Sick Discus Just Spawned? and Leaving for 4 Days This Weekend

Hi everyone, I have been reading so much of this forum and just want to say I think it is truly awesome to see the amount of knowledge and passion which have been accumulated on this site. I came across it after watching a video of Al on Youtube about Discus before receiving mine (story below). The main problem with any potential treatment is that I have a flight on Saturday and we will not be returning until Tuesday, so it really doesn't seem possible to do anything until after then (at least from my research so far). I am however extremely willing to do whatever I need to do to have everything prepared for when I come back (hospital tank, whatever medication is necessary, etc.) and take care of it Tuesday. Please keep this in mind when responding, as it is the main factor which has made this so confusing and difficult for me to plan for.

Thank you in advance for any potential insight you have into my situation! :)

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?

The 6 discus were gotten for free! from someone on craigslist about 4 weeks ago. They seemed healthy. I had always wanted discus and knew they needed really clean water, and nitrate levels in my tank are always very low so I thought I could care for them well in this tank.

I first noticed "Squiggles" acting weirdly a week to a week and a half ago. He was being chased a lot by the alpha in the tank, and then began staring at the filter intake with his head slightly down and not moving much. I figured that was his refuge and he would bounce back. Perhaps a week ago (although maybe less) he seemed to stop eating. A few days ago I was convinced he was sick and started looking up what could be wrong but then I saw him and another discus starting to peck at the filter intake and start to do a little shimmy-ing. I wondered if he had been staring intently at the intake because he wanted to spawn. Two nights ago I noticed a very small piece of white feces. However last night I saw him and the other discus spawning on the filter intake (it was so cool to watch!!). I will upload a video if I can figure it out. However today I saw a large piece of white feces and he/she has mostly returned to staring and just not looking great or that interested (although he/she is tending to the eggs).

One absolutely insane thing that happened three weeks ago (a week after getting the discus) was I added CO2 to my tank and apparently it was coming out at an insane rate because all of my fish were gasping for air when I walked by the tank. One of the discus was spinning head over heals at a pretty decent rate. It was one of the most terrifying and horrifying sights in my life. I quickly took water from another tank into a bucket and took out the discus, but I had probably not noticed it for ~30 mins. They all seemed to make a full recovery.

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).

Squiggles' colors are not great but not bad either. He/she hasn't eaten in about a week and recently has had two long strings of white feces. Sometimes fins are clamped at their side, but not usually.


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

I have been increasing water changes to 75% a day (up from 75% every other day) but now there are eggs at the top of the filter intake so I did not change water last night and not sure if I should tonight. I will certainly abandon the eggs for his/her health if necessary. (I have no clue if they are even fertilized as he/she was sick [I assume] during the spawning)


Tank/Water

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

55 gallon tank, planted with CO22, fx4 filter about a year old but only have had fish for last 2-3 months. About 15 neon tetras and 8 panda cories along with one small baby bristlenose pleco and 4 mystery snails.

6 discus, ranging from ~3-4 inches to ~5.5 inches?


5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
I had been doing 75% water changes every other day, increased to 75% every day in the last week to try and get Squiggles better.


6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
1 year, black diamond blasting sand as the substrate, 1.5-2 inches deep?


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

I do not age my water but I do have a ph monitor that I use to make sure the ph does not swing. It stays right around the 7.4 range before and after water changes.

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 Safe -- add enough for volume and the tank (or slightly more) to the tank before using python to add water to the tank

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 ___82__

- ph ___6.9 with Co2 on, increases to ~7.4 during the night. kH is 8__

- ammonia reading __0__

- nitrite reading __0__

- nitrate reading __5-10__

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 _central florida municipal water___

- RO water ____


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

No, not since the discus were added 4 weeks ago


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.

I feed tetra colorbits and my own frozen mix of beef heart, tetra bits, shrimp, salmon and spinach


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.

https://imgur.com/a/am7Twra

Sick Discus Just Spawned? and Leaving for 4 Days This Weekend

Hi everyone, I have been reading so much of this forum and just want to say I think it is truly awesome to see the amount of knowledge and passion which have been accumulated on this site. I came across it after watching a video of Al on Youtube about Discus before receiving mine (story below). The main problem with any potential treatment is that I have a flight on Saturday and we will not be returning until Tuesday, so it really doesn't seem possible to do anything until after then (at least from my research so far). I am however extremely willing to do whatever I need to do to have everything prepared for when I come back (hospital tank, whatever medication is necessary, etc.) and take care of it Tuesday. Please keep this in mind when responding, as it is the main factor which has made this so confusing and difficult for me to plan for.

Thank you in advance for any potential insight you have into my situation!

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?

The 6 discus were gotten for free! from someone on craigslist about 4 weeks ago. They seemed healthy. I had always wanted discus and knew they needed really clean water, and nitrate levels in my tank are always very low so I thought I could care for them well in this tank.

I first noticed "Squiggles" acting weirdly a week to a week and a half ago. He was being chased a lot by the alpha in the tank, and then began staring at the filter intake with his head slightly down and not moving much. I figured that was his refuge and he would bounce back. Perhaps a week ago (although maybe less) he seemed to stop eating. A few days ago I was convinced he was sick and started looking up what could be wrong but then I saw him and another discus starting to peck at the filter intake and start to do a little shimmy-ing. I wondered if he had been staring intently at the intake because he wanted to spawn. Two nights ago I noticed a very small piece of white feces. However last night I saw him and the other discus spawning on the filter intake (it was so cool to watch!!). I will upload a video if I can figure it out. However today I saw a large piece of white feces and he/she has mostly returned to staring and just not looking great or that interested (although he/she is tending to the eggs).

One absolutely insane thing that happened three weeks ago (a week after getting the discus) was I added CO2 to my tank and apparently it was coming out at an insane rate because all of my fish were gasping for air when I walked by the tank. One of the discus was spinning head over heals at a pretty decent rate. It was one of the most terrifying and horrifying sights in my life. I quickly took water from another tank into a bucket and took out the discus, but I had probably not noticed it for ~30 mins. They all seemed to make a full recovery.

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).

Squiggles' colors are not great but not bad either. He/she hasn't eaten in about a week and recently has had two long strings of white feces. Sometimes fins are clamped at their side, but not usually. The stress of being in a new home, followed up by a co2 poisoning would no doubt cause health complications. The white stringy feces would more than likely be him passing his stomach lining from not eating.


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

I have been increasing water changes to 75% a day (up from 75% every other day) but now there are eggs at the top of the filter intake so I did not change water last night and not sure if I should tonight. I will certainly abandon the eggs for his/her health if necessary. (I have no clue if they are even fertilized as he/she was sick [I assume] during the spawning)I’d disregard the eggs. It’s more important to focus on getting your fish healthy. A sick fish can not possibly support and feed fry. Keep up on the big water changes.


Tank/Water

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

55 gallon tank, planted with CO22, fx4 filter about a year old but only have had fish for last 2-3 months. About 15 neon tetras and 8 panda cories along with one small baby bristlenose pleco and 4 mystery snails.Your tank is a bit overstocked using the 1 discus per 10 gal rule.

6 discus, ranging from ~3-4 inches to ~5.5 inches?


5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
I had been doing 75% water changes every other day, increased to 75% every day in the last week to try and get Squiggles better.


6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
1 year, black diamond blasting sand as the substrate, 1.5-2 inches deep?


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

I do not age my water but I do have a ph monitor that I use to make sure the ph does not swing. It stays right around the 7.4 range before and after water changes.

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 Safe -- add enough for volume and the tank (or slightly more) to the tank before using python to add water to the tank

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 ___82__

- ph ___6.9 with Co2 on, increases to ~7.4 during the night. kH is 8__
This PH swing will be an additional stressor for the fish
- ammonia reading __0__

- nitrite reading __0__

- nitrate reading __5-10__

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 _central florida municipal water___

- RO water ____


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

No, not since the discus were added 4 weeks ago


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.

I feed tetra colorbits and my own frozen mix of beef heart, tetra bits, shrimp, salmon and spinach


12. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. I

Thank you for the reply Brendan I appreciate your input. I had been worried about there being some kind of disease I needed to treat, so it makes me feel a little better that it is not likely the cause (although even worse that I f'd up so bad with the CO2. I was planning on doing a water change as soon as I got home in spite of the eggs, and it turns out they were all eaten today anyway.

Interestingly (and sadly) Squiggles is being bullied badly today by 3 of the other discus, including the one he/she spawned with the other day! I thought after spawning together they would be more of a team so I am very surprised. Is this common? I am not sure which one in the relationship was the male -- Squiggles is larger but the other looks more dominant.

If there are any other opinions or advice out there, I would love to hear it. Discus are truly fascinating and I look forward to learning as much about them as I can.

You could seperate squiggles into a seperate tank to give him a break from the bullying, and give him a chance to recover on his own.

Thanks again Brendan, I was thinking about that earlier so I am glad to hear you also think that will be effective. I will set up a new tank with some cycled media before I leave for my trip and let him hang out in peace until he starts eating and acting more like himself. I will let you know how it goes!