Please help!

[discus_gal]

Below is my questionnaire about my poor baby. Please help if you can.

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
When we got the fish about 7mos ago, we suspect that he had an accident (maybe net) during the transportation, because shortly after we noticed an injured eye that eventually healed but he appeared to be blind in it.

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).
He has lost a lot of weight lately and is getting darker by the day. Three days ago he started getting white fuzz all over him. But he is still eating.


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
Nothing with this one. We have 6 discus in a 60 gallon tank. Some of them were sick for short periods of times (stopped eating and stringy poop) and nurtured back to health within 7-10 days in a 5 gallon hospital tank treating with Metro and higher temperatures (88-90 degrees). Main tank is at 86 degrees. Just the last one we had in the HT did not make a complete recovery. He started eating but after putting him back in the tank he stopped again. This is one of my two problem children but this is not the “blind” one who is getting darker and darker. The dark one still eats.


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
60g. Six discus. All under 1.5 years old. We got them together from the same breeder.

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
30% once a week. Lately we got so busy and have been bad and only did it every 10 days for about 1.5 months.

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
About 12 months. We had other fish until we felt we were ready for discus. We moved the other fish and got the discus after about 5-6 months. We have white sand but every time we vacuum lots is coming out so we are almost at bare bottom stage.

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
We have an RO water system with a heater and oxygen.

8. Parameters and water source;
- temp 86

- ph 6

- ammonia reading .25

- nitrite reading 0

- nitrate 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.


- RO water 100%


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

10. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.

Should I put both of them in the same 5 gallon hospital tank or in a bigger one or treat separately?

[discus_gal]

BTW the pictures are both of the same, dark Discus. The first picture is from today, the other one was taken a few days ago. He seemed to have gained a little weight since then, but got darker and now has all the white stuff on him.

[nc0gnet0]

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
30% once a week. Lately we got so busy and have been bad and only did it every 10 days for about 1.5 months

.

Insufficient. Are you willing to up your water change routine to at least 50% every other day (daily would be better). Not to be rude, but if this is all you can do, discus probably are not the fish for you. This problem will keep re-occurring with your other fish over time as well.

As for the fish in the picture, I doubt he can be saved, he has been neglected far too long. If you try, a five gallon HT is nowhere near big enough, your going to need at least a 20 gallon tank.

[John_Nicholson]

You are way to late here. While they may be swimming you have basically killed these fish. Personally I doubt they could be saved. Even if you did managed to save them they would never be nice discus. What you are seeing is what happens when people keep discus in poor conditions.

Good luck.

-john

[discus_gal]

Wow. Thanks a lot, guys. I realize I made a mistake and I am more than willing to do ANYTHING to save my fish. I understand your frustration with me, and I know I deserve it, but how about some advice how to save him (no, I am not giving up - getting a 20gal HT ready now) and the others? Yell at me all you want, but if there is someone out there who can point me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it. My other 4 are doing very well, looking good, acting perfectly happy but I do realize there is a big problem. Is 100% R/O water wrong? Can I help him with any medication? Anybody?

[John_Nicholson]

No one is yelling at you. We are just being honest. The reason no else has responded is because they know it is a lost cause but they don't have the heart to tell you. I understand you want to help the fish but their comes a point that it is not a possibility. There is no need for 100% RO water. In the vast majority of the US the tap water is perfectly fine for keeping discus. The key is keeping it clean. Your fish did not start getting sick just a few days ago. Discus that are kept in poor environments often seem to be doing fine just to die "all of a sudden". In reality they have been on the verge of crashing for a long time. Best thing you can do right now is to start change 50% of the water a day.

-john

[Rudustin]

I know that texting or typing something doesn't give all the nuances of an actual voice. The advice given to you in the replies to your thread are not mean spirited at all. They are just being honest and direct. Don't take offense. The time that one spends on fish of any kind to try and save them as a result of insufficient husbandry is in many cases is simply put futile. Essentially what you need to do is correct the issues with the discus that you have that "appear healthy." Your time and money is better spent on that issue rather than trying to save the discus that is ill. Good luck and listen to the advice of the two replies to your post and you will be assured that your other discus will not suffer the same fate as the ones that you are trying valiantly to save. Best of luck. Rufus

[discus_gal]

Thank you. I will.

[Rudustin]

Thank you. I will.

No worries and I am sure if you take care of the water quality issue everything will be fine with your other discus. Best Regards. Rufus

[nc0gnet0]

I realize I made a mistake and I am more than willing to do ANYTHING to save my fish

Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
30% once a week. Lately we got so busy and have been bad and only did it every 10 days for about 1.5 months.

This confuses me....the time for that attitude was months ago, not now I am afraid.

no, I am not giving up - getting a 20gal HT ready now

I would re-direct those efforts into saving the "healthy" ones you still have. I am afraid the one in the picture might be too far gone. Try if you must, but chances are your will just prolong it's suffering.

[discus_gal]

UPDATE: We needed to change our filters on our R/O system and brought it to the LFS. They didn't have the exact size filters for our system so they got a little "creative" but assured us it would work. We then took it home and turned it on so we could do a w/c that night. We had already taken like 25% of water out when my husband checked the water in the barrel and freaked because the TDS were extremely high. Called the LFS who said they will send someone over first thing in the morning to check/fix our system and bring R/O water and while there they will do a 50% change in the big (60gal) tank as well as in the HT with my sick Discus (who was eating and looking better BTW). Well "first thing in the morning" turned into 1pm and I had to leave before they got here. When I came home at 4pm, my sick discus was dead in the HT and my other 5 discus were barely hanging on. Two were already laying on their sides on the ground (one looked very dead to me) and the others were swimming sideways. All of them had turned black and had cloudy eyes. I freaked out and called my husband who left work and sped to the LFS. They said there was NOTHING wrong with their R/O water and it's probably our PH. Our PH is fine, but anyway. They gave my husband three more buckets of R/O water and sent him home. Thankfully they gave him the number of a marine biologist who was so super helpful and stayed on the phone with my husband while trying to figure out what was going on. He said to test for chlorine. So hubby went to another LFS store with the three buckets from the other one and they all tested super high on Chlorine!!!! So hubby called me and said to put Prime in the tank ASAP and that probably saved their lives. Today all but one got their color back and even though they still seem traumatized they are swimming around a little. the ammonia tested at .5 this morning so I did another 30% R/O (from LFS2, they didn't have more than 15 gallons at the store last night) water change and we will do another one tonight. Our R/O system is still not working right and we have to order another one. The LFS that supposedly "fixed" it and poisoned our fish denies everything. They said their water was good when we even have the chlorine testing on video. The helpful marine biologist said the chlorine probably killed all our good bacteria and we need not feed them for three days. UGH! What can we do???? Other than daily water changes???

[John_Nicholson]

First find a different LFS
Second IF you are doing daily water changes you can feed as normal. After you feed wait about 15 minutes and then siphon out any uneaten food.

-john

[discus_gal]

Thanks John. I am glad because they are already starting to beg for food again. A good sign, I hope. Judged by the way they looked yesterday when I got home it seems like a small miracle.