what is wrong with my discus??? urgent help

[angmat80]

hey all, hoping to get some help here.

my current set up.

250L tank
filter ehiem 2226 and a sponge filter
temp 28 deg
ph 6.6

water change - 30% every 2 days. the only buffer i use is geo liquid

I have 5 juvies for the last 6 months which have all grown nicely. last week i decided to add 2 new gold discus juvies. there were no aggression issues and i treated them to some live black worms for 2 days which was taken most greedily.

on monday i did a large water change, maybe 50%. since then 2 of my discus ( a large blue turq and a blue diamond) went off their food, i fed them frozen blood worms which they normally used to love but they didnt want to know about it now. i initially thought the change from live to frozen food must have put them off.

its been 2 days now and a couple of others have started doing the same. they are no longer interested in eating. this morning a couple of them are swimming vertically, they do this for a couple of minutes and then return to normal. they have also gone dark.

will post a pic if required. I am totally confused as to what to do next. i know my tank is overstocked but the plan was to keep only four when they got bigger and coloured up well which most of them have but now i'm hit with this.

[angmat80]

i also need to add that the strange behavior started after the water change.

[Mickey C]

Have you done any water changes since their behaviour changed? I know that down here they like to flush the system with a whole heap of chlorine once in a while - I need more conditioner than usual to get chlorine down to 0.

Have you checked ammonia and nitrite levels? Maybe something's really screwed with your bio filter.

[Hollowman]

NO QUARENTINE???? :shock: What do you expect?? they caught a cold. I hope you dont lose the lot.

[angmat80]

mickey i've done 2 wc since this has happened. the readings are stable.

hollowman - this strange behavior started just a couple of hours after i added the 2 new discus. would they have caught something so quickly? btw, only one of them was not QT. the other gold discus was qt for 2 weeks.

and as of now, only 3 out of the 7 are showing this behavior the others seems fine. also i just tried feeding them and all of them fed well not as they normally would but atleast they did not refuse the food. but the swimming vertically is continuing and as soon as i approach the tank the dark color is gone and they come to the surface.

[Mickey C]

I can't help much more sorry - I thought maybe the water change killed bacteria which could explain it.

I'll be interested in others ideas though :) Good luck!

[m.ingram]

Whats your nitrate nitrite and ammonia levels .Also a photo of yourr fish would help

[BigDaddyAdo]

You need to post your water parameters not just say that they are stable. For all we know it could mean that your ammonia is a stable 2.0ppm.

[boxters]

I agree with hollow man. I have kept discus for many years, and adding new new fish with out quarantine is a no no. I suggest a 70% water change followed by a pp treatment. If your new fish have discus plague you may very well loose the lot

[angmat80]

sorry guys, the water params are

ph 6.6
nitrites 0
nitrates 0 - 5
ammonia 0

i have just noticed that both fish that were acting weird now have some cotton like stuff on them. i have treated the tank for flukes and upped the temp to 32

here are some before and after

blue diamond last week
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/1227/dsc02094os.jpg

blue turq
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/5382/dsc02101ti.jpg


and the same fish today, if u look closely u should see the white stuff on them...


http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/8434/dsc02162d.jpg

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/3859/dsc02163b.jpg

http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/5803/dsc02164.jpg

[boxters]

Why would you treat for flukes? Just throwing chemicals in your tank will only kill them faster. I have worked with a fish vet for a while, and meeds are a last resort. The best med for sick fish is good quality clean water

[angmat80]

are you saying by just keeping the water clean the flukes will go away? i'm happy doing whatever it takes to get these guys better asap

[Hollowman]

are you saying by just keeping the water clean the flukes will go away? i'm happy doing whatever it takes to get these guys better asap

The question is: Why did you treat for flukes?? there was no reason, do you know what happens when they get flukes? :roll:

Clean water is quite often the only med you will need, lots of it too. As already stated, actually adding a medication is the last resort.

Please explain your quarentine method, if you have it done and dusted in 2 weeks, I wanna learn that trick. For me, qt takes at least 8 weeks, and then I might not be happy so keep my fish seperate. :shock:

[BigDaddyAdo]

Id like to see a clearer pic of this "white stuff".

Clean water is often the best bet sometimes meds are required but throwing random meds into the tank will cause more problems then it solves.

Google some pics of "ICH" and tell us if thats what it looks like.