A Discus story.

Well this is one of my first discus this time around. Got it locally at about the size of a quarter.Attachment 134068. Bought 2 at the time. They grew well and did great for 2 yrs.Attachment 134069. A cross contamination caused havoc in both tanks. Its tank had all my oldest discus at 2yrs and even though they all recovered none were ever right. Over the next year I lost all but 4. Many different treatments with meds but no results. Fish would just stop eating and waste away or just die. Of all my treatments only one came back. Looks like half the fish it was but it’s alive. 2 others never showed anything. Both look rough but eat and show weight.

So now this fish has stopped eating. 2 weeks ago I moved it from the main tank into a qt tank. Raised the temp to 89 and 2 tbs per 10g of salt in hopes of getting it to eat but no luck. No white poo or any poo at all. So I’ve got some meds. Metro,prazi,erythromycin and pp. also polyguard. Have epson salt but don’t think it’s backed up. Here’s a pic of it now.Attachment 134070Attachment 134071. Just looking for some suggestions.

Tom thats one old school discus... Old Pigeon strain(most likely a cross from a pigeon to non pigeon). I used to have a tank of them a very long time ago. its hard to say whats going on with it... but since you aren't seeing any off colored feces, I would guess its either organs shutting down or something like worms. The suggestion is may be time to euthanize it, however if you wanted to try and save it.. my choice would be levamisole ..rule out worms first.

Organs start to shut down when they haven't eaten well, have been in decline for a while or possibly as the result of long term damage from hormones...its all a guess though.

Wish I could help more. Not alot of people these like Pigeons with so much pepper(pigment) ... I always like the contrast to the orange.

al

I sounds like it could have been Plague. I've been through it. It's a kick in the head. I tried to save all of mine, too. It cost a bundle treating all the parasitic and bacterial problems that were the result of the weakened immune system. In retrospect, once I knew that the virus had been introduced to the fish room, I wish I had euthanized every Discus in the fish room. Most died in spite of everything I did. The few that recovered turned from pretty to ugly and had no interesting in breeding.

Looking at the condition of your fish as it is now, I'd say to the hard job of "putting it to sleep". The other alternative is watching as it slowly dies regardless.

Well I don’t have levamisole but did treat it with prazi. Tough to put down. I did have one come back. I do feel it could be organs shutting down. I do believe the cross contamination/plague did ruin these discus.