Need advice urgent

[Nbatista]

I'm new here, and I need advice from experienced discus owners. I had purchased 3 juvenile discus and I noticed one was acting very weird I didn't think he was going to make it. He was dark in color, leaning on the drift wood, I wasn't sure what was going on. Next day I noticed the dominant discus also acting weird, rubbing on the plants , dark in color and staying on the top of tank.. I thought it might had been water quality but everything seem to look good. A few days later all 3 of them were huddled up, rubbing against plants and very dark..I asked someone who is good with discus on what they think is going on and he recommended that I use api general cure and stop doing daily water changes, he thought it was either because of fluke or stress. So I treated my tank as directed on the box. I begun the treatment yesterday and today I noticed the discus to have what looks like popeye. I don't know what actions to do next..stop treatment?...do water change?...start treating for popeye?...please help.



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, clamped fins, tail standing/head standing, flashing, bulging eyes (discus 1 has both eyes with cloudy discus 2 both eyes discus 3 1eye)

3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
Api general cure 5 packets for 54 gallon
First day looked like it was working
Second day looks like they're getting worst with eyes popping out


4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
3 discus juveniles

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
Everyday except for today 40%

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
14months rock substrate 1 inch

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


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 _85dg____

- ph __6.7___

- ammonia reading __0__

- nitrite reading __0__


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 ____

- RO water _ 👈___


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
No

[pcsb23]

Are there only the three discus in this tank? No other fish at all? How is the tank filtered and how has the filter been established?

Were the discus bought from a sponsor on here or an lfs or hobby breeder?

Not sure what a rock substrate is, maybe gravel? If so I'd consider changing that at some stage, either go bare bottom or use sand. Also how do you re-mineralise your ro water?

Some pics may help too.

Sorry for the additional questions.

Having 3 only discus isn't the best idea btw, just about always one will get picked on and stressed to the point it stops eating and becomes ill, that is often followed by the next so you end up with one only, sometimes the discus that gets sick first, gets the others sick too. They do much better in groups of five or more, even that won't guarantee one wont be picked on.

As for treatment, not sure general cure would be what I'd use here. As for reducing water changes, I think that may be a mistake too, if anything for now I'd be increasing them assuming the new water is good.

[Nbatista]

Thank you for your reply, there are four rummy nose and 1 sucker fish , I am planning to get 3 more discus as soon as these 3 got better and more rummy nose. I will consider going with sand. I don't think I re-minarilize my water. I got it from a hobby breeder. I have fluval bio filter. The filter had been running for a few months with the rummy nose and sucker fish and I used to have angelfishes and a eel, gave them to a close relative hope that answers your questions.

[pcsb23]

If you are using RO water it should be re-mineralised. I say if because things are not clear (at least to me). How do you get your water? We need to understand how you prepare your water as it is the single biggest factor that influences the fishes health. Discus need clean, warm water. It does not have to be overly soft or have any specific pH, just clean and warm.

It sounds like you have introduced the discus to the tank without any form of QT, so I suspect that you have a cross contamination going on. General cure is unlikely to work here and given your descriptions above we may already be too late. Either a potassium permanganate treatment or a formalin and malachite green treatment would be my suggestion, followed up by lots of clean water that has been properly prepared.

[nc0gnet0]

and sucker fish and I used to have angelfishes and a eel, gave them to a close relative hope that answers your questions.

Let me be sure I have this right.

You had the tank for 14 months, during that time (or a portion of it) you had angel fish. You then decided to go with discus, removed the angel fish, and added the new discus. Did you sanitize the tank in any way first? How long have you had the discus and how long did it take for the symptoms to start appearing?

Why are you running straight RO?

I asked someone who is good with discus on what they think is going on and he recommended that I use api general cure and stop doing daily water changes,

not so good,,,,,