Can I get some more fish now?

[Bill T.]

Is it safe to get some more fish now? After losing two stunted ones and apparently "scorching" two others with Sterazine whilst trying to eradicate flukes, I have been doing 30% wc for a week now. My remaining two are much better. One of them is eating and behaving like a discus should. The other is still picky with food and very shy.

I've switched from using carbonate hardness to shell grit for pH buffer & my pH has gone from 7.2-5 to 6.8-7.0. Gh = 6 dgh.

I suspect my family is getting me some more discus for my birthday next week, and if not I want to get three more anyway....but is it safe?

I now have a quarantine tank, so I can put the newies in there & treat with Prazi, Protozin & Myxacin prior to transfer to the main tank....although none of the fish in the main tank have had proper quarantine, so perhaps I could put the newies in the main tank and "do" them all?

Your advice please.

[ctvu]

Go for it. If you have QT fully cycled as well that is even better or you will have to keep doing WC. HTH

ctvu

[Merrilyn]

Sounds like more discus coming your way. Lucky man.

Yes Bill, it is safe to get more discus, but you know what I'm going to say ....... straight into the quarantine tank for three weeks. Not one drop of water from the Q tank can be allowed to go near your main tank, so that means things like nets, syphon hoses, thermometers, test vials, everything.

With this nasty strain of flukes around, treat your new fish for flukes and worms in the Q tank as soon as you get them. Then after three weeks, you will be safe to put them in the main tank.

[Bill T.]

Well, I'm not convinced I have overcome the fluke problem in my main tank. It's very much wait & see at this stage.

[leanne31]

Well if you think that you still have flukes Bill maybe you should take your own advice Bill to wait and see.

Leanne

[Bill T.]

Update:
After all my trials and tribulations treating for flukes and nearly losing all my two favourite discus and lots of wc, thinking and watching, my two discus got much better but were still "skittish", picking at food and hiding away.

I took a risk and started treating with Octozin on Saturday. After an hour I dropped some frozen bw in the tank. Both fish approached with caution, then one of them excreted this long, white, slimy casting. Then the other one started "writhing" around the tank and for about 20 minutes was excreting lots of long slimy grey to white castings.

After last nights dose (you dose for three consecutive days) the second guy excreted some white slimy castings. Later in the night I noticed both were out grazing happily and less "skittish" when I approached.

This morning they were both out of hiding & not so "skittish".

Last Octazin dose coming up tonight. Fingers crossed, but I think these two have had a worm load for a long time, which may have made them more susceptible to other infestations.

[Merrilyn]

That's a very interesting development Bill. Please keep us updated. Any chance of pics?

[Bill T.]

Unfortunately I don't have a digital camera, so no pics. Anyway, the action seems to have "passed" by now. According to the Octozin instructions, I should wait 72 hours and turn the U.V. back on & replace carbon, so on Thursday evening I will do just that, plus start frequent wc for another week.

I still find one fish eats and travels around less than the other so perhaps it was more affected & will take more time to recover - come to think of it, one of them has been going through "shy" stages for a while.

I've always thought I introduced something by using those angel fish to cycle my tank, or perhaps the discus have carried something right from the start?

[Bill T.]

Update:
My two remaining discus seem to have made a complete recovery. Eating well & travelling around the tank. Normal looking castings. Clean, happy fins. Respiration varies a bit between 60 to 80 bpm, depending (I think they breath faster when they are scared or stressed).
One of them is still a little shy.

The Octazin seems to have done a good job, however, I did get an ammonium spike for about three days following the last dose, which I responded to by daily wc. and adding "cycle" daily. Because pH was below 7.0, apparently a low ammonium reading is not injurious - something about pH above 7.0 converting ammonium to ammonia, which then becomes very toxic.

If everything stays fine, I'm off to OAFI on the weekend.

[leanne31]

thats great news Bill its about time you had some happy news have fun on the week end and let us know how you went.

Leanne

[Merrilyn]

That's great news Bill. Happy shopping :wink: