What is wrong with this fish?

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?

Erosion on the flanks, blood streaks at the base of the pectoral fins. This has been going on for months and is getting worse as time goes by.


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).

Erosion on the flanks, blood streaks at the base of the pectoral fins. Behavior is normal, appetite is generally good. This one fish does not eat Hikari frozen brine shrimp, unlike all the other fish in the tank.


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

Nothing for this particular condition.

Tank/Water

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

75G, 7 wild discus, 5" on average.

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

75% daily.

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

3 years. Bare bottom, small amount of sand.

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

Yes. 24 hours. pH 7.6 tap, pH 6.4 ageing barrel.

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

None

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 _____84F

- ph _____6.1

- 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 ____100%


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

No

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.

3 feedings a day. Frozen Hikari bloodworms, Spirulina brine shrimp or Mega Marine Algae in the morning, FDBW in the afternoon, live blackworms or earthworms in the evening.


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.
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I'm really not sure exactly what would cause that but I don't recommend pure RO water. Pure RO is not a healthy environment unless reconstituted with minerals. Could it possibly be the blood worms??? If they don't act sick then I wouldn't worry too much but I do suggest you increase the mineral content of your water as it very well could be the issue.

Thank you, but for now I would tend to disagree. I don't think RO water is the issue here. There're six other fish in that tank doing just fine, one of them grew up in this tank from 3", it must've been taking up minerals from somewhere.

>Could it possibly be the blood worms??? If they don't act sick then I wouldn't worry too much
All the fish eat the same bloodworms, there's only this one fish with this issue. I'm concerned because the erosion is progressing.

Jeep’s guess of possibly blood worms leads me to put forth the possibility of a parasite/worm from the live Blackworm or earthworm food. While I’m not an expert like many are here w Discus, I don’t feed mine live food for there are too many variables/pathogens in the live food or medium the live food is raised in. I’d isolate him and treat for parasites if it were my fish. It does appear to resemble mild hemorrhaging w several blood streaks. Salt, warmth, and one of the parasite meds would be logical. Before you act, hopefully someone will confirm or correct my thinking. Just trying to toss out ideas like I would appreciate if it were my fish.

After I posted, another thought occurred to me. Since I see reddening at the base of the caudal, pectoral, and pelvic fins, it could possibly be a bacterium causing a form of Haemorrhagic septicaemia. The three major bacteria causing this are fairly common and opportunistically seem to pop up on a fish that has been compromised somehow health wise. If this appears to be the case, an antibacterial med should be applied to the whole tank. Again.....I’m hoping for someone smarter than I will speak up and confirm or correct my hypothesis.

Thanks for bring up Haemorrhagic septicaemia, that does look like at least a part of the story.