Made the jump to wilds

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Roland, before medicating reduce your water change amounts to 50% and do not overfeed. I have been having the same issue and lost one due to jumping and two whom started the whirling. I have reduced the water change amount to about 50% and it seems to be helping. It is harder to keep the tank clean but the fish seem to be returning to normal. All the fish have seem agitated to me but now the bars are less to gone and the color is returning to normal.
Pat

[farebox]

Okay Pat will follow your advise ASAP. Thanks a bunch, hope things will get back to normal.

[Second Hand Pat]

Okay Pat will follow your advise ASAP. Thanks a bunch, hope things will get back to normal.

Same here. I know how disturbing this is.
Pat

[William1]

Reduce water changes and don't overfeed. This has been shown to cause whirling disease in wild discus. There is a scientific type article floating around here that discusses this in depth and that was the conclusion. I tried changing water twice a day instead of once and upping the feedings after reading on here about how much people feed their fish, and you need to change more water for optimum growth etc., etc, and one of my guys got whirling disease and had to be culled. I didn't feed for two days and then went back to my regular schedule and all has been fine since. Lesson learned. Absolutely no problems since. Good luck.

[woopaul5]

Also do not keep the lights on during this time. It won't stop the whirling but it will reduce it some

[farebox]

Thanks people for the help. Doing all what you said to do, but this afternoon put down another fish that was whirling real bad. Now down to four fish, but they seem to be cool for now. Did 50% WC, very light feeding, lights off. Just sit back and wait how it goes with the four remaining fish...

[jimg]

How about ammonia or nitrite levels? if all is fine I would give them short (5min+-) salt dips at 3%. it is possible they have some type of protists that were able to take advantage of their stress and multiply.
all water is different but I did 70% or so daily wc's with mine ninins when they very small and never affected them. if it works do 2 more treatments within about 12 days

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Jim, while I know that externals can cause the whirling behavior in my case I was in the middle of a formalin treatment when the whirling began. The whirling has stopped since reducing the WC amounts to 50% of the tank volume. Also the fish have returned to their normal coloration so in my case I feel the WC reduction makes for a good first recommendation step.
Pat

[jimg]

I agree 100% with you Pat. I should have stated if the reduction don't help.

[JBurgo]

Really sorry to hear about this Roland. I lost one of my small wilds to whirling not long ago.

+1 for reducing feeding and less and smaller WCs, because none of my others have developed it since (and others have had it move through their population one fish at a time and devastate their stock). I would even go as far as to stop feeding for a few days, and then just start feeding the smallest little amounts for a few weeks, you're not going to starve healthy fish. Get the water stable and get the toxins down in the fish. 50% WC twice a week would be where I would go.. I mean it's where I went. I do a daily vacuum syphon through a 100 micron filter sock directly back into my sump, and then remove the filter sock instead of massive water changes.

Seems to be either a type of toxic shock (suggested in the article below), or a parasite called Myxobolus Cerebralis that eats into the cartilage (true Whirling Disease). If they have this parasite, they've possibly had it for months before whirling symptoms appear. If it's the parasite, it will release the parasite upon death, so you need to get the fish out if it dies to avoid potentially passing it on. Unfortunately most people report death after dashing or whirling symptoms appear. Although I think most people (like me) go straight to bigger, more frequent water changes, which seems to be the opposite of what they need. If I think back too, mine was doing a bit of hiding in the days leading up to the dashing.

Here is some talk about what happened to mine>
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...lds&highlight=
Here is a link to the article>
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...irling-Disease

[farebox]

Latest update; lost two last week. They were "whirling" so after awhile I just culled them. Now a week later the four remaining seemed to be okay. Took your advise Pat by only do 50% WC every other day and light feedings. Also was just wondering should I replace the lost two with two Luranjal Red Med from John(Snookn21) since don't see anymore Rio Negro Heckels listed. What do you guys recommend, should I do that or just stay what I got for now? Check video today: https://youtu.be/lPkIyIkfw6Q

[JBurgo]

If it was me, I'd give it a bit before adding more fish that might either get affected or bring something else in.

[Second Hand Pat]

Sorry to hear that Roland, I would suggest waiting a bit also. Let things settle.
Pat

[DomiDiscus]

Roland, John told me that he's getting more Rio Negro Heckels in a few weeks.

[farebox]

Thanks, I guess I wait for them. So far the remaining four are good. https://youtu.be/15RZHVds61E