discus scratching himself

[firthy13]

one out of my 7 discus seem to be scratching himself on the driftwood in the tank. he is starting to get a few scratches up the side of him and it appears to be damaging his slime coat.

i have heard salt can help this. but could the cause of the scratching be worms or parasites and if so what should i be treating with just as a precaution?

i assume Praziquantel and Levamisole but just wanted to confirm as im new to discus.

all seem to be eating welll and are active.

[Hooked]

Hi Firthy13,
I'd recommend a read of the use of Potassium Permanganate. There is a great sticky by Ozarowana. Its the fourth one from the top of the page. Its a good treatment for external parasites like flukes etc. Its available from Chemists, usually used as a foot bathing treatment I believe. It may be of use to you?

Happy Australia day mate!

Cheers

[firthy13]

great, will look in to it. thanks alot.
Happy OZ day to you too

[firthy13]

Just an update, two of the fish have started to get a bit dark and have stopped eating. What should I be treating them with?

[m.ingram]

What would help people out alot to help you out would be if you could post your water parameters ie ph, ammonia ,nitrate. How much water you change and how often.

[firthy13]

Tank Ph:6.5
Tap ph:7.7
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:<5
gh:<20
kh<20


When testing I noticed that my tap water that I put in to the tank is about 7.7. I didn't realize it was this high.I thought it was about 6.9-7. The tank had quite a bit of mangrove root in there so I assume that pulls the ph down to about that 6.4.
I try and do about 30% every 3-4 days
Stocking is 7 7-8cm discus, 5 rummy nose, 5 cardinals, 2 ottos and 4 sterbai.

[firthy13]

The tank is a 4x2x2 running 2 2217's

[iro11a]

You will have to treat the whole tank as removing them and treating wont fix the problem as the fluke cysts will be all over your tank.Try using aqua master fluke and tape worm. I seen it at glendale or online shops also have it although will be a expensive treatment. You have 450Litre tank so 22 tablets and another 22 tablets a week after. This will nuke the whole tank and hopefully kill your fluke problem.If prazi does'nt work then a PP bath after.

Jon