Head Standing

[Tracey73]

If someone could help me I would be very thankful!
My gorgeous 6 year old Rose Red Discus is having problems. The last week she has been headstanding toward the top of the aquarium at the back and breathing very hard.
No twitching or flicking, did have signs of white poo a few days ago but I have not seen her pass anything the last two days. I have tried Epsom salts for the last 24 hours, no change, and I have also tried Octozin, no change. I am at a loss as to what it is and what I can do to help her.
When I go upto the tank she will come toward me and straighten up a little, she has barely eaten the last couple days.
No clamped fins, her colour is good but she is breathing very hard through one gill in particular and that gill looks all 'freyed' around the edge whereas the other gill looks fine.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
Ph 6.8
Temp 29.5

No new plants or fish added to the aquarium in three years, no new foods. Please help!

[scott bowler]

hi tracey have you got any metro ? maybe give it a rest from the treatment for a few days and make sure the water chems are right , do a water change then try some metro and when is the last time you wormed your fish ? it could be swim bladder but it might heal some times it will . how many fish do you have in the tank ?

[Tracey73]

Thanks Scott

They were wormed about 6 months ago, I am expecting more Metro tomorrow. The tank is 450 litre with about 25 fish in there, all fish I have had for at least 4 years.
Really lost as to what it is, hate seeing her like this :(

[Hooked]

Hi Tracey,

A range of meds that I have found very good are the Huey Hung brand. If you can't source any from a sponsor here then I can give you a contact here in WA. He imports it and its reasonably priced. The meds come with a handy info sheet that lists symptoms and treatments etc. I've found it very good and often works quicker than the usually available meds that we have had around for a while. Each med is generally a mixture of a few different ingredients and made by people in the know specifically for Discus. It doesn't say what is in it unfortunately, but in my experience works well.

White or stringy poo can be a sign of internal infection. The combination of the H2 and H4 meds, as recommended on the info sheet, has given good results for me in the past. I even had some 20c piece size fry that recovered quickly from an internal infection when using these meds.
Hope it might help,

Cheers