SIck fish not eating.. Please help

[GrayLadyPat]

Please help me. I have read almost the entire disease forum and can't put my finger on the problem. One of my fish is ill.

Here's the questionnaire:

DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE


Problem

1. Please explain the problems with your fish/when and how they started
One of my discus is not eating. He hasn't been eating for about a week. He seems to be fine otherwise, no color change, with no fin-clamping, and not really hiding, however, he does stay away from the rest. This morning I noticed some rather thick yellowish-brown poo, and his tummy seems to be a bit distended. None of the other fish are showing any signs of anything wrong at all.


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)
Slightly distended tummy, yellowish-brown poo, not hanging out with the other fish, but not hiding either. Hasn't eaten in days, although he looks at the food, he seems to change his mind and go back to his place.

3. What medications/ treatments that you have already tried and results. Include dosages and duration of treatment.
Epsom Salt for constipation (just in case,) 1/4 teaspoon per 10 gallons. I was going to deworm the tank until I saw the poo this morning, but now I am not so sure I need to.


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and age, number and size of fish
60 US gal. years old. 6 Discus 4-5", 12 cardinals, 4 red wag platies, 3 red light tetras, 2 cory cats, and an ancient killifish that should have succumbed to age months ago.


5. Water change regime/ how long has tank been running/ bare bottom or gravel/ do you age your water?
50% 2x week, 30% 1x week change schedule, mixed substrate (sand, some small tumbled gravel), and moderately planted. Water aged with Prime and airstone (age one day then change, refill and age til next change)


6 Parameters and water source;

- temp _____84-85F

- ph _____ 6.5

- ammonia reading ____0

- nitrite reading ____0

- nitrate reading ____<10

- well water ____

- municipal water ____Yes

7. Any new fish/plants added recentlyMost of my fish are long term residents of almost a year or more. I added 4 Discuss suddenly due to extenuating circumstances beyond my control and then added 2 more a couple weeks ago to make a nice even 6.


I am not having any issues with any of the other tank denizens at all, only this one, and I would like to try to catch it before anyone else shows signs of problems.

[jimg]

i would get it in a qt tank, I would first think worms.piperazine from rocky mountain discus,flubendazole fom UK akawormer plus. i believe the epsom salt is 1-2 tbls per 10 I don't use it so look up dose. start here first. could be tapeworm, flagellates bacterial also, if worms, a few can be seen with a scope if you have one.

[bogia99]

I think this is the most challenging part of discus keeping, diagnostic the right problem for the right treatment. Treatment part is easy, plenty of reference out there. Diagnostic is the most difficult part at this early stage. I just moved 1 of my fish into QT, yesterday, for the very similar problem. It has not been eating/or very little (frozen BW) for couple weeks now. It is starting to lose some weight. I looked and looked but still couldn't figure out exactly what is the cause yet so I decided on a shotgun approach for the whole tank a week ago. Mild treatment first and antibiotic later if necessary. I started with PPing (external), then Prazi (deworm and parasites), and then 4 days treatment with metro (flag) as a QT precaution for the whole tank. Then I moved the fish (4") into a QT for a series of antibiotic treatments (internal + and - grams) for 7 days. Meds I am currently using are kana + Furan 2 + metro combo. I have some tetra bit and FDBW in the tank to see if it will eat. If it doesn't start eating by the end of next week then I know there is nothing else I can do for it. A friend of my told me that this maybe the case of being bullied into submission of not eating. Let see if that will change in the QT.

ps: my shotgun approach treatment is a bit extreme in this case just because I can't figure out the exact problem. I don't recommend it to you or others.

[Elliots]

bogia, try the KISS approach, more and larger water changes and raise the temperature. Maybe that will work. No meds. You have probably degraded or eliminated your BB. Watch the water parameters closely. Good luck!

[bogia99]

GLP - sorry for hijacking your thread. Hope you can derive some information on my method. Just ask if you have any questions.

Elliots - no problem with main tank. Sick fish is in QT and I am keeping a close eye on it. I have a backup sponge even for QT just in case I crash the BB with meds. It still doesn't touch T-bit but seems to eat a little FDBW. Saw some white, but not stringy, poo. Maybe I am on some thing here. If I don't see brown/black poo .. more metro for sure. 5 more days.

[GrayLadyPat]

Decided to go ahead with deworming/deparasiting and see what happens next. Since the rest of the tank has obviously been exposed to whatever it is that this one has, I have made the grand decision of treating the whole tank and go from there.

Bogia, don't worry abotu hijacking threads from me. I am learning on the fly, so others' experiences are invaluable to me.

I will keep you all posted.

Cheers!

[GrayLadyPat]

Update:

Unfortunately, the ill fish I had has expired. Before it died, it expelled a wad of dead worms, so I can only think that it was a worm problem and that the shock of ridding itself of them was too much. The rest are doing great, and a massive WC is in order as soon as I get home from work.

Thanks for all the help, everyone.

[Cullymoto]

keep up on the de-worm med for the whole tank. Just follow the recommended coarse. When it comes to worms, if one had em - they all have em. whenever you de-worm, a simultaneous shot of epsom salt at 5ml/10gal is a good idea also as this helps the fish to pass the dying worms. I hope that you have success in this, and im sorry for your loss.

[bogia99]

Update:

Unfortunately, the ill fish I had has expired. Before it died, it expelled a wad of dead worms, so I can only think that it was a worm problem and that the shock of ridding itself of them was too much. The rest are doing great, and a massive WC is in order as soon as I get home from work.

Thanks for all the help, everyone.

Wow .. that is really unfortunate. Wish you luck with the rest of the fishes.