Help, lost 3 discus. Discus going nuts, hitting objects, dashing

[glus76]

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

Last year introduced new tetras from local store.4 days later a couple of discus fish went nuts. Dashing around, swimming so quickly they would hit objects and die. They would hit the ends of aquarium several times like in uncontrolled manner. Then would lie on a site and die. I used furan-2 and it stopped. A few days ago the same happened. 2 of fish got dark, then swimming very quickly in uncontrolled matter, hitting everything and subsequently dying. . Even in isolated tank.


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).

turn dark, swim quickly, hits objects, dashing crazy, dies.


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

Tried furan-2, PP dip, neomycine and finally api general cure.

Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
65 gallons, 6 fish, 1.5 year old, about 4 inch. now 3 fish left

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

30% daily

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

bare bottom, tank 2 years, 24 inch deep.

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

not aging. Ph aquarium 6.4, tap: ~6.8. Takes 24 hours to go down.

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 _____84F

- ph ____6.4_

- 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.

- well water ____

- municipal water _x___

- RO water ____


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.

Black neon tetras last year, all dead now. No new fish for 9 months, no new plants. nothing new.

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.

[glus76]

hello,
discovered small 1-2 worms in the aquarium. I am attaching pictures. They are tons of them in the water and on walls. They are small white worms moving slowly on the aquarium walls. It must be it. How do I fight this? 20160929_200939.jpg. See attached. Picture not clear because the worms are very very small.

[Filip]

The worms on the picture are some kind of enviromental pests and are not related with your problems . Their expansion do on the other hand indicate a poor maintenance and poor water quallity . If your general maintenance is based only on 30 % WC daily you might very well have water quallity issues .

As for the problem . IME so called whirling disease - symptoms were triggered and occured right after a waterchange (especially with an unaged water ) and rigt after a heavy stuffed belly meal . WC after a heavy meal was the worst trigger in my case .
I put them in a 100 % fresh and aged water QT tank with a cycled filter and left them 5 days in complete darkness with no food and no WC. After this 5 day fast they all were acting and eating normal again .
This simple fasting method was proposed to me by an experienced fellow discus keeper and although it sounded very stupid at first , it worked for me .

Hope they all get well . And if they do , please engage your self a bit more in improving overall tank maintenace and water quallity for your discus.