Breathing from one gill... help...

[Bruno]

Hi everyone, last week i got 4 wilds from a friend who is an importer... he had the fish for a while and they look great... now 2 days after i got them i noticed they where only breathing from one gill...

There are no signs of scratching and no white build up on the gills... or red sores... (well, inside its red but isnt that normal??) anyone have a picture of a fish infected with gill flukes??

The tank also contains 1 pair of apisto cacatoides, 3 ancistrus ranunculus, 8 empreror tetras and 7 corydoras sterbai... all wilds except the corydoras...

Now last night i took a slime sample on the gill plate of the worst discus and looked under my microscope... but i couldnt get a positive ID on anything... im at 75% i saw Dactylogyrus but i cant be sure... (old microscope...) im tried a second sample to see if i would hit anything but no...

Discus are the only one i see breathing from one gill... no scratching or flaring

Could it be from nitrite poisoning? i had some ammonia and nitrite problems a few days ago from introducing such a large bio-load... been doing 50% water changes daily.... and prime, temperature is at 87F

Since yesterday the water stabilised and i dont see any ammonia or nitrite anymore. nitrates are good too...

Did a salt dip on the worst discus to see if there would be any improvement... changes are minimal ...

Should i wait longer to see if the fish's immune system kicks in ?

Help!

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k116/Derwindel/IMG_2512.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k116/Derwindel/IMG_2518.jpg

-Bruno

[Bruno]

Hum, just noticed they were pooping really oddly... the bloodworms go out the other way in the same shape, just they're black now...


could it be worms?

[Bruno]

what do i do!!!

[azzakat]

I had a similar problem a while ago and was told its gill flukes.
They close off one side at a time because the gill gets sore or irritated.
I treated my discus for flukes and this worked for me

[Bruno]

i took two skin sample on the side of the gill plates and examined them on a microscope... nada...


two of them stoped and started breathing normaly... im starting to think it might be because i had water problems for 5 days...

Water changes seem to help... my water has been perfect for 1 week now and they seem to be doing be better...

thanks azzakat!

[Bruno]

problem seems to persist after a aquari-sol treatment... i was hoping it would work sice it has copper sulfate in it...


tried another salt bath but there was no improvement...

im starting to run out of ideas...


If it were parasites, shouldnt they have found some relief and regained normal breathing?

[mistakes r crucial]

How are the fish Bruno? From the pics they look pretty good.
MAC

[elvip]

Gorgeous discus Bruno!!! :D
Hope they are doing OK now.
Where were these discus imported from and what type of wild discus are they?
Also - just out of curiosity- from what I have read wild discus are harder to keep that tank bred discus - are you finding that this the case?
As I certainly can find tank bred discus a challenge at times - but I love it anyway!!! :wink:
Cheers
Elvip

[nicholas76]

adult discus IMO can tolerate flukes far far better than young fish.

how long have they been like this?

some go down the path of treatement whilts others dont. They are lovely wilds and id hate to make them sick with meds.

[nicholas76]

oh!~


and STUNNING FISH mate they are wonderfull..