sick discus

[rookie]

Hi I purcased some discus last week and found them breathing hard so i treated them now ive noticed some cotton wool like growth in the tank and on one of the fish is this a secondary infection or just something else?? All my water parameters are fine temp is constant at 30C

[Merrilyn]

Hi rookie - were gonna try and help you but first up some more information please. Size of discus, tank size, has it been cycled properly, what did you treat them with, exact water parameters and how long between water changes. Are they in a tank on their own or with other species. Please try to describe the cotton wool like growth (does it look like it is growing on pieces of stale food - eg floating). gravel or bare bottom tank?

[rookie]

hi again , the tank is 3*18*14, i have 3*6cm and 3*4cm my ammonia is 0 nitrite is b/n .25 and .5 still havent changed water today and nitate is 0. tank is in its 5th week of cycling but gets water changes every day. fish showed signs of fast breathing agter a week of purchasing them so i treated with fluke and tapeworm tabs aquamaster (praziquantel) for 48 hrs then changed water 20%. tank is bare and the growth is like 5mm thick and about 7cm long looks like fine film with white dots.

[Merrilyn]

Hi rookie, In an established tank nitrite levels should be zero, also there should also be some nitrate level (that means the bio filter is converting the nitrIte to nitrAte which is what its supposed to do. Ok it seems like your tank is still cycling. First, can you get to a lfs and get something like Nitra-Zorb or similar. Nitrite may not be the cause of your troubles but it is not helping. Between .25 and .5 is pretty high. Enough to distress the fish and could explain fast breathing. If you can't get anything today do a 50% waterchange now and again tomorrow. Not sure what the fuzzy stuff is. Someone else may have some suggestions. But don't, I repeat, don't add any other medications just yet. Filter over activated carbon for at least 24 hours first then I would suggest something simple like sea salt (but not yet). Good luck, and please keep us posted - but first attack those nitrite levels.