headstanding

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
About 2 weeks ago my big guy just started swimming with his head down i think it was after a water change.


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).
Yes he's headstanding, also he has a knot on his right side, dead in the middle of his body.

3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
i haven't done anything yet.

Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
50 gal bow, unknown age (he was given to me), 14 discus, 5 tetras, 2 angels. from 1.5"-5"

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
weekly wc, 50-80%

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
a couple of years, no, creek pebbles and sand, about 1" deep.

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
no.

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 ___88'F__

- ph _____

- ammonia reading ____

- nitrite reading ____

- nitrate reading ____

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 __X__

- RO water ____


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
Yes. He was added with 5 others and so far 2 have died. But he came with the Knot on his side.

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.
a combo of Ken's bloodworm, blackworm, and beefheart flakes, seachem nutri diet discus flakes. Sometimes tetra color granules.

Lower your tank water giving about an inch of allowance (eg. 10 inch height fish, provide 11 or 12 inch height water level).
In some cases, your fish will gradually correct itself over few weeks.
But that fish should never be kept in high water level tank again, otherwise it'll revert headstanding.
The knot Imho, is bend spine... It's permanent.
All headstanding fish will have that knot.

should i add epsom saalt?

You can give it a try.
I've tried lowering with/without, both way works...
But it will take time.

ok thanks, i will try both :)

Hi Nate, first lower the temp a bit. 88 is a bit high. Is the fish positioned with it's head towards the bottom and if yes, does it look bloated? If yes to that add the Epsom salt. How large is this particular fish?
Pat

I'd really like to see a photo. As well as nitrate readings.

Hi Pat,
yes his head is pointing straight down, and he's probably about palm size. i lowered the temp to about 88 degrees. Today he's still doing it... and i did add epsom salt when i did my wc.

i have pics but i'm not too tech savvy so i'm having a hard time uploading them...

Your photo may be too large. There are re-sizing app out there but i find it easiest to email the photo to myself and it re-sizes automatically.

It's curious how the fish suddenly starts doing this. One of my discus which I've had for couple years suddenly did this. Almost 3 months ago. He's still very healthy, eats well, very alert and active, no knots nor deformaties. I've not added any meds or salts. Just keeping up with big WCs. Been hoping he comes out of it but not yet. Other discus are perfectly fine so I'm just going to keep up with big WCs and see how he progresses.

Hi Nate, has your discus recovered yet? Just curious if any treatment has worked for you. Mine is still pointing straight down but healthy as ever.