WHITE POO

[oscar]

I've had a red turq hanging out in a corner of the tank and not eating for about a week or two now.

Last night i witnessed a white poo hanging from his vent. It didn't appear "mucusy" but more normally formed, but i'm not going let that fool me.

Lately it's been comming back out and being social, but i haven't positively identified it eating.

Anyway, i've been doing a bit of searching around and there is fairly strong evidence to suggest that he may have "hole in the head".

So, i have a few questions:
-Do i treat the whole tank with Metro? Is this a diease that is likely to be contaminating the whole tank. I have a handful of tetras, bristlenose (peppermint), and corry's in with the discus in that tank. Will this worry them?
-I have another tank, and i use the same siphon and pump hoses for both tanks at WC. Is there a chance that cross-contamination may have occurred? Do i need to treat both tanks?
- I have to go way for work for a day or so this week, which will interupt the ideal WC and retreatment cycle of the metro. Will this have a really detrimental effect on the treatment process?

How would this have got into my tank/fish. I do 30%WC twice a week with aged water, and run UV steriliser also. What am i doing wrong.

The fish in question is the one in my avatar. Picture was taken on Friday last week. I know it's too small to see anything really, but the actual larger image is on my home PC and i'm at work atm.

[oscar]

Actually here is a pic of the RT pretty much exactly a month ago. Still looks in same condition. That is, no noticable loss in weight or anything.

I'm not too sure whether to pay any heed to the stress bars or not. They have been there faintly ever since arrival from SLS. The other German High Body Red Turqs that SLS posted pictures of for that batch also had faint bars visible so i've never really been too concerned.

[Merrilyn]

Hi Oscar. Sorry to hear about your fish. Yes it certainly sounds like hex to me, from the symptoms you describe.

It's really not known how hex is spread. It's thought that fish carry most of these bugs in their system, and while the fish is stress free and healthy, their immune system can deal with things and keep the bugs under control.

Any kind of stress can bring it out, like transporting, less than ideal watr conditions or being bullied. It can then be passed to other fish thru contaminated droppings.

The thing to do is remove the fish to a hospital tank, with a fully cycled filter, and commence treatment at the rate of 400mg per 40 litres of water every 8 hours, with a 30% waterchange before each treatment.

No need to treat the whole tank unless other fish start showing signs of the disease.

Breaking the treatment cycle right in the middle is not ideal, however in this case, it can't be helped. If you can manage three days of treatment before you have to go away, and then another three days after you come back, that should keep it under control.

Normally I'd say not to start until you can carry out a full 5 day treatment, but in this case, as the fish has had symptoms for up to two weeks, I think it's best to commence treatment straight away.

Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress.

[oscar]

Thanks LR,

In an effort to expedite things and ensure maximum treatment time before i have to go away, i went to the vet and got the Metro tablets and just ducked home to throw the first treatment in the tank.

I used the dose rate you prescribed in the 'Hole in Head' sticky in the illness & medications area. There you said 250mg per 40L. Should it be 250 or 400?

I also observed that the fish in question was going to the toilet again. This time, whilst it was still whitish/semitransparent, ther was also the presence of some brown substance so i take it that the fish is now eating again (on a light scale).

I'm hoping that this means that the fish is starting to get back ontop of things naturally, and that the metro will only be an aid to his recovery. If i am lucky enough for this to be so then the break in treatment might not be so detrimental.

[Merrilyn]

Hi Oscar. 250mg per litre is the dose for hex when it has been caught early and the symptoms are not severe. A fish that has been showing symptoms for around 2 weeks is heavily infected, and then then higher dose rate seems to work better.

Because you're going away, I'd be inclined to treat at the higher rate for a few days. If the fish is eating, then soaking food in metro before feeding is a great help, as the antibiotic goes straight into the stomach where it does the most good.

[oscar]

I'll leave it until i redose tonight to up the ante to 400mg.

I just thought the key would be to get the treatment started ASAP to maximise exposure before i go away.

Hope it pulls through. It's a pretty fish and i'll be disappointed if it doesn't make it.

Will keep you posted with progress.

Thanks again.

[oscar]

I'm about to do a water change. It's the last one i can do before i have to leave for a couple of days. Thursday night will be next WC at the earliest, possibly Friday night.

The question is, do i dose the tank with metro again after this water change? i.e if there is no WC 12 hrs after a dose of metro, is there a remnant chamical that harms the fish or depletes oxygen?

I ended up dosing the whole tank just in case.

I have noted that all the discus in the tank are opening the gill covers further than usual. Not sure if this is significant.

[oscar]

During WC also noticed that (i can only assume it was) the Metro had made the inlet sponge to my UV Steriliser (i've got the UV off, just running it for the powerhead to move the water) clogged with a fairly tight slime to the point where the powerhead was not pushing any water.

This has never happened before. It has also drastically reduced the water flow of the cannister filter. i can only assume it has done similar to the cannister's filter media.

I think i'll have to drop an air stone in to compensate for the reduced water disturbance.

This is all very odd to me.

[Merrilyn]

It's always a good idea to have an airstone in a discus tank. Warmer water holds less oxygen, so the greater the turnover in the tank, the better is it for the fish.

Metro tablets have some kind of binder in them that seems to clog up sponges, so it's a good idea to replace the filter floss after a course of metro.

Add your dose of metro before you go away, it won't hurt. Metro only has a life of about 8 hours anyway, and it won't deplete the oxygen in the tank at all. Do have that airstone running, in case the filter slows down again. The extra oxygen is important for fish recovering from an illness.

Good luck. Hope you return to healthy discus.