Discus swimming erraticaly then Dieing

[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

[Merrilyn]

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

[discus lover01]

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

[martraci]

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

[nicholas76]

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

[discus lover01]

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.

[Merrilyn]

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.

[samir]

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.

[Andrew Soh]

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

[ILLUSN]

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).