Discus turning dark, pointing up, and shaking

One of my discus is having a problem that just started. It will all of a sudden turn dark, turn at an angle (usually pointing up,) and start shaking(like vibrating rapidly) and breathing very very fast. Then it will suddenly recover, and behave as if nothing ever happened. When it recovers, it goes on it's merry way, eating, socializing, acting normal, fins not clamped, not darting, quite calm. If I wave my hand in front of the tank, it usually recovers from this state, and gets curious with the other discus. I'm very worried about the poor guy :(

I did have a problem on Monday. A mini cycle, which was caused by the pump from my sump being left off overnight. The nitrite got very high (2 ppm) did immediate 50% when discovered the next day, added salt, and overdosed prime. The cycle has since recovered, and I am back to 0. In addition, I added 3 gallons of water just before I noticed the problem. I had forgotten to add prime, and added it immediately after pouring it into the sump.

The fish is relatively new. We just got a bunch of discus both from Discus Hans, and the local fish store... I know my error of course. Never mix, and buy from a reputable breeder. I didn't this rule of thumb at the time. The fish with the problem is from the LFS. All other discus appear healthy. On top of that, the fish store discus had stringy poop, and likely had(still have?) gill flukes. Stringy poop is under control, but gill flukes possibly are not, and may have spread to the other discus. I do notice light flashing from a few discus now and again. I stopped the metro/prazi medication when the mini cycle started.

Here is the Discus when it's behaving normal:
http://cybercom.net/~erin/discus/riker%201.jpg


Here is the Discus when it is having the problem:
http://cybercom.net/~erin/discus/riker%202.jpg



Here is the form, though there will be repeat information:

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 fish suddenly turns dark, tail stands, vibrates rapidly, breathes rapidly, then begins acting completely normal. I added 3 gallons of water before treating with prime, noticed my error, and treated afterwards.



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).

- Turning Dark
- Tail stand
- Vibrating
- Rapid breathing



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

I recently treated the whole tank with API General cure. Every 48 hours, and did 6 treatments at normal dosage. Ended treatment 3 days ago. Eliminated tapeworm. Breathing very normal(slow and calm,) though some flashing still being seen.



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

65 gallon Aquarium
30 gallon sump (filled with 20 gallons)
9 Juvenile Discus > 3 inches each
1 Kuhli loach (large)
1 Otto cat (medium)
1 Nerite snail (medium)



5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).

15% water change daily



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 for 2 years, though I just recently added the discus after over a year with just the otto and the kuhli.



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

I was aging my water 24 hours, but then had a mini cycle, and have since been changing a lot of non aged water with prime.
Aged and fresh tap water are both about 7 ph.



8. Parameters and water source:

- temp: 86 f

- ph: 6.6

- ammonia: 0

- nitrite: 0

- nitrate: 0 (I have a lot of plants)

50/50 tap/RO



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

Only the Discus were added recently. About 3 weeks ago.



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.

I have been feeding 2-3 times a day with mixed foods.

-Mostly fed a somewhat typical beef heart frozen home made food. Beef heart, peas, fish
-Occasional freeze dried blood worms
-Occasional beef heart flake
-Occasional freeze dried blackworms




Thank you so much for reading my post!

Hello,
That behavior is "sometimes" used by discus when they they have an external irritant.. like a parasite problem. Ive seen it a few times. Sometimes the other discus will be attracted to the fish and appear to pick on its sides a little.I don't know if thats an evolutionary fall back to dealing with external parasites but its what I think it is.



In your case it fits... new fish, flashing, health issues. Im a bit concerned as your tank is over stocked and thats never a good thing if you may have a parasite issue starting..

The Api General cure is just metronidazole (200mgs) and prazi (75mg) I believe. Though its called "General Cure" its probably limited in how effective it is. Metronidazole is dosed at doses of 250-500mgs for up to 10 days usually with discus for ex.

I think I would try Salt dip on the fish in question .And then run a course of seachems paraguard in your tank..
or if you have it, formalin with malachite green..Unfortunately the loach and otto cat may not survive the treatment.

If this is a parasite issue starting it could be very hard to get rid of because of the substrate so best to knock it out know before it really gets established.

I could be off the mark here entirely but thats my best guess. I subscribe to the school of" better safe than sorry".

hth,
Al

Thank you very much for the info. I'm using paraguard, as I have it on hand. If it doesn't clear up, I'll switch to formalin with malachite green. I've also done a salt dip. This is now the third day of treatment, and I haven't observed the flashing for 2 days. The very worrying vibrating behavior also has not happened. I'm going to keep it up for a while to be sure the bug is eliminated, but it's very promising so far.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CobraMode

Thank you very much for the info. I'm using paraguard, as I have it on hand. If it doesn't clear up, I'll switch to formalin with malachite green. I've also done a salt dip. This is now the third day of treatment, and I haven't observed the flashing for 2 days. The very worrying vibrating behavior also has not happened. I'm going to keep it up for a while to be sure the bug is eliminated, but it's very promising so far.

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Great News ! Please keep us updated!
al