Discus having trouble swimming ?

[broady1]

Hi,
I need some advice. I have a 12cm discus. He is having trouble swimming. He is permantly swimming on his side or at a 45 degree angle and his fins are moving rappidly as it seems he is trying to right himself. This is much better as this morning he was having trouble trying to stop himself going upside down. The fins are not clamped, his gills appear clear and are both working. He tries to pick at food but is anable to keep himself in one place long enough to eat.

There appears to be a slight indent in the middle of his right side as the he has a pemanant muscle cramp.

Water Ph is 6.9, dont know other specks. I do 30% water changes every three days. Running two cannister filters, one 1000 litres per hour and the other 1500 per hour

Other three discus, 12 rummy nose and 9 catfish are fine.

I have been doing some research, Possible swim bladder infection ? I have just moved him to hospital tank and treating him with Tetracycline.

What do you think. Am I on the right track ? :?

ADVICE PLEASE>>>>>

[jesx57]

What objects are in the tank? Are you sure he didn't impale himself on something?

[broady1]

I have two large pieces of driftwood in the tank. I just had a close look at him and he does not have nay marks on him at all. He is now just swimming on his side in the bottom of the tank. The slight indent he had before is gone, maybe because he is not trying to swim around in the hospital tank.

It has me puzzles as other than that he looks very healthy. He is starting to breath heavy though but it may be from the medication and the high temp. I pumped it up to 31. i usually have the discus at 29.

I feel very helpless just watching him struggle.

[jimmyg]

If your Ammonia is really high, it;s sounds like that. Do a Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonia check.

[broady1]

Unfortunately I do not have a nitrate test kit. I did a 60 % water change 12 hours before I moved him to hospital tank but no change. Hospital tank was 100 % new water and he still has not improved.

I have smaller and larger discus in tank and they are not showing any signs. Also school of rummy noses are still bright red and very active. Don't they usually show signs of bad water quality before the larger fish ?

[jesx57]

I have smaller and larger discus in tank and they are not showing any signs. Also school of rummy noses are still bright red and very active. Don't they usually show signs of bad water quality before the larger fish ?

Generally it goes on the sensitivity of your fish. I would assume that discus would be the first to be affected. Do you have an ammonia and nitrite test kit that you can use to give us some more info? We can't really help you much more until we have this information sorry. [/code][/list][/list]

[broady1]

I have been reading the Discus Holland page and I am pretty sure he has a swim bladder problem. i am going to try the water level adjusment treatment over the next few days to see how he goes.

Has anybody else treated any discus for swim bladder problems ? What did you do and how did you go ?

[broady1]

Quick update. After I posted last nigh he got worse he started headstanding. i was very worried.

24 hours later I am very happy the water level treatment over the past 24 hours seems to be working. He is almost swimming upright again. Fingers crossed as I raise the water level slowly over the next day that his swim bladder pressurizes properly. Apparently the higher the water level gets the more pressure on the fish.

The article I read on Discus page Holland says you only have a few days to try and cure the fish other wise the damage becomes permanant.

Heres hoping for the best :o

[Boyam]

good news to see him looking better, hope he / she heals well!

[Trongpai]

I had the same problem, look down a few threads. I treated with Tetracycline and now two months latter, he's still alive but does swim head down every now and then but when food is being placed in the feeder he's the first one in line to eat and swimming upright.

I was sure it was not a water problem, all reading at zero.

[broady1]

He seems to be cured. He is swimming freely, upright and agile. I don't know if it was the Tetracycline, the water level treatment or both. I just put him back in the tank with the other fish and fed them some spectrum and he was first to eat. He appears to be back to his old self. he is even starting to bully the other discus again.

[jtchia]

Hi there broady1. What is the water level treatment? How can you raise the water level if my water in the tank is already full...

[broady1]

You will need a spare tank or large bucket. Here is the link to read it can explain it better than i can. It helps in repressurising the fish's swim bladder and getting it to work properly again. http://www.discusnews.com/article/cat-02/swimblader.shtml
This link is from the Discus page Holland. It is an excellent site and has heaps of helpful information.
Regards,
Broady.

[jtchia]

Thanks broady. I just wish i saw this earlier. I just lost an adult discus a couple of days ago. He was bloated and headstanding but died within 12hrs from when i noticed him headstanding.

[Daniella]

thanks a lot for this link. very informative!


You will need a spare tank or large bucket. Here is the link to read it can explain it better than i can. It helps in repressurising the fish's swim bladder and getting it to work properly again. http://www.discusnews.com/article/cat-02/swimblader.shtml
This link is from the Discus page Holland. It is an excellent site and has heaps of helpful information.
Regards,
Broady.