Hi all,
I am new to posting but have been reading and learning on this forum for months. Thank you to all for the great information you've shared. I'm writing because I'm at my wit's end trying nurse a sick Blue Diamond back to health. I am new to fish keeping. My 7 year old son fell in love with these fish early in the year, so we got into the hobby as a COVID learning project. It's been a lot to learn to say the least. I know that I've made many beginner mistakes, so please try to keep responses focused to the most recent issues.
As you'll see in the photos, my Blue Diamond has something nasty. It started 5 weeks ago as some cotton like fluff near its mouth. It was always the most dominant/feistiest in the tank, so I thought it was cotton mouth or fungus due to an injury. I immediately placed it in a quarantine tank with Jungle's fungus clear for a week per the instructions. Other white spots started to emerge around the gills and face, so I then tried a round of Maracyn II and aquarium salt (4 Tbs in a 20 gal tank). After a week of that, bumps started to grow under the surface near the dorsal fin. They grew daily under one burst, emitted a stringy yellow puss thick enough to float around the tank. At this point, I did a salt dip, and tried Metroplex and Maracyn II together for a week. Still no improvement. A few days after the first salt dip, and I did a more aggressive salt dip to try to draw the puss out of the bumps and the discus then shed it's slime coat all over the tank. It was a mess to clean up (I had been doing routine water changes at the end of every medicinal cycle anyway). Things got to the point where the bumps near the dorsal fin and face collapsed and eroded flesh, covered by some white coating. My local fish store said to try flubendazole (which I had in the form of Absolute Wormer Plus). After it's four day cycle, it has not helped and I've started the Metroplex again. I've almost exhausted all my saved up medicines (I'm in Canada and can't get much of anything now), and I still don't know what's wrong. Any help is much appreciated.
The strangest thing to me at this point is that the fish is even still alive. It's been battling for 5 weeks, so I'm not giving up yet. We had bad luck with other discus that died far more suddenly. Two after spiraling/dashing out of control for a day or two before being found dead (I've assumed gill flukes) and one that died rapidly due to a not so dissimilar bump/deformity that came up. I also have two other discus that appear in great health, one of which has never shown any signs of illness. In fact, since we started with 6, 5 of the original 6 have paired up at some point and routinely laid eggs. They seem to go from healthy to sick so fast. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
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? See above
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).
See above
3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
Jungle Fungus Clear per instrucions
Maracyn II per instructions
Aquarium Salt
Metroplex and Maracyn II simultaneously per instructions
Absolute Wormer Plus per instructions
Tank/Water
4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
55 gal long started in June and cycled with other fish that are long since gone. 6 Discus added in two groups of 3 a month apart after tank cycled. At it's peak, tank had six 4" discus and two bristlenose plecos. When Blue Diamond fell ill, tank was down to 4 discus.
5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
50% water change every 5-6 days. filter floss changed with every WC. Seachem Matrix bio media and course filter pads remain.
6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
Tank has been running 6 months. I have about 1" of gravel at the bottom. Filtration: seachem tidal 75 HOB, top fin 60 HOB, and an Aqua Advantage UV.
7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
Yes. I keep my water in a 55 gal food grade barrel and age it/heat it/circulate it for days before using for water changes. I can't speak to the pH swing in the barrel. The pH swing in the tank is less than 0.3 over the course of a week as I notice the drift wood in the tank seems to drop the pH over a 6 day period.
8. What type/brand water conditioner do you use? Do you add it to the tank or aging barrel? How much do you use?
Seachem Prime. 1 cap as per instructions added to the barrel ahead of time.
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 _____84-86F
- ph _____6.6 to 6.8
- ammonia reading ____0
- nitrite reading ____0
- nitrate reading ____generally 10-20
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 ____25-50% (depends on what's coming out of the tap pH/ammonia wise at the time)
- RO water ____50-75%
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.
Usually discus granules or other similar dried foods twice per day. Occasionally beef heart as a treat about once a week.
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.Attachment 129684Attachment 129683Attachment 129682Attachment 129682
