Long, white, stringy poo (Hexamita)?

[ungmon]

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?

I recently got into the discus hobby and started out with 2 fairly low quality ones from one LFS before adding 4 more about 5 days later. The two from the first shop never really ate and still aren't but at the time I thought they were still just shy and adapting to the tank.

The fish from the second fish shop seemed healthier for the most part but again, only about 2 of the 4 eat. It's been a week or so since then and I'm definitely starting to think this is something more sinister, i.e only two of the 6 fish are eating and yesterday I noticed that one of the fish not eating had a long white, stringy poo (pictures attached)



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).

As stated above, most of the fish aren't eating and the long, white poop has me worried that this may be a case of Hexamita. Again, the two fish that are eating seem fine and have thick, dark coloured fecal matter, although the rest of them just chill out most of the day without doing much and looking very lethargic, one of them in particular just hides in the plants and literally stays there pretty much all day.


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.

None so far, I am looking to force feed some epsom salt to them, although this may be tricky considering they're only about 6cm. I am also aware that metronidazole is a fairly effective treatment although, I live in Australia and obtaining it can be quite tricky, not to mention expensive

Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.

50 gallon - Second Hand
6 fish ranging from 6-7 centimetres
2 Blue Turq's
1 Red White
2 Red Melon's
1 Blue Pigeon Blood

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
40% 2X week

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

Tanks been running 5 weeks. There are about 15 neon tetras in the tank. Substrate is Black sand about 1-1.5" deep.


7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.

No I use a Python-like system and match the temperature with my tank water, there is no pH swing.

8. Parameters and water source;

- temp 29 C

- ph 7.8

- ammonia reading 0ppm

- nitrite reading 0ppm

- nitrate reading 5ppm

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.

-tap water + prime


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently

No, the Discus are the latest addition to the tank.

[ungmon]

Bump?

[ungmon]

Nobody? Can anybody help be out here?