Spot on Discus' eye

[sc00by]

Hi

Having some problems with one of my discus. He is very shy and spends most of his time hiding. My larger discus (bought at the same time) was bullying him a lot, I bought a couple more discus and now the big one leaves him alone a lot more, he has perked up but has a small white spot on one eye. I'm pretty sure its not white spot because I've checked him thoroughly and he only has one spot, and has had it for several weeks.

I've checked my water quality and its pretty good, PH 6.8 temp 28 degree's no nitrite or amonia but some nitrates (under 20). I've done frequent water changes over the last few weeks and he's definitely improved since I did a few 50% changes, but the spot is still there and I'm concerned about it. I had a dwarf ram in the tank which had an identical spot for several months. I assumed it was a cataract as he was an older fish (not sure how long they live), He was fine until i went away for the weekend and came home to find him dead.

Any suggestions? I haven't medicated with anything so far.

Sorry for the length of this one

Thanks :?

[Proteus]

Hi Sc00by & welcome to DF.com

my first course of action would be small daily water changes with aged/treated water to eliminate the Nitrates.

It cant be white spot (ich) as that forms all over the body, aside from the eye maybe having been knocked, I am not too sure what it is.

As suggested, get your water perfect, maybe add a small amount of aquarium grade salt, even a 1/4 to 1/2 dose of Melafix for the anti-bacterial properties...

please keep us informed how things go.

[sc00by]

Thanks for the welcome :)

My original discus were doing really well until a couple of months ago when the impeller on my canister filter broke, and the tank got really dirty very quickly, ever since I've been fighting the nitrate battle :(

They seem to be improving now after my massive water changes. I'll start doing daily small ones.

Can you buy Melafix from a pet shop? I'm new to discus and haven't ever mdeicated fish before, always a bit afraid of doing more harm than good.

Thanks

[Proteus]

a good pet shop should have it, and Melafix is one of the few medications where it is hard to go wrong (all the ingredients are natural).

[weird]

Just a small comment on the word 'natural', sorry but it causes a weird sharp sensation in my back when I hear that word.

Hmmm ... I know it is natural, but so is snake or spider venom, and you don't want to muck around with that, even in small quantities, unless u know what u r doing.

Just a week ago someone mentioned the word 'natural' to me, and how you can't over use or worry about it changing chemically after a few days so u could use it in your main tank instead of a hospital tank, for the same product and its relative, for what I thought was a fungal outbreak ... all that was really required was a water change and some salt.

Anyway, a conversation I had once with a doctor concerning using synthetic drugs and natural therapies ... he made a dramatic point, 'natural means it is just created in nature, how does that make it any less benign' ... just something to think about.

[weird]

Sorry, mean 'more benign', anyway I think u get wot I am trying to get at.

[sc00by]

My little fish is actually looking better, despite the fact I have neglected my tank completely this week. We've been doing an office move at work and so I just haven't been home for days. As a consequence of this my tank light hasn't been on as much as normal. I've noticed that my shy fish with the spot on his eye seems much happier when the light is off, weird but since the lights been off most of the day for a few days, and the fish also haven't had as much to eat he seems quite a bit happier.

I will do a water change tomorrow now I've got my life back (such as it is :) ) and try some daily smaller changes and hopefully he'll continue to improve.

Thanks for the advice :)

[weird]

Glad to hear your fish is doing much better :o

[sc00by]

Hi

Fish is looking better and much more active, but the spot is still there.

I've finally managed to get some reasonable pictures.

As you can see he's still pretty dark.

[flukes]

In the first picture it looks like his whole pupil is white and maybe blind but in the second it looks like a defect.

Was the discus purchased like this or did it develope over time??

I cant think of anything medical it could be, might be an injury, do you haveany driftwood in the tank or anything else sharp.?

Other than that i would think it would be born like that.

[sc00by]

He was fine when i got him, but this spot came up around the time my filter broke.

I actually had another fish with a very similar spot on his eye. The is driftwood and a couple of rocks in the tanks, and this particualar fish was being bullied quite badly by my larger one. Its possible he got chased into something.

I've also noticed he spends a lot of time at the back of the tank with his bad eye facing the tank wall. Makes me inclined to agree that he may be blind in that eye (the back wall has a backdrop and so there's no danger of anything sneaking up on hium from that side).

I'm going away for three weeks on Saturdayn which i think will either make or break this fish. Hopefully he will still be around when i get back.
:?

[flukes]

If it is an injury some melafix should heal it up, if he is blind he should be able to learn to live with the handycap.