Help with white spot

[glstine]

Can anybody tell me what this is? It looks like a white pimple on the side of the fish. Actually has it on both sides at about the same location. Can't really see it very good looking directly at the side has to be angled to the light. If I treat with salt, will the salt hurt my plants? Sorry the pictures are so bad, haven't really practiced taking pics of the tank.

[Merrilyn]

Hi Greg, difficult to tell from that shot, but I'd like you to check the pH of your tank. This could be a case of acidic water. Also the caudal fin looks a little ragged, like a pH burn. If your pH is right, then I wouldn't be treating with salt, I'd be looking at an antibiotic to treat that. Salt will affect your plants definately, but the right antibiotic will have no effect on your bio filter or the plants.

See if you can get Flagyl and treat at the rate of 250gm per 10 gallons twice per day for 5 days with a 30% water change between doses.

[glstine]

Just tested water
ph - 6.6
ammonia - 0
nitirite - 0
nitrate - 10
kh - 2

ph is down from what it has been by about 0.8. Been slowly bringing it down, but apparently it has suddenly jumped down a bit more rapidly. Will try to find Flagyl tommorow.

[glstine]

BTW - thanks LR, this is actually the first discus I got and he's been with me for 2-1/2 years and been through some big time stupidity on my part. Was just commenting to my wife 2 days ago aobut how good he was looking since we moved and got a bigger tank and all of the sudden he developed these two white spots and also (I forgot to mention) is darker.

[Merrilyn]

Greg, any update on this fish. Were you able to get hold of Flagyl ?

[glstine]

From searching the internet it looks like flagyl is a brand name of Metro (hope that's right). The fish store around the corner from me had some so I got 7 days dosage worth and started treating last night.

Hard to tell if it's better, the white spot appears to be diminishing. Behavior is still good, still eating and active anyway.

We'll see how it goes over the next couple of days.

[Merrilyn]

Keep us posted Greg.

[glstine]

Fish is doing better, will probably move back to main tank this weekend.

One of my other discus, on the other hand, is shifting between light and dark. All other activity is normal. Is he probably just getting stressed about something or is this a sign he could be getting sick.

[Merrilyn]

Well it is a sign that you need to keep a close watch on him. Is he getting bullied at all?

[glstine]

Since the biggest one is in the QT, he's the bully now. Is it wrong to be pre-emptive and go ahead and take him out and treat with metro? Probably so I would think if you don't know what's wrong.

Also, I've never wormed my discus and after reading a couple of post thought I would do that. Do I just add Prazi to the main tank and that's it. My concern would be I've got 2 giraffe catfish that eat anything and everything that touch the substrate, would any worms that come out hurt them? Sorry for getting off topic.

[Merrilyn]

I'd be inclined to remove those catfish to another tank while you treat the main tank for worms. Eating expelled worms and egg sacks can't be good for them.

[glstine]

Okay I got home from work today and the big guy looked like he regressed a bit. He's more comfortable in the QT now so I got a good chance to study him. Looks like he is having a slime coat issue. Did about a 50% water change have been adding salt and turned the heater up. He's eating and behaving more or less normal, kinda lists to one side while resting but perks up whenever I come into the room. Any suggestions as to what to do with the slime coat issue other than what I am doing. He had been having some white poo (from the medication maybe?) but I didn't notice any today when I did the water change today, poo looked normal.

[Andrew Soh]

:D Hello Greg,

Sorry to intrude. Try increasing your water temperature to 30c. Situation that can trigger this white patches is change of water temperature from warm to cold. But the main cause is not the temperature but something else that, together with the temperature, triggered excessive mucus production. If your discus is not affected by parasites, warming up the discus will definitely help. :thumb

Try this first and see how the improvement is in a day or two. Only after the two days and the situation is no improving do you use antibiotics.

Warmest regards,
Andrew :angel

[glstine]

Thanks Andrew, is adding salt a good idea. Also if it doesn't improve in a couple of days any idea, which medication would be appropriate. I would take a pic but I don't have the digital camera at home today.

[Andrew Soh]

Sorry Greg,

Forgot to add.....new tank syndrome could also be a factor. The tank is not thoroughly washed with soap to remove whatever iused to the frabrication or the silicone glue is not fully cured. All these can trigger excessive mucus secretion.

Just my opinion and from my past encounters. :wink:

Regards,
Andrew :angel

[Bill T.]

I'm interested in your attempts to lower pH. How have you gone about doing this? And where did the kH come from?

I used to use kH to buffer pH, which kept it at about 7.2. My understanding is that when you have even low kH levels, pH will always be about 7.2 to 7.5. When the kH is used up, then pH can be lowerred, but will tend to drift downwards anyway - because of fish.

So if you have been using chemicals to lower pH, and the kH works to buffer upwards, you might have a rapid drop when the kH is used up - which would burn the fish. Also, putting "stuff" in the water is not a good idea. If you do put "stuff" in the water to lower pH, then you might be getting a fluctuation, first down because of "stuff" and then up because of kH. - which wouldn't be good for fish.

[glstine]

In response to the ph issue - I moved recently and had to fill the tank with tap water which is high ph, kh and gh. I've lowered the ph by doing small frequent water changes with RO water since I got my filter hooked up. I use a little bit of conditioned tap water to buffer and raise the ph. (RO comes out ph - 6.2 and kh - 0).

[glstine]

I should add doing this I have been able to maintain a steady ph of 6.6-6.8 with 2 degrees kh.