1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
- Problem started from poor water quality generally.I had a couple rough (long hours) weeks at work, and didn't clean the tank as much as I should have. From 5/15 to 5/26, the tank only got cleaned 3 times, and not as thoroughly as usual. 5/28 got back on schedule, did a thorough tank cleaning (and initially thought I had made it through the last two weeks unpunished)... but by 5/30 fish were eating less, and saw signs of hex in 3 of the 6 discus (white lining).
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).
- 2 discus decreased eating and activity on 5/29-30, 1 discus stopped eating completely. White "poo" from intestinal lining visible in these three. The 1 discus (named "Purple") not eating at all, started clamping fins and looking darker (while the other discus colors/behaviour stayed normal, other than the decreased eating), so on 6/1 I pulled Purple out and put him in a 20 gallon QT tank to treat separately.
3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
- On 5/31 started a treatment of Seachem's Metroplex, treating the entire display tank at a dose equivalent to 500 mg per 10 gallons, per day. When Purple moved to the 20 gallon on 6/1, continued equivalent Metro dosing in there. Cleaned tanks and changed water on 5/30 and 6/1. Had to go out of town from 6/2 thru 6/6; during this time, had a neighbor come over once per day to administer the Metroplex doses, but no food and no water changes. After I got home, cleaned tank and changed water 6/7 and 6/8 (and will do so again tonight, 6/9). Observed Purple's condition seeming to get worse, with additional symptoms starting around 6/4 or 6/5 (according to my neighbor, and observed by me starting on 6/7) of not being able to stay upright, sinking down to the bottom of the tank, leaning over onto nearby objects, breathing heavily, not able to swim well. Sometimes pointing head-up/tail-down, but this seems to be from effort of trying to swim up from the bottom, not necessarily happening as a separate symptom. Suspecting a swim-bladder disorder, I added Epsom salts to the QT tank on 6/7 in the amount of 8 teaspoons for the 20 gallons. Re-added Epsom salt on 6/8 after water change. So far no improvement.
Tank/Water
4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
- Main display tank: 100 gallon tall, 24"x24" footprint x 45" high. In service for just over 1 year; have had discus in there since August 2015.
- Six discus (of various random colors and questionable breeding, obtained from three different sources.) They were between 1-1/2" and 2-1/2" in size when I first obtained them last summer; they've since grown to be between 4" to 5" now. Purple, the fish in question here who is sick, is almost 5".
- Also in the main display tank are 2 large angelfish, 1 king-tiger pleco (L066), and 1 fat curviceps cichlid.
5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
- Normally change 80% water twice per week, along with a thorough cleaning of all tank decorations, glass and cleaning of the filter each time. (This tank is VERY difficult to clean, but I am as thorough about it as I can be, in order to get away with cleaning it twice per week. It takes about 4 hours to water-change and clean. I only clean it more often than twice per week if the fish are showing signs of illness - between working full time and lack of sleep, 8-12 hours per week on the fishtank about kills me.)
6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
- Tank has been running since June 2015. Got a few smaller fish at first, and when tank was stabilized, got some discus in August-September of 2015.
- Gravel substrate, about 1" deep. (I know, shoot me.)
7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
- Do not age water. At each cleaning/w/c, I fill up (2) 44-gallon buckets with 40 gallons of water each; add Prime, a very small amount of aquariums salts (tap water TDS is about 100; I add salts to get TDS up to about 200-225. I've found fish stay healthier that way.) For water for the main display tank, I also add about 1-1/2 teaspoons of API's "pH Down" to get the water to match the pH level in the display tank. No pH-Down is added to water for the QT tanks or other small tanks. Add a heater, a pump for mixing, and large airstones in each bucket. These sit and mix and aerate for 1 to 2 hours while I work on cleaning the tank. pH out of the tap is 7.8. pH of tap water in my other small fish tanks stabilizes after aging at 8.0. The pH in the main display tank is 7.5 (I don't know why this tank settles lower than the small tanks; but it stays stable, so I go with it.)
8. Parameters and water source;
- temp: 85 in main display tank; 89 in the 20-gallon QT tank with Purple.
- ph: 7.5 in the main display tank; 8.0 in the QT tank.
- ammonia reading = 0
- nitrite reading = 0
- nitrate reading: between 5-10 in the main display tank; between 0 and 5 in the QT tank.
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: none
- municipal water: all
- RO water: none
9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
- No, nothing added.
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.
- I'll try to add a video here. So my questions to this forum are: what are your theories on what exactly is wrong with Purple, and are there other treatments you think I should try.
Thank you!
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