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HEki
01-04-2009, 01:28 PM
Hi,

guys i am realy scared right now. All of a sudden one of my discus started to hit, crash itself in glass, going like crazy in the tank from one side to another and it hurted itself on a tree root so it has a line scarf now :(. I was changing water and all of a sudden it started to go crazy ...

There is something wrong with my discus and i realy dont know what could be the problem! I am chaning water daily! I prepare water with RO without peak moss, No2 is 0, Ph is stable all the time, but i am missing something couse discus are starting to act strainge time to time. It is realy stressing me out!

I got two 540L fish tanks. In one i have hybrids and in the other i have wild discus. A few weeks ago one of hybrids started to put eggs on a root ... Everything was fine, how ever, than i bought 3 more hybrids and things started to go down the hill. Should i used a quarenteen of 4 weeks before i have put those 3 in the tank with others??? :(

But the main problem is in wild discus tank. I realy dont know what i am going to do with the "suicide" wild discus ... I thought i have control over everything, i didnt change anything and everything was fine for two months now and now all of a sudden wild discus are not looking that good.

Please help me out.

Best regards,
Heki

p.s. i am reading forums like crazy, but i think its time that i post my problem and start communicating with you guys.

Roxanne
01-04-2009, 04:51 PM
...Everything was fine, how ever, than i bought 3 more hybrids and things started to go down the hill. Should i used a quarenteen of 4 weeks before i have put those 3 in the tank with others??? :(
...

Yes Heki you should have, and it's a lesson we learn on our own or from hearing of other people's tragedies..it's too late for that now;).....there has been alot of talk about this subject and you may need to treat for parasites/worms...but first, can u tell us your tank water parameters in case it is something simple like PH moving around, how do you know your pH is stable?.. you said he goes crazy at WC's, do any of the others? if you have a breeding/fry net, you could corral him in it within his own tank for a while so he doesn't hurt himself..

If you have more than 1 tank, it is wise for each to have their own cleaning syphons etc, to avoid cross contamination.

Rox

pcsb23
01-04-2009, 05:18 PM
Heki, if I understand this correctly you put three hybrid discus into one tank and now you have a problem in another tank that contains wilds?

I suspect there has been some cross contamination. I would isolate the "suicide" discus in a qt tank. If you have access to a 'scope then check to see if there are external parasites, if not might be worth using PP or F&MG to start and re-assess after.

Roxanne
01-04-2009, 10:48 PM
..I would isolate the "suicide" discus in a qt tank. If you have access to a 'scope then check to see if there are external parasites, if not might be worth using PP or F&MG to start and re-assess after.

Hi Paul

I always wonder why we are advised to isolate a fish exhibiting symptoms that has been in a community tank. Shouldn't the whole tank be treated? Because say if 1 has parasites, chances are the others have them too and as they share a tank, also the parasites are in the tank anyway? I get why to QT them when first getting them, but always wonder about the above

Thanks in adv

rox

HEki
01-06-2009, 03:02 AM
HI,

i suspect water, couse i had problem in both thanks (hybrids and wilds). Hybrids are now ok ... One of the started to put eggs on root again and they are looking better each day ...

But in wilds ... sad story, 2 of them died and the 3rd one is showing the same simpthoms as the two had, before they died ...

My pH is 6.6 and ppm is 90.

Roxanne
01-06-2009, 04:10 AM
.....check to see if there are external parasites, if not might be worth using PP or F&MG to start and re-assess after.

Did you check the fish for parasites?

pete321
01-06-2009, 12:22 PM
Check your pH before water change. Check the pH of the new water and again after the water change.
Are you changing with pure RO water that has had peat soaked in it and not RO water mixed with tap water?

It sounds to me that there is a sudden pH change during the water change. This can stress the fish like you described. Sometimes only one or two fish may be affected. I have not seen this with discus, but have seen it numerous times with guramies. I added aquapluss and a bit of salt and the fish settled down.


From what I understand, you should not use pure RO water and just soaking peat in the water. It is only going to lower the pH but with no buffering ability you could get major pH swings.

Hope this helps.

pcsb23
01-06-2009, 01:56 PM
Hi Paul

I always wonder why we are advised to isolate a fish exhibiting symptoms that has been in a community tank. Shouldn't the whole tank be treated? Because say if 1 has parasites, chances are the others have them too and as they share a tank, also the parasites are in the tank anyway? I get why to QT them when first getting them, but always wonder about the above

Thanks in adv

roxSometimes you have to treat the whole tank yes. But if the fish has a parasite infection and then dies the parasites will elave this host as the vast majority (if not all) of parasites need a live host. They (the parasites) will then ifect other fish. In a qt tank they cannot and also the meds you use will be less and also you are not treating otherwise healthy fish. A healthy fish cvan usually deal quite happily with the "ambient" level of bugs.

pcsb23
01-06-2009, 01:57 PM
HI,

i suspect water, couse i had problem in both thanks (hybrids and wilds). Hybrids are now ok ... One of the started to put eggs on root again and they are looking better each day ...

But in wilds ... sad story, 2 of them died and the 3rd one is showing the same simpthoms as the two had, before they died ...

My pH is 6.6 and ppm is 90.Heki have you treated with anything?? I would be tempted to shotgun with F&MG based med.

MostlyDiscus
01-06-2009, 02:27 PM
Heki, check with your water company to see how they are treating thier water. Sounds to me like you need prime or some other clorimaine bond breaker. It started with a WC correct? Ed

HEki
01-06-2009, 02:41 PM
HI,
i moved all my wilds to a differend fish tank and i hope they will recover ... Color is coming back and they are not stressed out anymore. I used all of my contacts and i finaly got a number of a person who is familiar with fish (he has a doctorate in bacteria ...). He took the dead-one under a microscope. He showed me it had had some parasite but he also found out my fish were poisoned. How is that posible? I dont know! After that i moved them to a new tank and it seems like they are recovering.
Thank you all for your time and infos!

I will post in near future how my wilds are doing!

Thank you again!

MostlyDiscus
01-06-2009, 02:45 PM
Toxic poisoning is what would have thought. Metal items in the water can do it as can plastics that leach. Look for what is different between your tanks in terms of items. Did you do the same wc for both tanks? ie amount of water and the way it was treated? Sometimes water companies put extra chemicals in the water system during the winter to help keep the local water safe. Do you live in a snow area? Ed