Black Face - Please Help

[pink66]

Hi all, I came home tonight to my LSS with the left side of his face dark. :shock: (see pic) In the last couple of days he has been very quiet..

water - 6.4 ph - nitrate 0 - nitrite - 0 ammonia 0 temp 30 deg
(sump set up and secondary fluval 304)
tank 5x2x2 - wc every 4-5 days.
food - bh mix (bh, brine shrimp, spinich, carrot, fd black worm)

the rest of the discus are not showing any signs of illness, the cory's, tetra's and khuli's are all fine.

I really need advice on what to do.. I have already completed a 50% water change (it was due today anyway).

[m.ingram]

Hi sharron i seen something in Andrew sohs book called half black which looks like what your fish has.I looked it up in Andrews book and he says it is caused by sudden environmental shock i.e temperature fluctuation not ph.He says it only takes 5 degrees differance in temp when changing water and to discus thats shock.He goes on to say it isnt permanent.I hope this information helps as i have only seen this in Andrews book. Good luck with your sick fish hope he gets better soon
regards Mark

[pink66]

thanks Mark, i am hoping this is right.. the temp was about 33 on those really hot days (so i turned all lighting off and also dropped the heaters just a bit and got it down to 31) it is back to 30 standard now..

I have just fed them. He is still eating just fine.. just hiding a bit.. I hope it is just the temp fluctuation. I have never seen anything like it before..

[TW]

Fingers crossed that Mark is right. The fact he is still eating is a good sign, but it must be scarey for you seeing this on your beloved discus.

[Hollowman]

Seen this before, a bruise, mostly caused by hitting the side when startled. It will fade.

[ILLUSN]

that will fade with time just keep up the water quality.

[pink66]

thanks H and Illusn. I think I will "calmly" continue to monitor.. I am checking the water quality daily to to make sure it is A1.

I must say the other night (after midnight) i heard heaps of noise coming from the tank.. when i got up to investigate, the discus were bouncing off the walls.. :shock: :shock: still do not know what spooked them..

maybe this is the end result :wink:

[BigDaddyAdo]

Maybe the funny looking discus with the black face scared them all..... ;)


Ado

[Hollowman]

thanks H and Illusn. I think I will "calmly" continue to monitor.. I am checking the water quality daily to to make sure it is A1.

I must say the other night (after midnight) i heard heaps of noise coming from the tank.. when i got up to investigate, the discus were bouncing off the walls.. :shock: :shock: still do not know what spooked them..

maybe this is the end result :wink:

Do you have any nocternal fish? Something spooked them, so I suspect it was a collision.

[pink66]

H, apart from the discus in the tank, I have some cory, khuli and tetras.

I have been pretty busy with work just lately and not been able to sit and watch as much as usual. :cry: :cry: But since I have afternoon shift today have sat with a cuppa to observe.. mmm.. they are all hanging in the same part of the tank together and usually quite well.. but occasionally one will give another a nip and then there is a chain reaction in the tank..

I can only assume (which is never a good thing) that the night they bounced around the tank, I was not long in bed, so the lights had not been out for too long that they were all trying for the same position and it did not work :?

[purplefishtail]

pink66, to add on to the "it will fade" comments: I had a fish do the same thing as yours when we brought him home. It took weeks if not a couple months to fade completely. Kept us pretty worried that it'd be permanent, but it did eventually go away. Not sure if your fish will recover more quickly, but don't be too worried if it sticks around for awhile.