Discus swimming erraticaly then Dieing

It has been happening for about 2 weeks now in one of our 2 tanks

first the fish just swims in circles or goes crazy smashing into everything and the glass, all of the fish a respiring quite quickly despite having the sponge filter on max airflow(there is also a canister filter running)
the discus are all about the 8cm mark and we've had them for about 3months now and the tanks were set up new for them

then they die a day or 2 later
it only happens with one fish at a time (in a tank with 10 fish in it), all of the rest are fine and show no signs of any problems, then after one dies another starts showing signs a few days later
they are all similar size, the pH is around 6.5, ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm, and low nitrate around 5-10ppm, temp 28C

water changes are about 30% 2-3 times a week
they're still eating and the only other fish we had in the tank was guppies but we removed them about a week ago

any help would be golden in solving this mystery illness
thanks

I've seen that happen before PJP, and it's quite distressing, but it usually only happens with one fish, and that's the end of it.

It's tough to know which way to call this one, but I do believe it has something to do with water conditions. This drought is causing all sorts of problems that we've never seen before.

A few things that you can do.........get a good quality chlorine remover, that treats chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals, (Seachem Prime is one of the best) and use it at double the normal dose.

Secondly, get a UV for your tank, if you don't already have one.

Add some salt to the water, at the rate of 1 heap teaspoon per 40 litres of water, it will help with the breathing problems and help to remove some bacteria from the water.

Treat them for gill flukes.

HTH

Hi i have just had this happen to 1 fish 2 days ago it was like it was having a stroke it's body all contorted into ways a discus should not be then smash bang crash wham then it would settle down for 5 seconds and then start the shaking all over again.
I awoke the next morning to find it dead on the bottom of the tank i rang my vet up who i have dealt with for 10+ years and he said to bring it over which i did and he did an inspection of the brain with a tiny camera it was awesome!!!
and to find the fish had an anurism not sure if ity's spelt right and that it had burst in it's brain and caused death.
Dont know if this is the same for you but i was amazed at how quick he found it from 1 little snick on the side but he said that this would of been with them since birth and only just recently has it exploded in the brain killing the fish.
hope this helps

woah that blows hard..i mean wouldnt it suck for people, itd be like going epileptic and having your head explode from the inside

like Red said we really need to question our water quality especially the way things are going now.


If we cant control what gets put in our water at least we can try and filter it to some degree

use a good brand dechlorinator. and or use this product

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11715

I use a Carbon block filter for all my tap water nothing gets into the tank that hasnt gone through there only other water that will get into that tank is some r/o water so there is no chance of anything getting into the tank water from me doing a water change.
And i could not have done anything to help this poor fish my vet said at some point in it's life it was destined for this thing in it's head to explode and hence killing the fish and not 1 thing i could do to help.

It would certainly explain the cause of death with your fish discus lover, but PJP had been losing fish for two weeks.

Something quite different.

I've had the same one fish experience. i hope you can get to the bottom of it. sorry to hear about your losses it must be very frustrating not being able to do anything.
maybe they're dying from the injuries sustained by smashing into the walls :? treat for flukes like Ladyred suggested and then take it from there.

Hi PJP,

What is the diet......beefheart, frozen bloodworm, live bloodworm or live blackworm.....or all the above?

After the affected one dash and goes round in cicles, does stay at a place...looks lethargic and does not response when you touch it?

At which level do most of the discus stay when not eating. .........bottom, one third below, middle or one third from above?

Do the normal looking discus breathing very hard?

Do they scratch their body against object?

Thanks
Andrew :wink:

Hi all, just lost one of my brand new Red Gold Diamonds to this , for 2 days the fish had been swimming erratically and smasshing into stuff, got home from work today and it had bashed itself to death, all other discus seem fine, a little spooked, water quality is perfect, water is aged for a week with a tripple dose of prime and filtered through miracle leaf before going into the tank, temp is dead steady at 29C thanks to 2 jager 300w in a 300L tank, filtration is via a 2228 and a 2213, tank is well established, water is airated via an eheim 400 air pump. no idea why this happend. body is in the freezer now will take to a vet on saturday and try to find out what killed my fish (first fish loss in 3 years).

Andrew my fish diet was discus dinner, tetra color bits and breeders blend flake. when not eating fish was hiding under a pice of driftwood, fish would still respond after an "attack", if i moved the wood or went anyware near it, no heavy breathing, no scratching or flicking onto any objects except when darting around the tank and smashing into things. fish never lost its color and there was no physical damaged observed on the fish.

