Discus sick, really quick

[loopus]

Hi,

About an hour ago my discus went psycho for about 1 min or so and them laid against the wall. He was fine this morning when I feed him, but now he looks dead. He is still breathing slowly but isn’t mowing. He has gone very dark and his fins are clamped up. I have no idea what is wrong. I checked the PH and ammonia and they are fine.

I lost another discus a couple of days ago, heres a link to what happened.
http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6448.

When I lost my other discus I was treating them with Promethyasul as a last resort and I have continued it since Friday. I’m doing a 70% water at the moment hoping it will help.

Any ideas what is wrong.

Cheer;s
Lucas

[G-1000]

A discus will go nuts if there are any irritants in the water: such as spraying deodorant or fly spray nearby the tank.

You may have had something toxic on your hand whilst doing w/c.

May be a simple case of being startled.

Post a pic if possible - otherwise very hard to help you.

G

[Bill T.]

I suppose losing one fish is a concern. Losing a second one is a real worry, IMHO, as it indicates some pathogen in your system.
I have had these experiences before, which have cleared up since I treated for intestinal worms and installed a UV steriliser.
However, I didi go through a few fish - if it happens again, I will take a smaple sick fish to a fish friendly vet for pathology tests & diagnosis. Then I will have a better idea of what treatment is most likely to work.
Good luck.

[loopus]

Its possible that deodorant got in the tank, does it kill them. As he still going pyscho. It woke me up this morning, its getting worse. Theres a bit of a pattern, he goes pyscho them hides and doesnt move, then goes nuts again and so on.

This is the exact same thing that happened to my other fish and he died within 24 hours, the same thing is going to happen here. Ive had this guy for 4 years i really dont want to lose him.

I think the cause is lack of water changes, they went for a two weeks without a w/c.

[sammigold]

Sounds like you need to do some regular changes to make sure you dont have any residual deodorant in the waters

also I would suggest putting some salt in at a rate of 1 teaspoon per 40 litres to help calm your fish....

If they went for 2 weeks without a water change they could have experienced an ammonia spike which would be toxic to your fish...

Ladyred posted in a thread a while ago what steps to take in case of ammonia poisoning but I cant find it sorry....

Maybe have a look through some of the previous postings with similar symptoms to yours... it could help...

sorry I cant help more... good luck...

[Bill T.]

Talk to Lady Red about this. I bet she tells you to do some major water changes for a few days.
Check all the water parameters: pH, Ammonium, Nitrite, Nitrate, gH.
Leaving the fish for a couple of weeks should be O.K. provided your tank is not overcrowded and you have a well established and adequate filter system. You might get a Nitrate increase which will come back down with regular water changes.
When I go camping I have an electronic feeder, which I programme to give my fish just a little to eat every day, thus avoiding overfeeding whilst I'm away.

Is there anything else you notice about your fish? Any sores or lesions? Do they look like they have salt on them? Do they have a velvet coating? Are they breating rapidly? Are they bloated? Are they emaciated - shrunken belly? thin or wasted appearance?

I had something like what you are experiencing a while back. When I treated for intestinal worms (you should have seen the stuff that came out of my fish!) my remaining two fish recoverred quickly. Now I have had them for two years and they look great.

Good luck, and do talk with LadyRed.

[G-1000]

Loopus,

Do not stress out (easy for someone else to say right). For a discus to die inside of 24 hours when it is not showing any symptoms of illness beforehand is due to poisoning of some sort.

Most likely in this case from deodorant like you said.

Perform regular changes for all of the coming week and then see what happens. If they are still sick - you will have organisms causing it.

No need to medicate yet.

G

[Merrilyn]

Lucas, it sounds like the tank is in your bedroom. If you sprayed deodorant or anything else in the room, it can cause major problems.

Stop using any other medications, other than the salt, and continue with 50% daily waterchanges.

Is there any kind of film on the surface of the water? If so, try to scoop it out. Are you able to add carbon to your filter. It's great at removing contaminants from the water. Use it for about a week, then toss it out.

Gradually add more salt till you are up to 4 teaspoons per 40 litres of water, and keep it there for about two weeks. Only add salt to the new water when you do water changes. Salt does not evaporate from the water, or become less potent. It stays in the tank till you remove it.

Good luck.