Sick discus- Fungal infection or something else?

I recently purchased this discus along with a group of 5 other discus. only fish in the tank is discus and 2 Bristlenose plecos water parameters are normal tested, and tested again did a 60 percent water change last night and a salt bath for the affected discus last night it seemed to strip the growth along with his slime coat off but this morning up until now the growth or whatever it is formed on his fins again. nothing on the body thus far only the fins was thinking fin rot or something of the sort if anyone has some better insight very new to discus keeping but not new to the fish keeping hobby.

Tank is a 75 gallon at 85 degrees consistent. water is dechlorinated swell he arrived like this in the condition he is in, so far luckily not getting worse but also not getting better he is visibly thinner then the other "healthy" discus and refuses to eat day 3 now. I know it takes time to acclimate but he is the only one that hasn't eaten thus far. I'm just worried he might pass from malnourishment if the fungal/disease doesn't get him first surprisingly lived through the first night I was thinking he'd pass in the middle of the night but he's still up and kicking just not well. any help is appreciated and if I missed or stated something wrong just let me know first time on the forum thanks again.
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?
(stated above and in pictures) * sorry adding this second hand didn't see this as the template.

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).
white strands and small fungal looking white hair algae looking things hanging off fins.

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

Pimafix, decided not to continue after 2 days of use and did a 60% water change and decided to salt bathe the discus upon researching.

Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
75 gallon 6 months old, 6 discus including the sick one and 2 bristle nose places

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
1 time a week normally 70%, but thinking about doing a 50% everyday until this problem subsides.

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
6 months running, sand bottom substrate, about 2 inches deep.


7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
do not age my water, comes from the tap and I dechlorinate.

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

- ph _____ 7

- ammonia reading ____0

- nitrite reading ____0

- nitrate reading ____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 ____100%

- RO water ____
9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
just the discus, the places have already been in the tank for quite sometime.

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.
brine shrimp/beefheart frozen mixture, tried some flake food for discus not too keen on that only had them about 3 days fed nothing first night and twice the next two days since they are still somewhat acclimating but fully intend on 3 light feedings a day.


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.
included above.

Attachment 132854Attachment 132855

You say it arrives this way? First appearances looks like ammonia burns.

The two discus I see look pretty stunted, possibly from bad care in the past. If you inherited them in this condition you can certainly turned around.

I would test the ph of your tap water vs. aged water. 75% straight tap water can be dangerous and even lethal depending on ph swings and Co2 content.

Pimafix is worthless. Good decision to discontinue.

Since it came this way, we may be able to eliminate cross contamination.

Is the tank planted or bare bottom?

I would do 50% water changes with aged water, or 30% if you cannot age it, daily. Add 3 tablespoons of salt per 10g and replace the salt removed during water changes for 10-14 days. Keep the temp at 82. Report any changes good or bad during treatment...

thanks for the response, I decided (before you commented ammonia burns) to QT the fish so that during the night if it passes, or I decide to further medicate/salt the water I won't keep dosing the "healthy" fish. He is currently in a 10G tank with a filter no media, I medicated with Maracyn oxy from fritz, dosage for 10G, and I salted the water with aquarium salt. Should I discontinue the QT, not qting to prevent spread if it is a fungus or disease but just so I don't unnecessarily medicate/dose the other fish. Just a quick additional note idk if this helps when I did the salt bath yesterday and put him back into the tank the fish was not surprisingly lethargic laying on the bottom leaned up against the glass, probably due to the high stress of the salt dip, but today after I dipped him and moved the fish into QT he is more "active" and take active lightly but he is not laying on the bottom he is swimming under his own power but for some odd reason in the main tank and in the QT tank sticking next to the heater the entire time not really venturing away but the tank temp is high 85-87 so its not like being near the heater is doing something for him since the flow is passing over the heater and pushing downstream of the entire tank (set it up that way for even heat dispersion). Also the tank is very lightly planted with a type of water grass sparsely spread out none higher then an inch and a half. Any thoughts moving forward? I will closely monitor the ammonia levels of his tank and the main but from what I've seen nothing out of the ordinary could of been during shipment or in previous care? I will do the salt method and report findings if you have any other insight based on the new information please let me know and thanks again for the response.

**and yes the other discus pictured does appear stunted from the head having a dip in it and not being fully round, its just this yellow discus being sick and the other being potentially stunted the other 4 are as far as I can see perfect otherwise.

***and by aging the water you mean for example filling a 55g drum and leaving the water for a set period of time and then using it for a water change not just straight from the tap correct?

**** and does ammonia burns have a symptom or effect of causing white almost stringy growth of the fins and some hanging off the lower fins that was what I observed and tried to picture admittedly badly in the pictures, it almost looked like imagine hair algae but white.

Quote:

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***and by aging the water you mean for example filling a 55g drum and leaving the water for a set period of time and then using it for a water change not just straight from the tap correct?

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Yes. Unaged water and micro bubbles can create ph swings that can irritate their slime coat. Discus require a stabile ph.

Quote:

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**** and does ammonia burns have a symptom or effect of causing white almost stringy growth of the fins and some hanging off the lower fins that was what I observed and tried to picture admittedly badly in the pictures, it almost looked like imagine hair algae but white.

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Again, yes. It can also damage gills. Since this discus came this way it would be impossible to know for sure that a ph crash was the cause.

Given those comments, your fish could also be affected with a parasite that is causing it to shed slime coat. Depending on it's stress level and genetics, any issue can affect different fish differently. Isolating it and treating with clean aged water and a little salt would be my first course of action.

Thanks for the help, currently still in qt dosing with salt. the discus has eaten today for the first time I was able to witness maybe without the other competition it is easier for him, only problem is he clamps one fin and swims with the other but swims with both on occasion and because of the swimming with one fin is off kilt a lot and when he points down to grab food on the bare bottom tank he is sideway some and misses his food more so then any of the other fish seems like a little balancing issue due to not using the other fin sometimes. don't know what to make of it will keep in qt and see the end result.

I don't know what temp you're at but try turning it up to 88-90. Hopefully this will stimulate appetite.

Can rock salt and formalin be added? I am very new to this field. So just asking. Because I have some blu diamonds that have same issue. I have added salt. One of my firend is saying, that formalin can be added.Is it true?

HI,

The short answer is you should not mix formalin with salt. Depending on what the issue is and the salt conc used it can make your fish worse.

Its best you fill out the disease questionaire and start a new thread to be better helped. Many things have similar symptoms.
..please include pics.


Al