Sick discus and Hexamita medication.

[SiriOssi]

A week ago I got 5 large Alenquer Diskus from a friend who works long hours and cannot take care of his fish anymore. I place them in a quarantine 110 Liter tank. Their appetite seems to be ok but two of them showing sickness symptoms. One of them is very thin with darker color (almost black) and clamped fins (seems to be symptoms of Discus Plague). The other one normal body size (not as thin) but darker color not as dark as the other yet and no clamped fins yet but one eye is foggy.
Three days ago I went to my Local Fish Store and I bought Hexamita for Discus. I did a 30 % water change then
I administer three days dosage which finished yesterday. Today on the Fish with the Foggy eye I noticed two white spots on one side of the body which I do not remember being there.
I did a 30 % water change and added some Hexamita drops to compensate for the water change.
So, far their appetite has not changed. They are eating well two meals a day.
Any help and/or suggestions you guys can provide would be greatly appreciated. I do not want to loose any of these beautiful Discus.

[SiriOssi]

Here are 2 pics of the first Sick fish one from each side:2138121382

[SiriOssi]

Here are 2 pics of the second sick fish one from each side: 2138321384

[Hollowman]

The first one looks painfully thin and stunted, if it were given to me I would cull. The second looks a little fatter and could take the medicine. Might be worth giving a salt dip to cleanse the outer of the fish. The white spots are probably Ich, so the salt and plenty of clean water will help.

[SiriOssi]

Thanks for the reply Hollowman. Yes you are right the first one is painfully thin but still as active as the rest and eating just like them not isolating herself. Not sure of culling just yet :(
For the second one can I use Sea Salt for the dip? I read somewhere that the Iodized Salt is recommended for the dip and then i read somewhere else that the Iodized Salt is bad and not to use so I am confused when it comes to the Iodized Salt. Or should I go out and buy Epsom Salt? Which one would you do?
Is there instruction on this forum on how to do the dip like how much salt to use? I tried to search myself and I could not find any.

[Hollowman]

This is from Simply Discus,

Salt dip:

2 tablespoons per gallon water. ANY salt so long as there are no anti-clog additives. Iodised salt is safe, cooking salt is cheaper.

Mix in a clean bucket with water of the same temp or from the tank. Net fish and place into bucket. After 30 mins remove back to clean water, BUT if the fish rolls over before the 30 minutes is up then remove it straight away to clean water.

I normally give the tank a good clean through when doing this or put them into a newly setup tank, but not everyone has the tankage.

The dip can be repeated daily (even twice daily) if needed for as long as necessary (well easily 2 weeks).

It is typical to see the fish drop slime, I normally do a mini w/c an hour or so after to remove the slime if its visible.




Epsom salt is different to regular salt, it is used for internal purging so even in your case that an external salt dip would be good, you could also hit them with some Epsom too to help clear out and internal parasite

[SiriOssi]

Thanks again Hallowman. I will do one right away.
This is a newly cleaned tank about a week ago just before the Discus went in it was filled up with fresh new water. A couple of days later 30% water change then the medication was added in for 3 days. Then 30-40% water change. Yesterday I did 40-50% water change. Today I will do another water change. So,

[SiriOssi]

Ok both fish took a 30 minute sea salt or (Rock Salt) dip pretty well with no problem what so ever. I will repeat this daily or twice a day as suggested. Let's hope that they both get back to normal soon. I will continue with the daily water changes as well. I increased the temp in the Aquarium to 32 degrees C to help get rid of the Ich.
I will put up some new pics as soon as I see any changes.
Any other ideas or suggestions are welcome. :)

[SiriOssi]

Here is a picture of the second one after the Salt Dip his fins are already unclamped :)
21385

[SiriOssi]

By the way I just noticed on one of the "healthy" Discus below the tail fin a little red pimple (see pic below). Has anyone seen anything like that? What is this and what can I do to take care of it?21386

[Hollowman]

You are doing well, salt dips are not always for the faint hearted, specially when you see them roll. Keep up the water changes the temp rise was also a good move. You might see the slime coat drop off the fish after a salt dip but this is a normal reaction.

The spot on the tail could be a point of infection or ulcer. You could salt dip or I would carefully remove him and topically apply some Maracyn or Furan 2 directly to the ulcer with a cotton bud. You can do this daily but should start to heal within a week ime

[SiriOssi]

Thank you again for the reply Hollowman. I will keep going at it and I will report back.

[SiriOssi]

Here is the first sick fish who was very black and thin. This is how she/he looks today :)
21387

[Hollowman]

That's a big difference. The colour has really come back. Sure due to the water changes and salt dips. Now the next trick is to get it to fatten up. This is where you could use Epsom salts to clear it's gut and pass out parasites leaving it free to digest all the nutrients in its food. A good beefheart mix will help boost it up.

Good work

[SiriOssi]

Thanks :) Yup the next step to get it to fatten up. I think I ran out of beefheart mix. I have made my own frozen food previously for my Oscars and still have plenty of it, but without the beefhearts I used Salmon, Talapia, Shrimps, Peas, Spirulina Powder and Multivitamins. I think it should do what do you think? I still have some black and red worms which they love and they have been getting them everyday too.
The Epsom Salts should be a dip as well or how to induce it?

[Hollowman]

Use 1 tblspn per 10 gallons is recommended. I would spoon out your dosage into a big jug and mix with water then add to your tank. It should take a few hours to take effect and can be removed with normal water changes. You should see them poop which is a good sign it is working.

