Uncle Sam's Update

I received these guys on July 18th. 3 Eruptions and 3 Curipera Cross. At first, they seemed to be very nice... round bodies and very nice coloring. After a few days, I noticed one of the Curipera's had white stringy feces, and upon closer examination I could see that it was skinnier than the rest and although it was up front and active at feeding time, it was not eating. I raised the temp to 93 for 10 days and added some salt and it came out of it immediately. However, soon after the heat treatment, one of the Eruptions stopped eating and kept its nose in the back corner of the tank. This time, I ordered some metro from Jehmco and ran a full tank treatment with metro and 93 temp. This seemed to do the trick. All of these guys are very aggressive eaters and are putting on size and weight. I feed them about 8 times per day and they hunt down every piece of food until all is gone, lol...

Overall, I am pleased with these discus. They are outgrowing their 40g QT tank and, after 3 months, I'm confident enough to end QT and give them a bigger home!!!

Curipera Cross
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Curipera Cross and Eruption
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Group shot attacking beef heart!!
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Looking good! Thanks for sharing your experience with them, too. I like the varieties quite a bit as well. What are your plans for them from here?

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Originally Posted by Tshethar

Looking good! Thanks for sharing your experience with them, too. I like the varieties quite a bit as well. What are your plans for them from here?

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Well, my first plan is to grow them out as healthy as possible. As far as breeding them, I've always been a fan of Eruptions. I'd like to pick up a few more from a different source. Or possibly cross one of them with the little ones from the contest if I can get those going strong. As far as the Curipera, I'm not sure. I like the wild look they have. Either pick up a few more Curipera's or maybe cross with Rose Red or Red Cover.

Then build a bigger house, lol...

They look great Brian, I think a pairing of the Eruptions with one of the snakes (fry) would be a great pairing :D
Pat

Very nice fish. I have an Alenquer F1 pair from Uncle Sam's that I am really happy with. Especially the male.

Great looking discus Brian . Im a fan of eruptions and LSS too so I hope to see them breed for you with Als current fry you raise .

These guys are doing so much better since the metro, salt and heat treatment. Not all were feeling poorly but all were treated. The Eruptions came in a little over 3" and are now over 5", and the Curipera's came in at about 4" and are now over 6".

They outgrew the QT tank long ago, but due to a lack of space I finally moved them into a 55g just today.

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Hi
So did you remove any filtration with the tratment? And what treatment doses did you use? Did you treat with metro for all 10 days? Just curious, something to file away for reference. Thanks

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Originally Posted by Kwiege

Hi
So did you remove any filtration with the tratment? And what treatment doses did you use? Did you treat with metro for all 10 days? Just curious, something to file away for reference. Thanks

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I didn't remove the sponge filter. If the metro can harm beneficial bacteria, I saw no impact. But with large water changes, ammonia wasn't an issue. I used metro from Jehmco. Metro i dosed at 1/4tsp per 40g and they were in a 40g QT tank so I used 1/2 tsp the first day and then 1/4 tsp added back with daily 50% water changes. I did this for 14 days. I also added 1 1/2 cups of rock salt the first day with the temp at 93 degrees. The salt was dissipated through water changes.

Thank you for the information.

Well, on the very day I last updated, the same Eruption began falling ill again, but this time it was different. About 3 days after it stopped eating I noticed swelling in the stomach, and after talking to Al, I decided to go with another hex treatment with 4x the dose of metro. The swelling continued, even into the eyes so I ordered some Kanamycin from Jehmco. Unfortunately, it was too late and I lost the discus this morning. It's a shame because it was beautiful.

I've never had this sort of issue in the past and was not prepared. It taught me the importance of having certain meds on-hand, especially Metro and Kanamycin. The standard LFS supplies are too expensive and not the same as a good brand of bulk medicine. I've also decided to de-worm all my fish, and future fish, with Prazi and Flubendazole as a precaution because I think there was more than just hex going on.

Although I'm confident in the remaining 5 discus, this shipment has just not been 100% right from day one. I just hope anyone reading this thread can see the history and learn the signs on what to look for. I also have decided not to release them from QT until another 6 weeks after de-worming...

Big time bummer on the Eruption Brian. :(
Pat

Sorry to hear of this. The fish was beautiful.

Brian I am sorry about the loss of the Eruption. I feel your pain. I recently lost a 5" red panda, but to aggression from a pair with wigglers.
The fish looked so healthy. Do you think the stress of shipping brought about the sickness in the 1st place?

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Originally Posted by danotaylor

Brian I am sorry about the loss of the Eruption. I feel your pain. I recently lost a 5" red panda, but to aggression from a pair with wigglers.
The fish looked so healthy. Do you think the stress of shipping brought about the sickness in the 1st place?

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They were well beyond the time for this to be stress related from shipping (got them the 2nd week of July). The Curipera came to me sick, although it recovered almost instantly with high heat and salt. The Eruption fell ill about 1 month after it arrived and also recovered almost instantly (but I wonder if treating the Curipera possibly masked any issues?). I know there are no external issues, so I think it was probably some other kind of worms in its gut that got out of hand for some reason, possibly over feeding BH??? I was crazy busy during this time and also missed some water changes in a QT tank that was too small. Basically a combination of several things that allowed the fish to become compromised when it just wan't quite right in the first place...

If it had never recovered from the beginning I could be more certain, but it was doing great and growing fast! And after speaking to Al, I think a more proactive approach to QT certainly is a good thing...

Sorry to hear about the loss Brian :( When you noticed the bloat why haven't you considered using epsom salt as the first step ?

I agree about medications, its very expensive at LFSs and they are not 100% pure too. I started stacking Metro and Kanamycin as well. I'm starting to consider adding PP to my grow out tanks every 1 or 2 months just to remove any harmful bacteria in the tank. I've noticed Jack Wattley is been doing that even to smaller fry tanks.

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Originally Posted by sanjay21

Sorry to hear about the loss Brian :( When you noticed the bloat why haven't you considered using epsom salt as the first step ?

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Thanks Sanjay, I did use epsom salt, just forgot to say it. It seemed to be clearing the gut but didn't reduce swelling...

Gotcha mate, so still a bit of a mystery.
Thanks for replying. Hope all goes well with the remaining 5!
Cheers,
Danny

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Originally Posted by jeep

Thanks Sanjay, I did use epsom salt, just forgot to say it. It seemed to be clearing the gut but didn't reduce swelling...

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Yeah ! I've been in those situations..

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Originally Posted by jeep

Well, on the very day I last updated, the same Eruption began falling ill again, but this time it was different. About 3 days after it stopped eating I noticed swelling in the stomach, and after talking to Al, I decided to go with another hex treatment with 4x the dose of metro. The swelling continued, even into the eyes so I ordered some Kanamycin from Jehmco. Unfortunately, it was too late and I lost the discus this morning. It's a shame because it was beautiful.

I've never had this sort of issue in the past and was not prepared. It taught me the importance of having certain meds on-hand, especially Metro and Kanamycin. The standard LFS supplies are too expensive and not the same as a good brand of bulk medicine. I've also decided to de-worm all my fish, and future fish, with Prazi and Flubendazole as a precaution because I think there was more than just hex going on.

Although I'm confident in the remaining 5 discus, this shipment has just not been 100% right from day one. I just hope anyone reading this thread can see the history and learn the signs on what to look for. I also have decided not to release them from QT until another 6 weeks after de-worming...

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Bummer Bummer Bummer!:cry: