickness.

Cheers

Kevin.

[TW]

Fingers crossed for you & the fish Kevin. Hope they pull through.

[OZFISH]

Thanks TW :) I'll do my best. I hate to see them sick. Its so sad when they waste away. I think the hardest thing is to make sure you have a tank thats matured and cycled to put sick fish in rather than a spare tank that isnt cycled. When they are sick they dont need the added stress of amonia and nitrite.

[bartek]

Let us know how you go Ozfish.

[BigDaddyAdo]

Bart and i could always take them........;)


Ado

[bartek]

Yeah when I saw this post Ado I just wished I saw it earlier.

I have a tank just waiting for them and Im not that far away to pick them up either!

[Xtreme]

So who ended up with them?

Any updates

[TW]

Yeah, I'm curious too. My bet is OZFISH. Whoever it is, good luck. If they make it, please share some pictures.

[plakatkeeper]

Hey Everyone, OZFISH is coming over tonight to pick them up. Thanks for the offers. Hopefully he can fix these beauties :)

[Fishontherun]

Hi OZ Fish please keep us updated.
I personally think it would have been a better idea to split them up between 2-3 person ...some might have more luck than other. Never put all your eggs in one basket !! :-)

[OZFISH]

Hey Guys

Ide like to thank Phil for entrusting me with the fish and the noble way in which he parted with them in an attempt to ensure their well being. Its a nice thing to do your best to save these wonderful creatures. Well done Phil!

For those who have shown interest in their recovery, I have picked up 9 fish in total. A nice pair that are a little skinny but generally look in descent health. An orange discus which seems fairly healthy, a large Heckel? with some fin and tail damage and white poo and 5 smaller heckels of which 4 have extremely pinched faces and rather thin and 1 of which looks in much better condition. So 9 fish all up.

I am using 2 separate hospital tanks for these. 1 tank is 70cm x 45cm x 30cm high (Around 95L) and the other is 60cm x 45cm x 40cm (Around 108L).

The smaller tank recently was used to successfully raise a small batch of fry up to around 5cm until i moved them to another tank and is fully matured with a sponge filter.

The other tank was used to hold what i thought was a breeding pair which turned out to be 2 females. These were recently (a few days ago) moved to a 7' x 2.5' x 2' tank with several other adult discus in the hope they will pair up with one of the lonely males. Again fully matured with a large sponge filter and also running through a trickle filter with several other tanks. The plumbing allows me to turn off or separate / isolate this tank from the others which i have done to obviously avoid the other tanks getting contaminated.

I matched the PH of the water from the original tank to the water in both hostpital tanks which was 6.1 using a weipro ph test probe.

I of course aclimatised the fish and over an hour mixed a ration of about 90% of the new tank water through the old water in the bag to aclimatised the fish to the new water environment. I then put the fish into the tanks.

I placed the pair and orange fish which were the healthiest into the smaller tank and the 6 heckels in the larger tank. After an hour I put around 2 teaspoons of aquarium salt in each tank. The tanks are set at just under 30deg, PH 6.1, no amonia, no nitrite, non detectable nitrate (as i replaced 95% of the water with prepared aged water from a 250L drum yesterday).

After 2 hours I noticed the pair and the orange nipping at the bottom of the tank and thought i would take the chance to feed them a small amount of my own discus beef heart mix which had "trichozole" (a water soluable form of metronidazone) mixed with it. I keep a bag of this prepared at all times so i can catch any hex or similar issues immediately as they are noticed. (With over 100 discus and 25 - 30 tanks going at once you need to be prepared).

I stood back and after a few minutes the 3 of them nervously nipped at the food and after 10 minutes they all had ate a bit. This wasnt surpising as phil had told me that these ones were still eating.

I chanced feeding a small amount to the others in the large tank (usually not advisable so soon i know) but they were not interested at all so after 10 minutes i syphoned out the uneaten food.

Phil has recently treated the fish with Prazi so i figured there is no need to worm them at this stage, especially in their weekened condition.

After 2 hours I reduced the water level in the tanks to 64 Litres . I then crushed and desolved (so nice having a soluable trichozole option rather than Flagyl which is so hard to disolve) 4 (400mg) metro tablets into each tank at a rate of 250mg per 10 litres.

I switched off the lights and then came to let everyone know where i was up to. I will repeat the metro 4 times with 48 hour intervals and 30% water changes before each treatment. (I know 3 is suggested but 4 cant hurt but i find is a bit safer and reduces the chance of the disease coming back).

No pictures as i didn't want to shock the fish with a flash on their first night in a new home but i will try and organise some soon as well as progress updates.

"Fishontherun" i usually agree with not puting all your eggs in one basket but hopefully my basket is going to work out ok. I am an experienced discus keeper, an obsessive animal lover, home most of the time as i work from home and have the resources, meds and tanks available to treat the fish.

I can't promise the Heckels will make it as a few of them are in bad shape and unfortunately Phil lost one of the others he had recently. All i can do is my best. If anyone can add any suggestions then i am all ears.

Thanks for the support guys and wish me luck.

Cheers.

[Merrilyn]

Good luck OZFISH. You've taken on quite a task, and I really do hope you have success. Your plan of treatment is exactly as I would have done, so all I can offer is to wish you luck.

Plakatkeeper, I commend you on your decision to part with the fish. Wilds are never easy, and notoriously difficult to treat when they show signs of illness. They have this rotten habit of just giving up, and refusing to eat, no matter what is offered.

Giving the fish to a more experienced fish keeper when you realized they weren't improving under your care, was a very generous and selfless act. It shows you genuinely have the best interests of the fish in mind.

Good on you both. The ornamental fish industry could do with more people like you :P

I'm moving this post to the more appropriate "Illness" forum. I'm sure everyone will be interested in following the progress of these fish.

[OZFISH]

Hey there

Thanks for the words of encouragement Merrilyn.

Some good news. The orange Discus and Leopard Pair are now eating well on the Metro / beefheart mix and looking fairly lively. I'm very confident that these guys will be fine.

1 of the small wilds (the healthiest one) is happily accepting the metro / beefheart mix but in saying that it seems so happy its chassing all the others around the tank between bites. Another of the smaller wilds is nipping at the food cautiously but being a little harrassed by the prementioned one. I am going to move the more agressive one in a few hours if this keeps up.

Another of the small wilds is tentatively checking out the food like its sniffing it but not eating just yet. I am watching from a fair distance so not to disturb them too much.

The other 3 including the larger wild are staying at the back corner of the tank. I'm not sure if this is just that they are still being shy of the new surroundings or if the HEX simply has a strong hold on them. Time will tell. However, one of the smaller wilds looks in pretty bad shape and i think that one may be a tough rescue. The other 2 will be 50/50. Lets hope the coin falls on the right side.

Anyway guys and gals, i'll keep in touch.

Cheers

Kevin.

[Xtreme]

The other 3 including the larger wild are staying at the back corner of the tank. I'm not sure if this is just that they are still being shy of the new surroundings or if the HEX simply has a strong hold on them. Time will tell.

Anyway guys and gals, i'll keep in touch.

Cheers

Kevin.

Hi there Kevin,

What makes u think they have Hex?

[OZFISH]

Hi Wayne,

They have white jelly like excretion (not stringy like worms) , not eating, have been staying in the corner of the tank (prior to me getting them as well). Very pinched look around the head. General signs of HEX. Slow moving / lethargic. Skinny. I don't think its simply a case of them not eating or having some other illness.

[Merrilyn]

I agree OZFISH. They're showing all the classic signs of Hex.

Good luck.

[TW]

Fingers & toes are crossed

[OZFISH]

Hey Guys.

I did another dose of Metro last night. I have good news and bad news. The leopard Pair are passing brown fecaes as is the orange discus. The leopards are being very territorial and acting like a true pair, keeing the orange and smaller heckel (recently moved) in the corner behind the filter. I think i'll be separating these guys as they are now not letting the other 2 eat. Phil said they had spawned before together so fingers crossed.

In the other tank, Unfortunately as anticipated the sickest of the small heckels didnt make it and was dead this morning :(. The larger Heckel is now showing interest in the food as is another one of the small ones. The other 2 smaller remaining wilds are still not eating but holdng on at the moment.

More soon.

[Xtreme]

Hi there,

Taking the wilds away from the domestics was the best thing u could have done , my guess is that is how this problem started in the beginning

What ph r the wilds in ?

[plakatkeeper]

Hey Guys,

So happy to hear that the pair (my favorite ones) are doing well and eating again. And im crossing my fingers that the others will pick up.

Hey Merrilyn, i figured i had tried my best and it wasnt working so wasnt prepared to just let the poor things die. When it came to it these guys were my babies and i would rather give them away and have them survive then worry about the money they cost and have them die.

Goodluck with the rest OZFISH!!

On another note, does anyone know where METRO is avaliable from? I tried most of my LFS and they dont seem to stock it, just PRAZI.

[TW]

Hi plakatkeeper, metro is prescription only. You need to have it prescribed by a vet.


OZFISH, great work. Keep us posted. RIP little heckel :cry:

[plakatkeeper]

Ohhk thanks. I saw it on the shelf at Petbarn not long ago and when i went in to get it the other week it was gone.

[OZFISH]

Hey Phil.

I have actually purchased metro some time back from a petbarn store. It was a "Living Jungle" brand and the label indicated it cured Hole In the Head. When i looked at the ingredients it had metro in it which i thought was funny as it made it on the shelf without a prescription. I think its a case of this one slipped through customs with other fish products from the same manufacturer / brand. I havnt seen it again since and obtained the metro i have now from a vet in Penrith. Due to the number of discus i have the vet let me i purchase 2 bottles of it with 250 tablets per bottle. Cost me almost $500 though for the 2 bottles but was much cheeper than purchasing them in the smaller 21 tablet batches. I kept all the rest for a rainy day but luckily there hasnt been a lot of that type of rain lately.

[OZFISH]

Hi Wayne,

The wilds currently are in a PH of around 6. I think maybe the pair could have been harrassing the wilds as you suggest. As a pair they of course tend to protect their territory and would scare the wilds who already are reluctant to eat.

[TW]

On another forum, I heard about the jungle brand meds slipping through with metro, & making it to a few stores shelves in Aus. I think word got around that forum pretty quickly (maybe others forums too) & people rushed out & bought it. Or maybe, once the error was picked up, it was removed from the sheves. In any case, I missed out & didn't get any of it. Mines from a vet.

[fishgeek]

will some or any of the fish be going back to plant keeper once they are better?
not many would have done this in his shoes

fingers crossed the rest make it

[OZFISH]

Hi Fishgeek.

I made the offer to Phil to return some when they were better But after having so much bad luck with them he wanted to take a break from the Discus and concentrate on some other fish and interests so as you say, it was a very nice thing for him to do. I think he also appreciates how much effort and cost goes into their recovery. He is deffinately a great person.

[fishgeek]

definitely

not many people care for fish that much that they would give them up and ask nothing in return
top bloke

best of luck with the little guys

[dthomo]

any updates?

[plakatkeeper]

Heyy Mr Ozfish, any updates on how the lil ones are going?

[TW]

Wondering how the sick fish are doing, hope all is going well.

[ozarowana]

Due to the number of discus i have the vet let me i purchase 2 bottles of it with 250 tablets per bottle. Cost me almost $500 though for the 2 bottles but was much cheeper than purchasing them in the smaller 21 tablet batches.

Wow a friend got me a 250 tab bottle of 200mg metro from the vet for $60-65. I know the 21 tab 400mg perscription metro was only $7 or something.

I usually up the temp above 30C when using metro. I would try some live mosquito larve or clean live blackworms to get them eating something again.

[jtchia]

So what happened to the fish? Did they make it or not?