Discus Dark, Large Blister on Side and Partial Sheding of Slime Coat

[Cosgrovb]

. Please explain the problems with your fish/when and how they started


I have recently purchased two new fish. Both are from the same source. I noticed in the middle of the fish, on the sides there appeared to be a quarter or half dollar sized blister on the slime coat of one of the fish. They are in a 29 gallon. She got dark and started sitting on the bottom. I treated with pp and it appeared that the fish got better. Three days later, she is dark again and the blister has returned. She is siting on the bottom. I used pp again and she is better. Now her tank mate is showing the same signs. i think it is bacterial but jsut am not sure.




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)


Dark, sitting on bottom, blister on side. From time to time I will see a small string of what appears to be slime coat shed off the fish and float away



3. What medications/ treatments that you have already tried and results. Include dosages and duration of treatment.


I have done two pp treatments. First was at 2 ml/l for the first hour, water turned brown, added another 2ml/l and the water turned brown after 2 more or 3 total hours and added another 2ml/l for the last hour. Total treatment of 4 hrs.

100 [percent water change and 2 tablespoons of salt

Three days later a single dose of 2 ml/l.

100 [percent water change and 2 tablespoons of salt



Tank/Water

4. Tank size and age, number and size of fish


29 bb with hydro 5.


5. Water change regime/ how long has tank been running/ bare bottom or gravel/ do you age your water?

Daily wc. At worst every other day. ususally 90 percent changes

6 Parameters and water source;

- temp: 85

- ph: 6

- ammonia reading: 0

- nitrite reading: 0

- Ro with TDS of 80 - 100 (Ro with tap mix to reach TDS)

Aged for 24 hrs



7. Any new fish/plants added recently

Two new guys are the only ones in the tank.

[Eddie]

Hard to say but if you suspect bacterial, a good choice is Kanamycin Sulfate. Anywhere from 190-380 mg per each individual gallon. Dose every 3 days for 3 treatments.

[Cosgrovb]

Eddie - why Kanamycin over Furan?

Are fish infected with gram positive bacteria or is it usually only gram negative?

[Eddie]

Eddie - why Kanamycin over Furan?

Are fish infected with gram positive bacteria or is it usually only gram negative?

I prefer Kanamycin for internal issues and Furan 2 for external or combined infections, its just personal preference.

To answer your question.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fa084

Gram-positive Bacteria versus Gram-negative Bacteria
Most bacteria that infect fish fall into one of two groups - gram-positive or gram-negative. These groups are named based on their response to a protocol called gram staining. Gram-positive bacteria stain blue, and gram-negative bacteria stain pink. They stain differently because each group has a different type of outer structure known as the cell wall. This difference is important for the producer and aquaculturist because some antibiotics work better against gram-positive bacteria and others work better against gram-negative bacteria. Most bacteria that infect fish are gram-negative, including Aeromonas hydrophila, Aeromonas salmonicida, Flavobacterium columnare (which causes columnaris), Vibrio, and Pseudomonas species. (See UF/IFAS Fact Sheets FA-14 Aeromonas Infections, FA-31 Vibrio Infections of Fish and FA-11 Columnaris disease). The major group of gram-positive bacteria that cause disease in fish are Streptococcus. (See UF/IFAS Circular 57 Streptococcal Infections in Fish.)

A third group, the acid-fast bacteria, which includes Mycobacterium species, will not be discussed in this publication because they are considerably different from most other bacteria (see UF/IFAS Fact Sheet VM-96 Mycobacteriosis in Fish).