As for your home made food mix, sounds ok but I would lay odd the red / bloodworm for a while as there is not so much nutritional value to them.

[SiriOssi]

Hello Hollowman, After one month of daily 50% water changes and Salt Dips and improvements on the appearance of the fish unfortunately I could not get the smaller one of the sick Discus to eat I tried all kind of frozen foods, Sticks, Pellets granulars and flakes to no avail. Finally I woke one day last week to find him dead in the corner of the Aquarium. :(

[Hollowman]

That's a shame. You worked hard to save him but I think that when they get that gaunt look, and thin it is already too late. Just keep up the good work with the others and don't lose sleep over the dead one. You are doing ok.

[sayid]

Sorry about your loss ,as Hollowman said don't lose sleep over the dead one ,unfortunately this is part of discus keeping ,we all have gone through it .you are doing a good job.

[SiriOssi]

Thank you Sayid. I understand. I did give him a proper burial in the park.
My question is how long should I continue with this routine. The daily water changes and salt dip?
Also the Epsom salt I put in the aquarium just one time. Should I repeat or not? Should add some after water changes to compensate? Because in the rater I am going after two or three days the Epson salt I put in would be gone.

[sayid]

The epsom salt is to clean the intestine of the fish and improve the appetite and once the fish starts to poo you stop the epsom salt and as you do water change it gradually disappear fro your system , your water change is depends on how big is your tank ,how many fish you have and whether you have adult or juvie discus , but as a general rule i say 50% w/c twice a week.
I strongly suggest the you study the stickies in the " discus for beginners " in the forum section and get yourself familiar with the basic needs of discus .
HTH

[SiriOssi]

Hello everyone,
Just a quick update with some exciting news :)
Today when I got back home in the evening to my surprise I found some Discus eggs on the filter wall. So, I removed all the fish from the tank except for the parents. Let me know what do you think. Here is a link to a short video I just took:
https://youtu.be/Ll6YcB6qAlk

[Hollowman]

Hello everyone,
Just a quick update with some exciting news :)
Today when I got back home in the evening to my surprise I found some Discus eggs on the filter wall. So, I removed all the fish from the tank except for the parents. Let me know what do you think. Here is a link to a short video I just took:
https://youtu.be/Ll6YcB6qAlk
Hi SiriO,

You know this phase is the most exciting for me. The female has laid a good number of eggs. What I can see, and you will be able to see more clearly is the colour of the eggs. The white ones are undfertilised, already the female might have removed them and sometimes if there is a high bioload in the water they can fur up and kill adjacent eggs, but as I said the parents should remove them.

Don't be disheartened if nothing comes of this first lay, if in a day or two you have 'wrigglers' at least you know you have a confirmed pair. Then the hard work starts lol.

Good luck

H

[SiriOssi]

Thanks again Hollowman.

Here is a new video from today the second day of the eggs :)

I noticed they removed some of the white ones... there are still few as you can see in the video:

https://youtu.be/JBHlSJSjS8Y

[SiriOssi]

Today finally the parents gave up on watching their eggs and waiting without any movements so they at them all. :(

[Hollowman]

Today finally the parents gave up on watching their eggs and waiting without any movements so they at them all. :(
That's a shame but it happens. Give them time and they will do it again. Quite often it takes a few trial runs before they get it 100% right. I had pairs that would lay every two weeks, but this isn't a firm rule. To encourage them to lay after the two week period, delay a water change for a day or two and then give them some good clean water and see what happens. It is a natural instinct to lay eggs after heavy rain in the wild, so your water changes can mimic this. Good luck, don't give up

[SiriOssi]

Ok will keep trying... thanks Hollowman.

[SiriOssi]

A couple of days ago my Discus laid some eggs again. :)
Yesterday I noticed some wigglers... see video:
https://youtu.be/lSAYHQgHtM0
I have been using a Plastic mesh cylinder that i made to cover them.
Today I removed the cover again and to my surprise all the wigglers that were there yesterday were gone... what happened? where did they go?
Here is the second video from today:
https://youtu.be/Gd3aqYEVr6s

[SiriOssi]

A couple of days ago my Discus laid some eggs again. :)
Yesterday I noticed some wigglers... see video:
https://youtu.be/lSAYHQgHtM0
I have been using a Plastic mesh cylinder that i made to cover them.
Today I removed the cover again and to my surprise all the wigglers that were there yesterday were gone... what happened? where did they go?
Here is the second video from today:
https://youtu.be/Gd3aqYEVr6s

[SiriOssi]

After I took the video today the parents again came to the cone and cleaned it up. :(
what am I doing wrong? Please help

[Hollowman]

You are not doing anything wrong. The pair are immature parents and not sure what to do. Covering the eggs is a good idea, but make sure the parents can still fan them and care for them. Once the wrigglers become free swimming and feeding off the parents then you should be ok. Good luck

[SiriOssi]

Ah ok. Thank you Hollowman. I was just puzzled with the whereabouts of the wigglers.

[Hollowman]

Ah ok. Thank you Hollowman. I was just puzzled with the whereabouts of the wigglers.live food unfortunately

[SiriOssi]

To the parents? :(
Does that mean I should worry about them eating their next batch as well?

[Hollowman]

To the parents? :(
Does that mean I should worry about them eating their next batch as well?
Yes the parents. Are they in a tank on their own? or still in a community tank with other fish?

When the parents get scared by other fish then they would sooner eat the fry than let the other fish steal them. Best to set up a breeding tank and eliminate this behavior. It does happen even with older established pairs too but try to keep them happy, good water and food, and they should do it right.