I Have Some Sick Bubs

[goldenpigeon]

hi guys,
well a few of my bubbi discus have fallen sick on me :x they were acting funny this mornin and havnt been able to post all day. fortunantly they are still eating enthusiastically. i would really appreciate anybodies help because i love these guys and have put so much work into them.

well they are a bit skittish and they are a little bit slimy (white slime). the slime isnt to bad yet. i have been doing regular and large water changes. the last time i changed the water was last night. i changed another tanks water last night at the same time too and they are all fine but the bubs have come down with something.

i did introduce 2 very healthy discus into this tank on sunday. they have not become sick yet luckily. that might have something to do with immunity or they might be the cause. but the new ones are nice and fat and eating very well. the bubs that are sick i bred myself and they have never had any disease EVER.

ok the water should have absolutely no nitrates, nitrites and ammonia in it because i change the water very fequently and i alway clean the sponge out.

the ph is about 7 ish, mayb a bit higher. the ph has been the same for a long time in their tank now and they have been rine with it.

this morning i put some triple sulfa in before going to skool as that was all i could do in 5 mins. the triple sulfa is made by aquarium science and stops them from getting infection and protects the slime coat.

there is also a bn that has been in the tank for ages now.

please help guys. i dont wanna loose these guys.

PS i have some metro at hand if i need it

cheers D

[Merrilyn]

Hi GP; so sorry to hear about your babies.

It sounds to me like your two new fish have been carrying some kind of disease, and although not affected themselves, they can still be carriers without showing symptoms.

Now, the first thing to do is to remove those two fish, and put them in a quarantine tank on their own.

We need to find out what your babies are suffering from. Lots of things come to mind, from velvet to discus plague, but before we jump to conclusions, lets see if we can identify some of the symptoms.

First up, can you post a picture of the affected babies. And can you tell me how old they are. Are they all eating? Check carefully, because sometimes it seems that they are eating but if you watch them you'll see that they spit the food out, and don't eat it at all. And of course, the droppings, are they normal brown colour, or are you seeing white slime in the droppings, or are some of them showing totally white droppings. You'll need to sit in front of the tank for an hour or two so that you can observe them all carefully. How about their breathing, is it normal, or do they appear to be breathing extra fast, and are they flicking against objects in the tank?

Keep up with the regular water changes, and adding the tri sulplhur, and we'll try to work it out for you.

[goldenpigeon]

hey,
the bubs have been doing normal poos but i just looked in their tank (6:45 this morning) and one of them has half a normal and half a white poop. the have been flicking against objects. the babies are about 4 months old i think. when it comes to food they have not been eating very much. they will act normally and be realy interested when i come to the tank but when i put food in they only nibble.

when i went to the tank just now they all raced to the front. one of them even bit me because he wanted food. they have made a hige improvement from, last night but it isnt gone yet but atleast they r hanhing in well :D i just thought i would mention that they have plenty of weight on them but im not sure how long thats going to last.

last night i also raised the temperature about 2 degrees. it is about 31 now.


here are the pictures

[goldenpigeon]

hey LR could u please tell me what u think?

[Merrilyn]

Hmmmm really hard to tell from the pics, GP.

Going by the behaviour of the fish, they don't seem to be worried at all.

Sometimes the slime coat will be affected if there has been a sudden drop in the pH of the tank, but if your pH remains at 7 all the time, it can't be that.

I think this is going to be a case of wait and see what happens. You can certainly add a little salt to the water, to keep the bacteria count down. One tablespoon per 40 litres of water will be enough.

The increase in slime coat is the fish's way of trying to rid it's skin of any irritation. It may simply go away on it's own, with just the salt treatment.

Keep us posted GP.