As you mentioned...it is a brand new discus. You bought it somewhere?

If so, check whether it has been fed with frshwater aquatic animal like black worms or bloodworms or tubiflex...

Take care,
Andrew

Hi Andrew, thanks for the fast reply. i bought these from xtreme in the april shipment, i brought them home on the 22nd of may and they have been fed nothing but the foods i mentioned above, plus a little blood worm (hikari) over the 1st week, traeting the tank with prazi now. will let you know how it goes. I know Wayne was feeding them of beefheart in the shop, as i said all other fish are finne and none of them display any symptoms of paracites.

Hey,

Why I want to know whether the fish is a new introduction to your tank is because most newly added discus react with stress to a new environment.

I am not saying anything about where you buy from....because that is not an issue you and I can control...neither is it an issue by itself.

Therefore since you confirmed that it is a new addition to your tank, prophylactic treatment is needed. Did you do that?

Best is to treat with metronidazole. ....as it is effective against intestinal flagellates and micro-organisms in the large intestine/gut.

Take care,
Andrew :wink:

your a good man Andrew,
when the fish went in they were the second lot of fish into the tank (the first lot was 4 small royal whiptails added before my honeymoon 14/05/2007), this is my quarentine tank. i hadnt treated with anything. the fish were fine for 3 weeks(23/05/2007-12/06/2007), then i added a blue diamond pair on saturday the 9/6/2007. All seamed fine till 3 days ago (12/6/2007), thats when the fish started to have trouble, i havnt treated the fish with anything prior to yester day, i was delaying treatment till the last 5 fish arrive then i was going to treat the entire quarentine tank with octozin (I just dont have enough metro for 3 days treatment in 300L also the whiptails might be sensitive to it) yester day i added 15 wormrid (prazi) tabs to the 300L tank ( i still believe that paracite is the most likely cause even though there are no other symptoms), today fish all seem very hungry :D . so I wish i knew what caused this. will let you all know how it goes.

Hi,

Good to know they are in great shape...and eating.

But since they are all eating...best is to give metro in feed....please..this is the best time....my friend.

Don't keep putting in concoction....may do more harm than good :wink:

Take care,
Andrew :wink:

thanks mate will add metro to the beefheart so as the whiptails dont get it, thanks again.

Hey,
whats the best way to add metro into your beefheart. I am very curious and wouldnt hurt to no either just in case. what steps do you do???
Axl

Hi axl,
i crush up a 200mg tablet and mix it with a thawed cube of discus dinner, i then re freeze it and feed the fish, most come eat from my hand so i know the metro is going into them you proablydont need to re freeze it i just find less white stuff (crushed tablet) comes out of the food if its frozen

Though I generally recommend a mix ratio of 1gm to 100gm of beefheart, 2gm seems to be more effective and is still harmless.

Andrew

I lost two discus to this about three weeks ago. Very interesting how this doesn't seem too uncommon in discus. I have never seen this happen to other fish. My fish were breathing heavy at the time, and I added an airstone since then. Things have gotten a lot better since I added the airstoe.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PJP

It has been happening for about 2 weeks now in one of our 2 tanks

first the fish just swims in circles or goes crazy smashing into everything and the glass, all of the fish a respiring quite quickly despite having the sponge filter on max airflow(there is also a canister filter running)
the discus are all about the 8cm mark and we've had them for about 3months now and the tanks were set up new for them

then they die a day or 2 later
it only happens with one fish at a time (in a tank with 10 fish in it), all of the rest are fine and show no signs of any problems, then after one dies another starts showing signs a few days later
they are all similar size, the pH is around 6.5, ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm, and low nitrate around 5-10ppm, temp 28C

water changes are about 30% 2-3 times a week
they're still eating and the only other fish we had in the tank was guppies but we removed them about a week ago

any help would be golden in solving this mystery illness
thanks

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I realize this all happened a long time ago, but I’m having this same sequence happening in my discus tank. What was the final outcome in your tank and did you ever figure out why?

In my 90-gallon tank with 5 fish, one starts hiding then acting erratically and dies a day or two later, then the second discus does the same a day later. Now the third fish is starting to behave the same a day after the second died. Tank has been up for 4 years though 2 fish were added 2 months ago after 1 month QT. Water parameters have been stable, temp 85F, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate less than 10, pH 7.4, KH 3, GH 5.

Frustrating to say the least.