Help plx !!!

[Harry]

Dear !!!
I have a tank : 120 X47 X 47 cm with lot of plants a pair of angel, more than 20 Neon fish and 11 discus. I just bought it for 2 weeks after test all of the water and everything ( PH... ) i put all of the fish in, at the first week, it was alright, but just 3 days ago, 3/11 of my discus were dark, black and got something in their bodies look like white spot, i have been using Protozin for treatment, but it's worse at the moment, 3 more are infected , they are all very dark color, some got cloudy eyes and they normally don't swim and just seat down on the floor's tank. They still can eat some food.
So, plx anyone tell me how to do, i'm very worry at the moment, plx let me know as soon as you can, thx very much for your assistance. You can email me: hoang_aus@yahoo.com or chat to me online by hoang_aus by yahoo msg. Thanks again for your help guys !!!

[jluna]

i'm not sure as to the nature of the disease, although whitespot could be the culprit...but i don't think we know enough to help - have you only had the discus for two weeks? it sounds like they are overcrowded - 11 in a four footer is too much i think, how big are they? did you only test for ph? what about ammonia, nitrate, gh? how regularly do you change their water? i'd be doing big water changes and testing the parameters... from the sound of your post i think you're pretty new to the discus, if not to fish in general - tell us more and i'm sure people will try to help... my only advice for now would be lots of water changes, add some rock-salt (not tablesalt!) to the water and up the temperature to 30 degrees... you may see some improvement from that, and other guys will add more info, i'm sure.

hope the discus come round,

justin

[Proteus]

Welcome to DF.com Harry...

Firstly to give you the advice that is needed to get these guys better we need some more information as Justin has suggested...

What are all your water parameters, frequency of water changes, what are using for filtration, what temperature is the water, etc.

The tank is overcrowded, so the bio load on a tank that size would be quite high, I have the same size tank (commonly known as a standard 4ft'r - 4ft x 18 x 18) with 14 Discus in it and they are growing extremely fast and are very healthy due to strategies I have in place (7 Filtration devices does wonders plus daily 10-25% partial water changes).

Do you have another tank? or can you get one? do you have any med's on hand? (if not I would get some Methylene Blue & Praziquantel ASAP)

Help is at hand, we just need some more info so as to give you the best method of treatment.

in the meantime I suggest at least a 25-40% water change with treated water.

[kevkoi]

Errr... will someone suggest Hexamita? Black body with white nodules (most likely coming out of head or lateral line)... clear as day suggesting symptoms of Hex.

It may be the poor water conditions that brings about the manifestation of hex, but now that they're obviously showing signs of it, your course of action would be to obtain some Metronidazole for treatment... either from a vet or a knowledgeble and symphatetic LFS!

If you can still obtain the product "Octozin", I suggest you grab it and treat your fish with it.

good luck

kev

[flukes]

Sounds too me like a overload. Too many fish too quick. How did you cycle the tank?? Would ammonia burns create white dots?? I ve never seen ammonia burns but from the pics ive seen its always based around the eyes.

But dont listen to me, lev,prot and kev know what they are talking about. Trust me.

[Harry]

Thank you so much Justin, Admind, Kep and Flukes.

My tank condition is:
Degree : 29 at night and 30, 30.2 during day time, PH is 6.6, nitrat.... everything is alright., but i think it' was abit my fault because i bought too much plants, and when i buy fish, i also pour that water into my tank, maybe some bad bacterias got through that and cause my tank problem at the moment. I actually had 3 tanks, 2 of 2f and 1 of 4f. But i put them all together in the 4f one. At the mean time, i'm using the Tetra medication ( i'm not sure exactly the name, but it sounds like that :) , i got it in the aquarium shop) i get 7 infected fish out of the tank, put them in the 2f, but 1 red already dead, (so sad, it's been with me for almost a year). 6 others are getting better, abit brighter, 2 torquoise nearly get back to normal color, the brown( male) recover almost 70%, the white diamond has no more white spot, but still very stress and does not eat. The brown (female) get more scabby, but it's still the strongest one, still eating, i don't know how to stop this symptom. !!! The blue diamond is still in dark color, sometime it's just abit brighter but get back to dark color shortly. Because of the water mix with medication, so i can not see their eyes still cloudy or not. But the water is very horrible, yellow, lot of bubbles, smelly,,,.

Guys, so i almost tell about my problem, so what i shoud do at the moment, shoud i get some better out of that little hospital, or stil keep them in their up to when every fish is finish their symptom?
I'm afraid that if i still keep them ( some better ) in there, they will be infected again, but if i get them out, is it early ? ok, give me some advice plx guys, thx gain !!!!
Harry.

