Discus helping sick one

[loopus]

Hi,

Yesterday I came home and found one of my discus swimming extremely fast around the tank. He was going around in circles and hitting into stuff all over the place. I did a water change and added some salt. I tried to figure out what was wrong but after a while I still had no idea. I decided I would add some meth blue to see if that work. It didn’t seem to do anything and he got worse.

He is now swimming really slow and doesn’t seem to know which way is up or down. I don’t think he has long to live. The thing is the other discus seem to be helping him stay vertical. There are two other discus in with him and they are doing weird tail flicks and keep pushing to keep him up right when ever he goes on his side. At first I thought they were trying to hurt him but after 15 min of watching them it appears they are really trying to help him.

Are discus normally like this. Has anyone else seen anything like this before?

Cheers’
Lucas

[sharn]

if hes having problems staying upright id think it could be a swim bladder problem, not to sure what to do about that sorry :(

[sammigold]

He may have hit his head and disoriented himself (a concussion of sorts?) maybe just watch and see what happens....

If he is still having trouble with staying upright it could be swim bladder and I have read here somewhere that if you put him into a hospital tank and dose it with Epsom salts (1 teaspoon per 40litres) it may help to release any blockages he may have in his digestive tract as it acts as a laxative.. whilst also helping to relax the fish...

I would be loathe to "medicate" unless I knew exactly what the problem was...

I suggest that you continue to watch him maybe try the epsom salts and keep his water as pristine as possible as some swimbladder disorders can be corrected by just maintaining optimum water conditions. HTH