My 5 inch red checkerboard head down. Please help

[armorex]

Problem

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 decided to keep discus after spending time in the marine and freshwater hobby. I recently got four 5 inch discus. It was an 8 hour long transport after which i put them in the tank. All of the discus look a little afraid and not eating but i guess this is normal behavior right now. They do get a little active when i turn off the lights. But one of the fish, a really beautiful red checkerboard isn't doing so well. The fish can swim normally and stays with the shoal but when it is idle it turns its head down with the mouth facing the sand. I am very scared now. Since i just started keeping them :-/ It has been one day since they have been in my tank. Tried pellets, freeze dried blood worms and frozen brine shrimp. They aren't eating any. The head down seems to be bothering me a lot

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).

There is excess slime in the aquarium water i saw that floating. No poop. Ok now i just read the keyword, yes it is "headstanding", no rotting, no cloudy eyes nothing else.

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

Seachem Stability and Seachem discus trace

Tank/Water

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

4 x 1.5 x 1.5 feet

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).

No schedule started yet, although i have done 3 water changes in one month. 20%

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
One month, 2 cm

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
No, the ph varies from 7.2 to 8

8. Parameters and water source;

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 _____ 30 celcius

- ph _____ 8.0

- ammonia reading ____ 0

- nitrite reading ____ 0

- nitrate reading ____ 5

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/ RO mix, 50/50.


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
No, Other fish include. 10x neon tetras. 2 x Albino shark 2 inch, 4x mollies

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.

[warblad79]

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).

No schedule started yet, although i have done 3 water changes in one month. 20%

9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
No, Other fish include. 10x neon tetras. 2 x Albino shark 2 inch, 4x mollies

That's the problem.

[armorex]

I did 3 water changes 20% each. Okay will do another one and put all the fish except neon tetras in the sump. Will get back to the forum as soon as i do it. I hope my first experience with discus goes well.

[armorex]

Here is the video
https://vid.me/jqEl

[armorex]

I have taken out all the fish and put them in my sump, did the water change too. The other fish seem to be doing fine except for this one maybe there is something else that is creating this problem? The lights are out on purpose. I left them in the dark for the 12 hours. Only the moonlight is switched on right now

[Keith Perkins]

You mention sand, is this a planted tank?

[armorex]

You mention sand, is this a planted tank?

Not yet but plan to, if these poor souls survive the transition

[armorex]

I think there is some cloudiness around the gills, more on one side than the other. Please have a look
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[armorex]

Unfortunately the fish seems to be taking its last breaths. All happened really suddenly. I have quarantined it but it is just floating and moving gills. Maybe it's in a sepsis? The abdomen was bloated as well so I put Epsom and metronidazole. Praying :-/

[warblad79]

I did 3 water changes 20% each. Okay will do another one and put all the fish except neon tetras in the sump. Will get back to the forum as soon as i do it. I hope my first experience with discus goes well.

Discus will not do well with less water change. I do change between 80%-100% per day.

[armorex]

Discus will not do well with less water change. I do change between 80%-100% per day.

Unfortunately the fish died :-/ I took out all the gravel and all the decorations, changed the whole water and turned it into a bottomless tank. I need to medicate all the fish now. What do you guys suggest? I put a few drops of methylene blue as there was some cloudiness in the eye of one discus. This is my first experience with discus and i am scared of turning it into a disaster. Please help

[warblad79]

No need to medicate at this point unless if the fish is showing any symptoms. But for now keep your daily water changes to 70%-100% per day

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi armorex, no need to medicate and I strongly suggestion doing 50% daily water changes using just your tap water. You might considering aging your water also. There is no need to put your fish in the sump prior to a water change.

You might considering spending some time in the beginner section of the forum and learning about keeping discus. Here's a good starting place.
Pat

[armorex]

Thank you for the video. I had already seen it a long time ago. Read a lot before starting to keep discus. Right now i have three 5 inch discus in my 75G tank. All of them seem pretty active but seldom move out of the driftwood "cave" there are no signs of infection, no bloating. They have not been eating since a week. and i acquired had them a week ago too. I am getting a little worried. Tried the epsom salt method, changing 80% water with RO every day. No progress. I just saw one 1 cm green transparent poo floating in the water and nothing else. There is slime in the water too. I tried feeding them with beef heart, frozen mysis shrimp, pellet food, dried blood worms but they don't seem to care. I also tried the garlic method. No luck. I have no idea what is going on.

[warblad79]

You definitely need to worry because healthy discus should eat regularly. I bought so many discus from Kenny once I plop in the tank they are already eating in 10mins