sulfur
07-18-2018, 03:11 AM
Hi all, I am quite new at raising discus. I had about 10 yrs exp on various freshwater tropicals. A few yrs back I had 4 green discus that I bought at about 3" and raised to 5"+ before I had to sell & teardown the tank.
I need advice on getting my 3 x 3" albinos eating & back to health again. Hopefully I won't lose these beautiful fishes.
Thanks!
DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE
Problem
1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
Had 6 juvies that I bought from local reputable breeder and raised from about 1.5" frys in Feb. Lost bottom 3, one by one, in last couple months. Remaining 3 were barely eating for 3 or 4 weeks now. They used to be pigs and ate 4-6 feedings of freezed dry black worms a day. Now they might take a worm or two if FDBW floats by them. :(
2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds).
Became very timid & will scare easily & dart away. Generally hiding a lot next to filter intakes or not moving much. Blood/red nose, blood/red underneath gill cover, blood/red on base of pectoral/dorsal/ventral fins, maybe even a bit blood/red on the anal fins. BUT no blood or bloody patches on main body though. Went from fat pigs to having caved in stomachs last 4 weeks.
3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
No meds. But when I was trying to cure #5 & #6 (both have since died) of a bit of fin & tail rot a couple months ago, I did 1 tbsp per 10G sea salt for 3 days, with 90% WC in-between.
For the hunger strike, I tried Garlic Guard a few times, and the "orange peel" thing a couple times. No luck.
Tank/Water
4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
33G with 2 small Bio-Wheel filters and foam pre-fliters. Down to 3 x 3" albino juvies from local breeder's Dec 2017 spawn. 1 Amazon sword plant that was doing fine but now turning yellow/dying, perhaps due to lack of Nitrates (no poop = no NO3 I suppose)
5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
Was doing 90% daily mostly, or at least every 2nd day. Now doing 90% every 3 or 4 days since the juvies aren't producing much poop and I'm getting disheartened. :(
6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
Bare bottom with white cardboard covering bottom & 3 sides, running since mid-Feb 2018.
7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
Currently using an empty 72G with canister setup to store & age water minimum 24 hrs. pH at 7.0 tap, swing was at 0.2-0.4 before when bio-load was higher. Now pH swing is likely 0-0.2.
8. Parameters and water source;
Note: Water Parameters are important in diagnosing problems within a tank. If you don't own test kits for the following information, you can purchase them, test your parameters and post this info as soon as possible.
- temp: 86-87F
- ph: 7.0
- ammonia reading: 0 ppm
- nitrite reading: 0 ppm
- nitrate reading: <5 ppm
What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.
- municipal water: 100% (municipal adds chlorine)
9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
None recently, but shoal of juvies when from 6 in late-Feb to 12 in mid-May (yes I stupidly tried to add 6 more 1.5", from same breeder, to the tank with disastrous results), to 5 and then 4 in June, and now 3 in mid-July. So it's definitely not a good schooling number now.
10. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.
I mostly only feed Australian freeze dried black worms. Used to feed 3 to 6 times and they ate like pigs. Now I try to feed 3x or 4x very lightly, but even then some get sucked onto the profilers untouched & have to be removed. I did briefly tried some NLS growth pellets & frozen blood worms 2 to 4 months back without success (and having these as leftovers for hours, yes stupid me, likely introduced some of the problems into the tank)
11. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.
Please see attached pics.
Any advices will be greatly appreciated.
I need advice on getting my 3 x 3" albinos eating & back to health again. Hopefully I won't lose these beautiful fishes.
Thanks!
DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE
Problem
1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
Had 6 juvies that I bought from local reputable breeder and raised from about 1.5" frys in Feb. Lost bottom 3, one by one, in last couple months. Remaining 3 were barely eating for 3 or 4 weeks now. They used to be pigs and ate 4-6 feedings of freezed dry black worms a day. Now they might take a worm or two if FDBW floats by them. :(
2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds).
Became very timid & will scare easily & dart away. Generally hiding a lot next to filter intakes or not moving much. Blood/red nose, blood/red underneath gill cover, blood/red on base of pectoral/dorsal/ventral fins, maybe even a bit blood/red on the anal fins. BUT no blood or bloody patches on main body though. Went from fat pigs to having caved in stomachs last 4 weeks.
3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
No meds. But when I was trying to cure #5 & #6 (both have since died) of a bit of fin & tail rot a couple months ago, I did 1 tbsp per 10G sea salt for 3 days, with 90% WC in-between.
For the hunger strike, I tried Garlic Guard a few times, and the "orange peel" thing a couple times. No luck.
Tank/Water
4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
33G with 2 small Bio-Wheel filters and foam pre-fliters. Down to 3 x 3" albino juvies from local breeder's Dec 2017 spawn. 1 Amazon sword plant that was doing fine but now turning yellow/dying, perhaps due to lack of Nitrates (no poop = no NO3 I suppose)
5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
Was doing 90% daily mostly, or at least every 2nd day. Now doing 90% every 3 or 4 days since the juvies aren't producing much poop and I'm getting disheartened. :(
6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
Bare bottom with white cardboard covering bottom & 3 sides, running since mid-Feb 2018.
7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
Currently using an empty 72G with canister setup to store & age water minimum 24 hrs. pH at 7.0 tap, swing was at 0.2-0.4 before when bio-load was higher. Now pH swing is likely 0-0.2.
8. Parameters and water source;
Note: Water Parameters are important in diagnosing problems within a tank. If you don't own test kits for the following information, you can purchase them, test your parameters and post this info as soon as possible.
- temp: 86-87F
- ph: 7.0
- ammonia reading: 0 ppm
- nitrite reading: 0 ppm
- nitrate reading: <5 ppm
What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.
- municipal water: 100% (municipal adds chlorine)
9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
None recently, but shoal of juvies when from 6 in late-Feb to 12 in mid-May (yes I stupidly tried to add 6 more 1.5", from same breeder, to the tank with disastrous results), to 5 and then 4 in June, and now 3 in mid-July. So it's definitely not a good schooling number now.
10. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.
I mostly only feed Australian freeze dried black worms. Used to feed 3 to 6 times and they ate like pigs. Now I try to feed 3x or 4x very lightly, but even then some get sucked onto the profilers untouched & have to be removed. I did briefly tried some NLS growth pellets & frozen blood worms 2 to 4 months back without success (and having these as leftovers for hours, yes stupid me, likely introduced some of the problems into the tank)
11. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.
Please see attached pics.
Any advices will be greatly appreciated.