What is this??

[Sabrina]

Hi all, i just got home and found my young discus like this. He was treated for fluke a week ago in hospital tank with meds. Have you any idea what this white bulge is? Its big.
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[sayid]

I must admit i have never seen any thing like this ,if it's feces it is unusually big ,you will soon would know ,in the other hand if it is part of the intestine then it is serious ,i am sure Steve or Matt would will have more say about it .
Is it a cyst full of worms eggs which has detached it self ?
Sabrina you are going through a challenging time and you are doing a good job.

[Sabrina]

Hi Sayid, since i wrote the post it dropped off and i cant find it in the tank, maybe one of the cory cats ate it ugh. This young discus hasn't lost any weight, he is still nice and full in the head area and his belly isn't sunken in or anything, He does seem to be breathing fast though, and his not eating or swimming with the others. Maybe it was worms, i did use the fluke/worm tablets on him last week. But the thing is his back in the main tank, so now im worried i didnt leave him in hospital long enough , im sad. Im having a hard time with my discus, a challenge like you said. I dont know what to do :(

[Sabrina]

I have just filled the hospital tank up with new water and a fully cycled sponge filter, prime and stress guard. Should i put him in there right away or leave the hospital tank sit a couple of hours first?

[sayid]

i would leave the hospital to stabilize for a few hours with prime and sponge ,increase the temp by 1 c or 2 ,when you put the fish in the water you can add 1TBS of cooking salt for every 40 liter of water ,switch the light of to reduce the stress for the fish , no food for 24 hours 50% w/c every day ,watch the feces of the fish .i am not sure about stress guard, to me it is similar to prime ,go and have fun and have good sleep ,tomorrow thing gets better.

[Hollowman]

Might have been the stomach lining, a reaction to the worm treatment. Must say, I have never seen like that before either. The salt will help in the HT so go with Sayid's advice for now.

[Sabrina]

Hi guys, i have put the young discus in the hospital tank this morning with the salt. He has been in there about an hour now and already has a long very thin stringy poop. When should i do the first water change of 50%? And thank you very much for this help.

[Sabrina]

Hi again, i just did a 50% water change, he seems very stressed and is breathing rapidly, so i though i better do a water change? If i need to do anything else please let me know

[sayid]

when you do w/c you have to add salt for the 50 % of the water that you have removed also put an airstone and observe ,
hth
sayid

[sayid]

i forgot ,send us a picture of your hospital tank so every one else can see your tank.

[Sabrina]

Sayid, he is gasping for air, im so upset. i dont know what to do. I think the salt freaked him out beacuse he was worse before the water change, but still bad now. I dont want to loose another discus, i wont forgive myself. I dont have a spare pump for air stone tonight, i will have to buy one tomorrow if he makes it, though i dont know beacuse he looks bad with his breathing. He has a small white poop hanging out :(
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[Sabrina]

I quickly just stole a big air stone out of one of my main tanks, he now has lots of bubbles in the hospital..

[sayid]

i think you are going through a mini cycle ,do a 50% w/c put i TBS of salt per 40 liter of the new water ,put triple dose of prime ,that will take care of nitrite poisoning ,also if you have ammonia problem ,together with air stone they might work , keep yor finger crossed.
sayid

[Sabrina]

Hi Sayid, its 2.30am here and i woke up worried about my young discus. I just tested the water. 7.4 high range ph, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 0-5.0 nitrate. Very little nitrate so im going to do a 50% water change, dose with prime and stability and sit and wait and see if he slows breathing down. I know you said put salt in the water change but im terrified that is what made him breath so rapidly so im going to skip the salt this water change and see if he improves at all. Perhaps once i get him breathing better i will do the salt thing. I might also add stress guard to try and clam him down he seems very stressed out. thank you so much for the help with this, please dont think im not listening about the salt, its just i think it spiked his gasping for air and that frightened me alot.

