HELP PLEASE

[marg]

One of my Discus is sick and I'm pretty sure that it has Hex. When I went to feed them this morning one (which has always been a runt) had stringy white poop hanging off him. He keeps hiding behind the rocks in the tank.

I have a small tank that used to be my grandaughters (36 litre) so I have decided to set it up as a hospital tank. I washed it out with straight bleach and rinsed it heaps, then filled it 2/3 tank water and 1/3 fresh water.

My question is " I have some Metro tablets, but they are only 200mg. Would one tablet per treatment every 12 hours be enough? Also, what should I do regarding filtration? I have a small corner filter that I can put filter material in - will that do the job - or do I really need to filter the tank seeing as I have to remove 1/3 of the water every 12 hours? Should I just put an Airstone in?" :? :? :?

Any advice would be appreciated as this is my first time I've encountered Hex.

[Merrilyn]

Hi margot. Seems everyone is having trouble with hex at the moment.............uggggggh. And it seems to be a particularly resistant strain, so you need to be diligent with the treatment, and not miss a dose.

Just as you were planning, move the little guy into the hospital tank on his own, and you can just put an airstone in there. You will be removing so much water, the ammonia won't have a chance to build up to a level where it could become a problem.

The dose is 250 mg per 40 litres, but that can be safely doubled in highly resistant cases, so don't underdose. I'd still use 1 and a quarter tablets in a tank that size. If you can possibly manage to repeat the dose every 8 hours it becomes more effective.

One important thing. Retreat the full amount of water in the tank each water change, not just the water replaced, so add a full 1 and a quarter tablet after each water change. And equally important, no tank light. Metro is destroyed by light.

Good luck Margot. We're all with you :) :)

[marg]

thanks heaps. I'll start now and let you know how I go.

[goldenpigeon]

hope they r alright :) and good luck

[marg]

thanks goldenpigeon. I will keep you all up to date. Going to set my alarm for 4.00am. now so I don't miss a dose.

[Merrilyn]

*thinking of margot at 4am* here's a coffee for you :coffee

[Benny]

My heart goes out to you, i just got past the same problem (well i bloody hope i did)

[marg]

Hi guys. Well the alarm dragged me out of bed at 4.00am. this morning so I emptied 30% water, topped it up gave the little feller his next dose and covered his tank with a towel, then stumbled back to bed.

12.00 came and I took the towel off and vacuumed 30% out again ( noticed one white yukky poo when I did this so made sure I vacuumed it up), topped water up and redosed him. He doesn't seem to be eating but he looks o.k..

All my Fish have Frozen Bloodworms for tea so I'll see if I can tempt him then.

Thanks for all the good thoughts and support everyone.

[Merrilyn]

Hang in there Margot. More cyber coffee on it's way. :P

[marg]

The saga continues :evil: :!: :!: .

Tonight at 8.00pm. should have been my last dose of Metro. Well I lifted the cover off the tank and the first thing I see is a yukky white poo coming from the Discus I have been treating. :cry: . He doesn't seem to have been eating and everyday that I siphon the 30% water out I have noticed little bits of white poo - no normal poo at all.

Has anyone got any ideas as to what I should do now? Any advice would be appreciated.

[leanne31]

Maybe just continue dosing with the metro for a couple more days and try tempting him with some yummy live food.

[marg]

Continuing with the Metro for a couple more days is not a problem, however the live food is. None of the Pet Shops here in good ole Wagga Wagga sell live food. I have been using frozen Bloodworms which all of my fish love, but he doesn't seem to be looking at them.

[leanne31]

Gees thats a shame they dont sell live food maybe just keep on tempting him on the bw and in a couple more days maybe try raising the temp a little bit to raise his metabolism a bit the problem I found when I was in the same situation as you was I reckon mine was lonely from being taken away from his mates so he didnt eat once I noticed the white poos had gone I returned mine and within a couple of days he was eating again. But if yours has still got white poo it sound like he still maybe sick so your in a catch 22 situation I guess.Just keep on doing what your doing and I hope things start looking up for you.

[marg]

I'll keep him in the Hospital Tank and continue with the Metro then. He has had 3 days of it as of 8.00pm. tonight, so I'll continue on for a few more days and hope that that does the trick.

I have been slowly collecting Discus over the past 18 months and this is the first time that I have had this problem. :cry: .

[leanne31]

If your've only done the treatment for 3 days then Id say a couple more days is the best and also doubling the dosage can be another option if that doesnt work its quite safe and I have done it myself.
18 months is a fair trek with no problems at least you are learning something from this even if its bad luck.

[marg]

O.K., I'll give him a couple of more days on the dose he is on now and see how he goes.

I guess I have been really lucky because the local Fish Shop here is hopeless. They will sell you anything, but don't seem to know too much if anything goes wrong. Anything that I have learnt has been out of books prior to joining this site, and I'm glad that I joined. Everyone is only too happy to help and offer advice, which is great for me as I am a disability Pensioner and cannot afford to waste money (as the LFS would have me do). I only have 8 Discus but have raised them all from littlies as that was the only way that I could afford them. I am hoping to save some money up and attend the ADA Meeting either at the end of this month or else end of July and hopefully add some more to my tank.

Meanwhile I will struggle on with my poor little sick feller and hope that he gets better.

Thanks for your advice Leanne.

[leanne31]

Im only to happy to help Margot and I hope your fellow gets better for you soon I know its sad when one of your fish get sick but I suppose its gotta happen to everyone at least once :cry:

[Merrilyn]

You're doing everything right Margot. As Leanne said, just continue for a couple more days and increase the dose if you feel it warrants.

Once the treatment is finished, move him back into the main tank with the others, and continue feeding bloodworm mixed with some metro for the next week, till all signs are completely gone.

He should feed better in a group situation, and the metro will go straight into the stomach where it will do the most good. A week of metro will help any of the others that may be in the early stages too.

[ctvu]

Hi Margot

I treated mine 5 days straight then stoped and left the temp like that for another week. It took 13 days for her to start picking food (BW only very picky) not much though, then another week (3 weeks in total) she started picking colourbit. HTH

ctvu

[marg]

To everyone who has offered suggestions etc. regarding my little fellow - I just wanted to let you all know that sadly he lost his fight for life tonight. I tried my hardest but unfortunately the big Fish in the Sky must have needed him more than I did. :( .

All of my others look o.k. so at least it didn't affect them. I will just have to save my pennies and get myself some more juvenilles to put in the tank, as I have now put his mate into the other tank with the other four rather than leave him on his own and stress him out.

Thanks everyone for all your help.

[Merrilyn]

Margot, I am so very sorry to hear that, especially when I know how hard you tried to save the little fellow.

Unfortunately he may well have been sick for a long time, especially if he was, as you say, a runt, without showing any signs other than not eating as greedily as the other fish.

I know you gave him every chance possible.

[ctvu]

Hi

You have done every thing you can to save his life, but some one says Live and Learn.

Really sorry for your little fellow.

ctvu

[leanne31]

Real sorry to hear you tried hard maybe he was just to far gone hopefully you learnt something from your experience :cry: