Re: Discus has skin lesions.
Your nitrates are way to high and should be kept <10. Also the presence of nitrite (highly toxic even at 0.5) suggests a mini cycle. The lesions look bacterial but metro would not be the drug of choice, neither would higher temps as that accelerates bacterial growth & reproduction. I recommend large (75%) daily water changes and add salt 2-3tbsp/10gal and replace with each water change. Once the lesions are healed amend your current WC schedule or volume to keep your nitrates <10. If you have hidden areas amongst your plants were detritus gathers be sure to vacuum it out regularly as the presence of other non-measurable dissolved organic waste could be part of the root cause given your limited WC routine. Keep us posted!
Re: Discus has skin lesions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
danotaylor
Your nitrates are way to high and should be kept <10. Also the presence of nitrite (highly toxic even at 0.5) suggests a mini cycle. The lesions look bacterial but metro would not be the drug of choice, neither would higher temps as that accelerates bacterial growth & reproduction. I recommend large (75%) daily water changes and add salt 2-3tbsp/10gal and replace with each water change. Once the lesions are healed amend your current WC schedule or volume to keep your nitrates <10. If you have hidden areas amongst your plants were detritus gathers be sure to vacuum it out regularly as the presence of other non-measurable dissolved organic waste could be part of the root cause given your limited WC routine. Keep us posted!
Thank you.
I think my water parameters are wrong - I have an old water testing kit and I think it's off. I will do massive WC as you have recommended and will add salt.
Re: Discus has skin lesions.
Anna, I saw your FB post and also responded yesterday. I really think you can correct this with water changes and salt, although I would use st least 5-7 TBS per 10g. This may sound extreme, but its actually quite mild... Since this is a bacterial issue, I would reduce the temp to 82 as bacterial thrives in high heat. You should see a rapid improvement as long as it's still healthy and eating.
And thanks for addressing this on this forum. You will receive more help and less speculation here :D
Re: Discus has skin lesions.
Good one Jeep, thanks for amending my salt dosing to a more effective dose!
Anna I have 5 x 6" adult discus on their own in a 125gal. I feed a 1" piece of pure frozen deer heart x 1 daily and occasionally a FDBW cube as a treat. To keep my nitrates below 10 I have to change 50% x 3 every 2 weeks. I'm not sure your test kit is off on the nitrates reading looking at you routine wc & feeding schedule. Perhaps it is with the nitrite reading since your tank is well established.
Like I said previously, I would do several.large WC's over the next few days to reduce your dissolved organic load, dose with salt each water change, then increase your weekly routine to 50 or even 75% if you can only do it once per week.
Have a good one mate! :D
Re: Discus has skin lesions.
Thank you very much to everyone for your help and advice.
I have upped my WC schedule to improve the water quality.
nitrites are 0
nitrates are still ~ 20
Not sure why - I changed 75% on the first day, then 50% on second and third and 50% every other day now.
Can driftwood add to nitrates level, because I have some in the tank?
I am a little apprehensive about adding so much salt: 5-7tbsp per 10g? i've been reading that discus don't like that much salt. Is it really safe to add so much?
Re: Discus has skin lesions.
Yes, it is safe to add that much salt. You wouldn't want to use it all the time, but it will help with your case for around 10 days or so and it's quite mild and discus accept it very well.
Back the temp down to 28c.
Are you sure about the nitrates? Old kits can give false readings. Are you testing your water supply as well as the tank water?
You really should age your water when doing large water changes. You can even use a new trash can for this if you don't have room for permanent storage. While your ph may be consistent, there is nitrogen in the water that creates micro bubbles that can irritate the fish. If this is not possible, try doing 2 or 3 30% water changes throughout the day until this is over.
Re: Discus has skin lesions.
Hi peca. Sorry to meet you under problematic conditions. Lots of good clean water is the absolutely safest treatment you can give the fish. I know how to do it with drugs this looks to me like it can be cured with salt and clean water.
One thing that these gentlemen said that I disagree with is that I think Nitrates in my Discus tanks should be 5. I do 30 to 50 percent WC in my BB Discus tanks daily.
Please keep us updated and let us know how the fish does. When they get that sort of lesion, once they start to heal under suitable conditions they heal really really fast.
Re: Discus has skin lesions.
Thank you to everyone for your advice and support. Happy to report that my discus has recovered nicely.
What I was doing:
1. Water changes - every other day ~50%
2. Salt 7 tbsp per 10 g - didn't see much improvement in skin condition, but plenty of plants didn't survive
3. Fungus Cure by Japi - it comes in tablets. I used it once: 8 tablets for 95g tank (it makes water green, however it is safe to use with planted tank), so I used somewhat lower dosage than recommended and in a couple of days I saw slight improvement in my discus. Then I waited for about a week and continued with salt treatment - no changes observed during that week. So I have decided to do another treatment by Fungus Cure, again 8 tablets, and the skin was almost completely healed by day 4.
Not sure - it might be a combination of clean water, salt and some medication, but it worked!!! I am very happy.:bounce2:
