Discus are flashing

[ABCGIO]

Problem

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

They started probably about a month or two ago flashing on the branches in the tank. I see them do it maybe one a day. I am fairly new to discus just starting in october of 2012.


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)

The only symptoms are are flashing and it looked like the poop of one was white at the start and then turned brown as it came out. One of them also looks a little bit pinched in the middle of the body and looks like it could be getting a little bit thinner (not 100% sure though). They still look pretty healthy and eat like crazy.



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

I have done 2 treatments of prazipro and tried soaking the food in metro for about half hour before feeding but i'm not sure if they actually got any in them as it doesn't dissolve in water.



Tank/Water

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

The tank is a 90gal and is about 7 months old. It has 2 discus, about 20 tetras, 3 dwarf cichlids, 3 cory cats, 3 clown loaches, and two bristlenose plecs. nothing is fully grown yet.

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

I do water changes every 4-5 days. I know that every day is better for growing out discus but its harder to keep it balanced by doing that. The tank is also moderately planted with a mix of eco complete and gravel. The tank has been running for about 7 months and I don't age my water.

6 Parameters and water source;

- temp 84

- ph 7

- ammonia reading 0

- nitrite reading 0

- nitrate reading - about 5 and never higher than 10

- well water - nope

- municipal water - yep

7. Any new fish/plants added recently - a new german blue ram but the problem started way before this



Should I maybe order medicated food to kill nematodes from angelplus? Their food has levamisole and fenbendazole in it.

[Skip]

fill out the questionnaire.. and take some pics

[discus rookie]

May I please know what is "flashing?" Thank you.

[ABCGIO]

Flashing is when the fish goes up close to an ornament or hose and then darts past it, scratching themselves on it.

[lifan23]

Are the fishes breathing through 1 gill? If so do a water change and test parameters. If water parameters are fine and if fish continue to breath through 1 gill and keeps flashing for more then a day then its likely gill flukes. I had the problem a few months ago and I took care of it with PP treatments.

[ABCGIO]

Only one breathes through one gill sometimes because it has a short gill cover. Sometimes one of them does a little jig that looks like its about to spit out food. The flashing has been going on for some time now. I have done 2 prazi treatments about a month apart.i f you would like to see some pictures just email me @ peepieyummy@gmail.com and i will send you a couple. And their poop also looks normal now. What was your prazi treatment ie. how many days and the dosage?

[lifan23]

I was actually referring to Potassium Permanganate. I tried Prazi for flukes multiple times it did nothing. When I had gill flukes, even my corys and Rams were scratching so I knew it was flukes. I had to empty out all the substrate, then I did 5 consec PP treatments 4 days apart to take care of it. Was a lot of work but I never saw my fishes flash after that.

But if you are not sure its flukes then I wouldnt use it because it stresses out your fish and kills your bio cycle. Also in a planted tank with substrate it wont work as well. Flashing could be caused by other reasons so I would post pic on here for others to see to get a second opinion.

[ABCGIO]

How do i make a photo less than 84kb to post on here? The one fish is also pooping some mucus but i have already treated with prazipro. Any thoughts?

[lipadj46]

Prazi is pretty ineffective against gill flukes, especially Prazipro. I did prazi powder for 21 days on multiple occasions and flukes came back. Flubendazol in dmso is what finally did it. Stinks like heck though. You may want to scrape and scope to be sure it is flukes and not bad water and a filthy tank

sent from an undisclosed location using morse code

[ABCGIO]

Should i order some medicated food with fenbendazole and levamisole in it? My one smaller discus looks like it has a bit of stringy mucus poop as well as flashing.photo.JPG sorry its a bit hard to see but you can kind of notice the stringy mucus that it's expelling.

[SMB2]

I am certainly no expert, but I just did a search on one gill breathing and flashing. Gill flukes are often questioned but in general the responses suspect other causes before considering and treating for gill flukes.
The number one response is...you guessed it, water quality. Lots of clean aged water for at least a week to see if the symptoms improve before adding chemicals to the tank. Sometimes a high tank temp can promote a bacterial bloom so perhaps lowering the temp to 82 could be a consideration. Also clean all pre filters and any substrate. (In a planted tank a surface vacuum.)
I know we see a rec. for large aged water changes all the time for many illnesses, but I for one have become a big believer and would use water as a med. over anything else, certainly to start.