Please help me see whether there is anything wrong with my Discus, I am new

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?
One of the older fish(Big&Blue) that is with us for more than a year started to just hide behind the filter or just stood still at the top of the water without flipping its fins, this happen only yesterday after I fed the tank with frozen bloodworm, the other 3 discus sharing the tank are doing fine and I do not see any symptom of skin black or rotting tail/fins so I am puzzled...

Another tank where I kept 5 healthy orange discus, 1 died today morning after I found out yesterday it has a big hole on its body with the skin all rotting off exposing its flesh with lots of mucus and it can't swim at all with 0 strength so it got stuck by the filter, sadly I didn't take any pic as I thought it was just a normal infection so I treat the water with Furan Plus and the fish started swimming again so I thought all was well.. The fish wasn't showing any symptoms at all and was still able to eat the frozen bloodworm I threw in so i was wondering whether it got into a fight as they are often biting one another and the infection start on the wound.. The fish died within a dozen hours...

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).
Bigger blue discus is not moving, not eating and the fins are not swimming.

Orange discus died with a hole in the body, skin all peeled off with mucus all over and exposing its flesh... Now some of the discus are having rotten fins.

3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
Furan Plus for a day, did a full water change today for the orange discus tank as mucus from the dead fish was everywhere.


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
32x19.5x21.5 4 fish top tank

32x19.5.21.5 5 fish bottom tank

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
Full water change every 1 month as we are using Microbe Lift Special Blend. The water is very clean so I don't know how the fish even got infected...


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

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
Don't have the equipment as it cost alot in my country.

8. Parameters and water source;
Tap water.
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 27 degree

- ph Don't have the equipment as it cost alot in my country.

- ammonia reading Don't have the equipment as it cost alot in my country.

- nitrite reading Don't have the equipment as it cost alot in my country.

- nitrate reading Don't have the equipment as it cost alot in my country.

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.

Tap water


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
No

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.
Feed TetraBits everyday, frozen bloodworm just started 1 month ago and feed once per week.


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.
https://imgur.com/cr82tvz
https://imgur.com/FQ6mbDU

I am new in this as it was always my father that do all the stuff but now he is getting old so I volunteer to help.. Any tips or if you need any other pic I will gladly provide it.

Hi ongnei and welcome to Simply. If you check with your father I bet he did water changes more often. From what you describe the fish are suffering from poor water quality. Most of us here do several water changes a week. Start with 50% water changes every other day. Do you have any pictures of the fish in their current condition?
Pat

Hi there,

welcome to the forum, shame it’s under these circumstances.

Here are a few things that stand out to me or would like to address:

Which country are we talking about?

The symptoms all point to water quality issues

Without knowing what you use for filtration I am very certain once a month water change with multiple daily feedings is not enough.

You HAVE to get a decent test kit and stay on top of your water parameters. Ditch the Microbe Lift and use the saved money towards the test kit.

Are you dechlorinating the tap water you are using for your monthly water change?

Also, what do you consider a “full water change”?

Temperature is too low.

#5 would be your biggest issue.Your water is very dirty even tho it may look clean.Nothing can beat large frequent WC's.The Micro Special Blend can be thrown in the trash.Furan 2 will get rid of your fin rot.Use it for about 10-14 days making 50% or more WC's every day or at least every other day.Without some way of measuring ph you really can't tell if you had or having ph crashes after a month without a WC.

I would advise increasing your frequency of water changes as well. It will help alot in the over all ability of the fishes immune system to fight infection. At once a week water changes and feeding tetrabits your tanks nitrate levels are probably way too high.Your fish do not look too bad at this point. You should be able to turn them around with better care.

Question... Do you have any plecos in the tank where the fish with the "Hole" died? If so watch to see if it tries to graze off your discus. The have been known to.

Al

As everyone said your problems probably all derive from poor water quality. You can get away without much fancy equipment and test kits, the one thing you can not do without is clean water. With a water change only once a month (particularly as your tanks are on the small side,) waste substances, desolved organics and bacteria will go sky high putting a lot of stress on the fish and making them unable to fight off problems. Antibiotics will also adversely affect the good bacteria in whatever filter you have so water changes are even more essential. A lot of people here change a lot of water every day, and that is when all is fine let alone if we notice a problem

Thank you all so much for the reply, sorry I am a pure noob lol I live in Singapore and theres not alot of fully stock aquarium shop here.

I am using Aquael Turbo filter-1000 for the top tank where the big fish is and a China brand filter for the bottom tank. I did use Seachem Safe to remove all the chlorine from the tap water during WC, I draw out all the water to the bare bottom when I do a WC.
I do not have any plecos in the tank as I know they will attack the discus or my fish will bite it, the 5 at the bottom are super aggressive and often fight among themself so I was shock one of them died so sudden:(((((

Is Micro special blend really that bad because I was told these bacteria can help clean the tank so we don't have to do a WC often and I read alot of good reviews..We live in an apartment so WC is really troublesome for us lol We have been using that for around 3-4 months now and no problem until I fed the frozen bloodworm, its an unknown brand not that Hakari or something that people here always recommend as none of the shop here sells that.

Just an update that big discus is still 'afking' at the exact same position so I am very worried now... I don't see any symptoms at all but I read it could be an internal parasite that is too late to cure? Also could I ask why are the orange discus tail and fins black? Is that natural or? Thank you all so much and sorry for my noob question lol! I update some new photos.



https://imgur.com/w1GodFQ
https://imgur.com/sloRi1y
https://imgur.com/aBvy4cq
https://imgur.com/FQ6mbDU

Black tails on most PB discus is quite normal.The once a month WC is very stressful not only for the build up of waste by-products but also the great change in ph due to ion exchange.Your cycled filter should be all you need for the bacteria you need.You'd need to change more water than the product is worth to keep discus happy.You did good tho cause the discus do look good.But couldn't live and thrive in those conditions long.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bluelagoon

Black tails on most PB discus is quite normal.The once a month WC is very stressful not only for the build up of waste by-products but also the great change in ph due to ion exchange.Your cycled filter should be all you need for the bacteria you need.You'd need to change more water than the product is worth to keep discus happy.You did good tho cause the discus do look good.But couldn't live and thrive in those conditions long.

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Thanks for your help! Does that mean I can just do a WC without cleaning the filter since I got the bacteria? Can I do a WC maybe once a week or once every 2 weeks rather than everyday? Thanks for your help again!

The more infrequent the water changes the more the chances of your fish having health problems, if you put a thin sponge or similar around your filter intake there will be no need to clean your filters out, just change the water and rinse the sponge

A bit off topic but I have to say that those are good looking discus for once-a-month WC ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ongnei

Thanks for your help! Does that mean I can just do a WC without cleaning the filter since I got the bacteria? Can I do a WC maybe once a week or once every 2 weeks rather than everyday? Thanks for your help again!

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There are no short cuts when it comes to pristine water and discus.

Thank you all so much for the help!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bluelagoon

There are no short cuts when it comes to pristine water and discus.

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Thanks, sorry could I ask another question. Will it be okay if I mix the 2 breed into 1 tank? Will they fight with each other or will just live in harmony? Thanks again!

[QUOTE=ongnei;1297687]Thanks, sorry could I ask another question. Will it be okay if I mix the 2 breed into 1 tank? Will they fight with each other or will just live in harmony? Thanks again![/QUO

Yes,but why would you think other wise?