[kevkoi]

Harry, read article below....
http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/articles/hexamita.html

U will need Metronidazole.... I'm leaning very very heavily towards your fish being hex infested. Off the shelf meds will not combat this disease. It's a very common problem when introducing plants, water and fish from certain fish shops. Many fish harbour hex, but it does not seem to affect them... Discus get very badly affected by it however.

kev

[shorty]

Hi guys,

Has anyone thought about the fact, and have asked are these guys new comers to the tank and that it might be discus disease or discus plague, as all the symptons are there.

If they are not new comers to the tank, due to the fact of overstocking the tank the other cause maybe Columnaris.

Trace

[Proteus]

Discus Disease & Plague are just simple, incorrect terms for illnesses such as Hex, worms etc...

[shorty]

Hi there,


Discus Disease & Plague are just simple, incorrect terms for illnesses such as Hex, worms etc

If this is the case what do you class the disease that we get here in Australia, when fish come out of quarentine and been kept in water around 24c, and once put into a tank where the temp is increased and after 6-10 days, the fish start to show signs of "gasping for breath, slime coat starts to turn white in what looks like little rivers, fish darken, clamp up and some eventually die????????

I work in a LFS and due to the above I have more than often taken home improperly quarentined fish with the above symptoms and had to nurse them through one of the most horrible diseases I have seen happen to Discus. Penang Fever, discus disease /plague are all the names that are given to the above symptoms and believe me I can tell you the disease does exist.

Trace :D

[Proteus]

Without turning this into a slanging match (that aint what this forum is for) ask any seasoned breeder, long term Discus keeper, or for that matter just about all research material and sadly it disagrees with what you are saying. Discus Disease simply does not exsist... it is a lazy way to describe a number of ailments.


what do you class the disease that we get here in Australia, when fish come out of quarentine and been kept in water around 24c, and once put into a tank where the temp is increased and after 6-10 days, the fish start to show signs of "gasping for breath, slime coat starts to turn white in what looks like little rivers, fish darken, clamp up and some eventually die????????

The exact definition of what is mentioned.

Costia, Chilodonella (commonly referred to as 'Blue Slime' or 'Discus disease')
Recognition, Costia & Chilodonella are parasites easily resisted by healthy fish. Weakened fish are susceptible, though, and show patches of excessive mucus, rapid breathing to gasping, lethargy, with sloughing of skin in patches. There is a grey coating on the body which darkens as the illness progresses, often accompanied by bloody patches on the body, Fungus often follows.

If not treated effectively & immediatly, Death usually occurs.

If you went up to a dozen experienced Discus keepers in 4-5 different countries, they would give you a different meaning to the so called Discus Disease.

The sooner people, and especially Discus keepers get out of the habit of using such a 'Common' term the better off this part of the hobby will become. I could fill a page with the specific name of every affliction that Discus suffer or may encounter, but again, no mention of Discus Disease will be found....

Shorty, this isnt taking a shot at you, rather I am trying to steer you in the right direction... I am the first to admit I am not always right, but instances such as this get me annoyed that there are so many mis-truths out there which turn a lot of people away from keeping Discus. :wink:

[shorty]

And that is a fair call, pple are under the mosconseption that discus keeping is hard work, well we all know that is wrong.

And I didnt take this as a personal shot at myself at all but thanks for explaining that.

Now lets get on with what is important : discus keeping :D

Trace :D

[Proteus]

u got it Trace :wink:

the more people we open the doors to regarding how rewarding keeping Discus can be, the better for all of us.

[Annie]

And that is a fair call, pple are under the mosconseption that discus keeping is hard work, well we all know that is wrong.

And I didnt take this as a personal shot at myself at all but thanks for explaining that.

Now lets get on with what is important : discus keeping :D

Trace :D

I totally agree. There is a HUGE misconception. They are the easiest and most Happy fish to have. The only issues are water quality, and anyone would want there fish in clean happy water.

[pyro]

i still havent read any where how this tank was cycled before all these fish were put in there.

[Annie]

just bought it for 2 weeks after test all of the water and everything ( PH... ) i put all of the fish in, at the first week, it was alright, but just 3 days ago, 3/11 of my discus were dark, black and got something in their bodies look like white spot,

Huum, you are right Pyro. I had to re-read this.... It seems to be a tank that has been up and running for uuumm, if I am reading this right, maybe 3 weeks and 3 days?

If this is the case I just have one thing to say....uuh oh... :shock:

Harry,
Could you please clarify for us the tank time up and running and whether it is or was cycled?
:wink:

[luvfishies]

Ditto pyro. Stressed fish due to cycling will succumb to things that healthy fish can shrug off.

I do think it's Hex, in addition to ammonia/nitrite issues.