Discus unwell. Some sort of cut/white on left side belly

[Rhyscat1]

Hi guys, wondered if I could get some help please.

I have one discus which I had noticed Friday some sort of cut/scratch on his/her left side of stomach near ventral fin & pectoral fin. I did one day with no treatment, and kept an eye on it. I did my routine wc & vacuum sand. Today I noticed it has got bigger and spread somewhat, I have now isolated him in hospital tank. And use some epsom salt, unsure weather to raise temp or not. It is currently at 86 degrees. He has been in the hospital tank for around 6 hours. He isn’t eating much at all. Poop is normal.

The water parameter in my main tank are

0 ammonia
0 nitrite
5 nitrate
Ph - 7.2
Temp at 86 degrees.

Water change every 2/3 days with clean down use prime only, no other chemicals.Vacuum waste/poop daily with fluval vac.

[Rhyscat1]

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here is a picture, its not the greatest picture. but hopefully someone may be able to help me.

thanks in advance.

[jeep]

Is there any chance it may have gotten stuck behind the heater? Good job on isolating it so quickly. I would reduce the temp to 82 because it if's bacterial, higher heat promotes bacteria growth.

Epsom will be of no benefit here, I would put 7 TBS regular salt per 10 gallons and do heavy water changes daily, replacing the salt removed, for 7 or 8 days. If this is an injury, you should see improvement fairly soon.

What strain is this discus? I'm concerned about the triangular discoloration across the body...

I've seen this type of condition before, both injury and illness, and best thing you can do is keep the water pristine! I'll look around and see what med may be recommended in case it's not an injury.

[Rhyscat1]

Hi jeep, thanks for the reply.

I guess it’s possible he may have got stuck but of course I cannot be sure, I have a long bog wood in my tank, and I initially thought he may have scraped himself. But again unsure.

I will now try the regular salt. He’s in a small 30L tank atm.

It’s a blue diamond discus. That triangle is just the way the light hit his body at that time.

If not an injury what infection do you think this could be ?

[jeep]

Can you give a little more information? I'd like to see the history on this discus.

If you can fill out this questionnaire and paste it here it would be helpful.. http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?134179-Disease-Questionnaire-please-complete

[peewee1]

I have been monitoring these injury threads because I had one jump from the tank 2 weeks ago. Three feet to the floor. I got to the fish before the family cat and dog did. I am quick. I worried about injury but more about damage to slime coat. About 3 days ago the flying fish developed marks that look like burn mark but I suspect that her lack of slime coat may have allowed bacteria to attack her skin. There is a slime coat medicine and I mention it here for your consideration in the event your fish too may have somehow damaged its slime coat.

I am treating with water change and salt but not to the amounts that has been recommended here. I think today I will increase the salt treatment.

[Rhyscat1]

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?


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).


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.

Epsom salt

Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.

450l tank,
8 discus
10cardinal tetra
Pair of blue rams


5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).

30% every two days Tap water with prime.

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?

1 year. Discus for approximately 4 months.

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.

I do not age water, ph at 7.4

8. What type/brand water conditioner do you use? Do you add it to the tank or aging barrel? How much do you use?

Prime, 2 capfuls with 30% wc

9. 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

- ph _____ 7.4

- ammonia reading ____0

- nitrite reading ____0

- nitrate reading ____5

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.

- well water ____

- municipal water ____

- RO water ____

Tap water only.

10. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.

Bog wood added 3 weeks ago

11. 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.

Australian dry black worm
Tetra granules
Beef heart mix
Mussels mix

3 times per day.


12. 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.

[Rhyscat1]

Hi peewee, sorry to hear about your discus jumping out of the tank! Thanks for your input and I will look into the slime coat suggestion, I really do think he has somehow injured himself. But again i am unsure and I’m not nowhere near as clued up with discus as these guys on this forum. Thanks again peewee! I hope your discus gets back to full health

[peewee1]

Hi peewee, sorry to hear about your discus jumping out of the tank! Thanks for your input and I will look into the slime coat suggestion, I really do think he has somehow injured himself. But again i am unsure and I’m not nowhere near as clued up with discus as these guys on this forum. Thanks again peewee! I hope your discus gets back to full health

Thanks, the injury would potentially damage the slime coat. Salt is one of the treatments to promote slime coat replacement so the salt would be a good application for a combination of problems.

[jeep]

So the only new addition is the bog wood? This could be an injury that's getting infected. The wood may possibly be the cause. It's correct that salt will help produce slime coat. Like I said before, very clean water is your first defense. Age your water if possible or do multiple smaller water changes several hours apart.

Is this affecting one one fish so far?

[Rhyscat1]

So the only new addition is the bog wood? This could be an injury that's getting infected. The wood may possibly be the cause. It's correct that salt will help produce slime coat. Like I said before, very clean water is your first defense. Age your water if possible or do multiple smaller water changes several hours apart.

Is this affecting one one fish so far?

And yes just the Bog wood. When you say it could be the wood, do you mean he injured himself on it, or the actual wood could be the cause?

And yes he is the only fish in my tank affected.

[jeep]

If it were the wood I'd think you would have other sick fish, but keep an eye on the rest.

Hopefully, It's a minor injury that salt and water changes will cure. If it progresses then I'm really not sure what it is. I would possibly recommend Furan 2 or EM if it does get worse.

I've seen mystery issues like this before and the outcome was not good, but I've also seen them cured.

[Rhyscat1]

If it were the wood I'd think you would have other sick fish, but keep an eye on the rest.

Hopefully, It's a minor injury that salt and water changes will cure. If it progresses then I'm really not sure what it is. I would possibly recommend Furan 2 or EM if it does get worse.

I've seen mystery issues like this before and the outcome was not good, but I've also seen them cured.

Ah yea Jeep, unfortunately I woke this morning to find that he had died. Pretty gutted! Really not sure what it was, an wont ever know. Keeping an eye on my other discus. They all seem fine and no change so far, but will see.

Thanks for all replies, help & advice guys, appreciate it.

[jeep]

I'm sorry to hear this. Unfortunately, sometimes this happens no matter how much you try. Just keep an eye on the rest and give them good clean water!!