Not sure Why...

Lost my first fish today, and like the title says, not sure why other than didn’t act soon enough or did the wrong treatment.
First off display tank parameters were all well within the usual numbers. The tank is 245 gal with system volume of 400 gal and 16 discus. I decided that a would like to add a trio of bushy nose plecos. I set up a 40 breeder with cycled bio filter that was being used for a pair earlier. I added the trio and observed for a week, no illness was observed. I chose a hero fish from the display. It was a 3-4” leopard. This fish I had noticed was eating but had a pinched belly. My thought was that being the weakest, it would show if the plecos were carrying anything bad and would allow for easier treatment in the smaller tank.
I moved the leopard to the qt, the fish refused food for two days and was weakening. I started to elevate temp to 90 deg, to try and stimulate metabolism and hopefully eating. Still no improvement. Since no swelling was visible, it wasn’t blocked up. From what I read Metro might help. I started the treatment. After 2 days in I noticed something coming from its head.Attachment 122538
I decided to continue the treatment having read improvement may not be noticeable till the end of the treatment. I was doing 50% water changes daily. The discus was not improving,the plecos showed no issues. As of early this morning the discus was extremely weak. I decided to do a 80% water change and stop treatment. During the water change he passed..... the plecos were unharmed. I am reducing the temp to my normal display temp.
I don’t think the plecos were to blame as the leopard was having issues prior.
My wife and I were very sad to have lost a friend...

My next question is what to do with the Plecos, do I add them to display an cross my fingers with 15 currently healthy discus? Or what? Any thoughts or suggestion would be appreciated.

We can't help you much with that little info. Please fill out the disease form so we can.

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
Transferred to QT

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). Not eating,clamped fins

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



Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish. Display 245, QT 40


5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).50% daily


6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it? Bare bottom Qt 3months


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


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 __85 normal elevated to 90_

- ph __7.13___

- 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 __x__

- RO water ____


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently. Plecos in QT,nothing in display


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. Frozen bloodworms, Al s FDBW



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.

You mentioned that your QT tank is BB. Is the tank the sick fish came from BB as well. Can you tank pics of that tank and the fish that are in it?

Display has pool filter sand 1/2” to 1” deepAttachment 122544 the other 15 are healthy and eating like piranhas

Hi Mark, this is a guess on my part. It sounds like the leopard was comprised prior to adding it to the QT with the plecos. Since it was already in weaken condition and with the added stress of new tank, exposure to the plecos, addition of meds and perhaps elevated ammonia when adding the leopard (increased bio-load) to the QT tank, all that overcame the defenses of the fish and it passed. Sorry for it's loss.

In the first post it appears the fish could have had HITH.
Pat

That was also my thought except for the ammonia, which was not a problem as the pores foam had been seeded in display system for 3 months and after that it was supporting a breeding pair for two months more before making it a QT for the plecos. The next question is how to proceed with the plecos?

Best to add another hero fish to the pleco tank.
Pat

New development, checked the QT after work, found one of the plecos had died. I’m wondering if the Meds were bad?
I drained the tank down to 1” and refilled with new aged and heated water, in the hopes of no more losses. Seems strange.