Fin rot questions

[Jason F]

So one of my discus has a white substance growing on the front half of it's dorsal and anal fins along with the pelvic fins. Some of it are white spots while the rest just looks like a fungus almost and I'm assuming its fin rot. It hasn't spread to any other fish so I'm assuming it isn't contagious. I just went out and bought a 20g tank to use as a hospital tank today and am getting ready to separate this fish and start treating. Problem is I'm going to be gone for the weekend and I'm not sure if me being gone for a few days will mess up the treatment. Should I start treating right now or will my absence this weekend make any treating right now useless? Thanks for any help!

[rickztahone]

How often are you doing water changes?

[Jason F]

About 90% daily

[rickztahone]

About 90% daily

Do you have a pic of the discus in question?

[Jason F]

Not right now, I will try to get one in a few after I get my kids to bed.

[rickztahone]

Sounds great. With that high of a wc's percentage daily, I do not believe it is your lax in discus husbandry. Maybe something a little more alarming? Waiting on pic.

[Jason F]

So lighting and my camera aren't really working the best and the other fish were all being camera hogs so these were the best I could get. Also please excuse the scratched up tank, I bought it used and it turned out to be worse that I thought. I'm hoping to replace this 75g with a new 90g this fall.
http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a505/fontainejr/IMG_2166_zpsn59qext0.jpg (http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/fontainejr/media/IMG_2166_zpsn59qext0.jpg.html)
http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a505/fontainejr/IMG_2167_zpsjwzu4idf.jpg (http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/fontainejr/media/IMG_2167_zpsjwzu4idf.jpg.html)
http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a505/fontainejr/IMG_2168_zpsi60b0ziw.jpg (http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/fontainejr/media/IMG_2168_zpsi60b0ziw.jpg.html)
http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a505/fontainejr/IMG_2171_zps9vmbo49c.jpg (http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/fontainejr/media/IMG_2171_zps9vmbo49c.jpg.html)
http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a505/fontainejr/IMG_2172_zps3lgosuc7.jpg (http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/fontainejr/media/IMG_2172_zps3lgosuc7.jpg.html)

[rickztahone]

I can't see the pictures here at work but I am out in the next few minutes and will check them at home.

[Jason F]

Ok thanks!

[rickztahone]

It is difficult to see but it looks like the hard dorsal fins are the ones affected? Do you use RO water? Have you changed anything up lately?

[Jason F]

The dorsal fin is where it is worse but there is some on the anal and pelvic fins also, just hard to see in a picture. I do have an RO unit however for the last 9 months or so I have bypassed the RO membrane and am just using the particle filters. After filtering the water is stored in two 44g brute trash cans for aging. My methods haven't changed at all since I bypassed the RO membrane.

[Jason F]

He seems to be doing a little bit better today. He's in quarantine and and hasn't eaten all day but the fins appear to be getting better. I guess I'm gonna keep medicating until I leave on Friday then start up again when I get back on Monday. I took the following pics in the quarantine tank hoping I could do better with light and not have to worry about other fish hogging the camera. So does anyone know what this is? I was assuming fin rot but I'm just guessing.
http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a505/fontainejr/IMG_2174_zps2zy4bql0.jpg (http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/fontainejr/media/IMG_2174_zps2zy4bql0.jpg.html)
http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a505/fontainejr/IMG_2176_zpsna0mbbgu.jpg (http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/fontainejr/media/IMG_2176_zpsna0mbbgu.jpg.html)
http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a505/fontainejr/IMG_2177_zpsexpmybyl.jpg (http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/fontainejr/media/IMG_2177_zpsexpmybyl.jpg.html)

[rickztahone]

I'm sorry but I don't know what it may be. I will let others chime in with their opinions

[Rudustin]

This happened a long time ago but I think the issue was PH burn that caused it. That's the only thing that I can say about it. By the way no worries about the scratched up tank. I have a sixty five that I have had for almost thirty years and it's scratched but still holds some of my favorite discus. When was the last time you check the PH of the water coming in or just before a water change? Hope this helps. Rufus

[Jason F]

Everything has been running so well lately I haven't tested the ph for almost a year. All my water is ran through a 5 micron sediment filter then a 1 micron and .6 micron carbon block. It's then aged, circulated, and aerated before used. Just to be sure I'll monitor ph levels over the next few days. Thanks

[Rudustin]

Everything has been running so well lately I haven't tested the ph for almost a year. All my water is ran through a 5 micron sediment filter then a 1 micron and .6 micron carbon block. It's then aged, circulated, and aerated before used. Just to be sure I'll monitor ph levels over the next few days. ThanksJason, With all you do to have great water it shouldn't be the problem. I'm just suggesting what happened to me while ago. It would just eliminate one more thing so that you can narrow down the cause. Best regards. Rufus

[Jason F]

I just tested the ph from my tap to the aged barrels and finally the tank water just before tonights wc, so it's pretty much an immediate ph, 24 hour ph, and 48 hour ph. Out of the tap is shows about 7.6, in the barrels its around 8.2, and in the tank it was 8.0.

[rickztahone]

Since it goes through filters, what is your tds?

[Jason F]

Since it goes through filters, what is your tds?
TDS are usually around 140-150ish

[rickztahone]

TDS are usually around 140-150ish
I've been trying to figure this out for you but it just seems to be out of my scope. I thought maybe it was a mineral deficiency.

[Jason F]

It's been a over a week and my fish still isn't really looking much better. For a quick recap: The first day or two I treated the main tank with Para Guard since it worked for me last time however since there was only one fish showing signs of anything this time I decided to go buy a 20g so I could treat a smaller amount of water and only the one fish. I then treated the one fish in the hospital tank with Para Guard for another couple days then I had to leave for the weekend. I got back Sunday night and started treating with Furan 2 and am still treating with this.
So at this point I have a few questions. One I haven't been able to get the fish to eat since I put it in the hospital tank so it's been over a week. The fish is about 4.5", how long can he go like this before I really need to start worrying? Also over the last day or two the fish has produced small white spots on a couple of fins and the body. Does the Furan 2 not treat this and if not when the Furan 2 treatment is over should I treat the fish with another medication? Finally does everyone treat Furan 2 by the instructions? I ask because it says to treat daily with 25% wc's every other day. Personally the 25% wc's only every other day is kind of driving me nuts as I usually do 50%-90% daily on my discus tanks.