[Hollowman]

Sabrina, the salt will help any flukes to detach from it's gills and skin, thus making him not breathe so heavy. It's like us trying to breathe with someone sat on our chest, or with a bit of asthma. DOn't be scared, you have good advice.

[Sabrina]

Hi Steve, i just did a 50% water change, dosed prime, stability and stress guard. Can i still add salt after those? Here he is just 1 minute after water change Steve and Sayid...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX-xTCAAGk4

[Hollowman]

Yes, you can add salt after, just make sure it is diluted properly. He looks ok, breathing a little fast, but that could be due to the water change and being a bit stressed. But he is breathing from both sides equally so thats ok. Just monitor and try and feed a little in the morning.

[sayid]

just continue what you doing ,he is not getting any worst.

[Sabrina]

Hi guys, there is something wrong with him this morning. He is floating up the top of the water, when he tries to swim down he just floats back up. He does not look happy and is floating in the corners of the tank, his not eating and there is no poop. His breathing is still faster than it should be. I just added some salt and will monitor him for the rest of the day.

[Hollowman]

I am wondering if this is something to do with the swim bladder after that large thing leaving its body. Does not look good, but monitor

[Sabrina]

You could be right Steve. He is currently floating around in the tank like he is dead but he is still breathing, if his not floating around he is up the corner of the tank with mouth near the surface. He is going to die, that i am certain of. I can not bring myself to put him to sleep, i refuse to loose another discus, i just cant. I am at my wits end as to what i am doing wrong, this will be the 4th discus i have lost in just 4 months of keeping them. I feel like the biggest failure today, i don't think i want them anymore :(

[Sabrina]

I just went to check on him, his dead. I give up

[sayid]

I am sorry to hear about your loss, we knew from the photo that this might not have a happy ending and you tried your best to save him .I have to tell you that swim-bladder problem are 90% fatal . i just lost a 16 cm stendker that i had for 4 years to swim bladder infection even though i have a clean BB tank ,unfortunately discus have limited immune system and therefore open to infection.
This has happened to all of us . don't blame your self.
sayid

[Hollowman]

Sad news Sabrina, but don't ever give up. Sometimes buying larger fish is better as you don't know how the young ones have been treated. You can see in a larger fish the good and bad traits immediately and make a better informed decision.

But you are doing your best, chin up.

[Sabrina]

Good morning, thank you both for your kind words and your help on this one.

[Krissy]

Sabrina so sorry to hear about yr loss. At least you know you did everything possible but it doesn't help with how it makes you feel. I am a total novice in this hobby but after losing my five juvies through inexperience I decided to purchase larger discus from interstate. I have to say I've had them for three weeks now and compared to the amount of wc I had to do with the juvies my big guys are so much easier to look after. I'm a bit of a stress monster so have found looking after these guys a lot less stressful than juvies. Don't give up, you obviously love discus.

[Sabrina]

Hi Krissy, thank you for your comments. I can agree that juvies are very hard to care for, all 4 that have died were young discus between 2 and not even 3 inches. I too are a stress monster about my discus, i have just spent the night moving everyone to different tanks in the hope to stop bulling and illnesses. So now my 2 biggest discus are alone in the 4 foot as they are the only two that dont fight each other. I moved two juvies to my 100 liter tank for safety as they were being bullied by one of the bigger ones. And then there is Tango the discus, i moved her to a 2 foot, she is the biggest bully of all time and she lives alone with 2 mini mollies as tank buddies. I had an angel fish in the 4 foot but have since moved her to a 2 foot ready to sell as she was nipping at the discus. I did try the angel fish with Tango but that lasted 5 minutes, Tango ripped its tail fins! I have no idea how this separation technique will work but im going to try it for now and hope for the best. I am at my wits end with these fish, i dont know why they cant just all get along. Yes, i love discus, i really do, i just didnt realize they could be so difficult to care for i guess. Thanks again Krissy :)