Discus has issues!!!!

[MelH]

Hi, we have 3 discus and one for the last two weeks has stopped eating,however when he tries to eat he shakes his head and looks like he's almost chewing gum and opens his mouth wide like he's yawning, breathing heavy from one gill with the gill filament showing, has had yellow mucus stringy poo (i observed this only once) no white poo, and has a little extra mucous on his body. The 3 of them shake their fins and dart round the tank at times. We were advised to treat for worms/gill and body flukes which we did, we used prazi for this. Have finished this course and done a 30% water change. There is no ammonia, nitrite in water and the ph is perfect.... We are getting concerned now as he just isnt eating!! Could this be a bacterial/fungal issue as well and have been advised to possibly use myzazin??? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Cheers

[RogueDiscus]

Hi Mel and welcome to SimplyDiscus. You'll get better feedback if you'll give us more information.

Please complete this questionnaire if your fish are sick (copy and paste). The more details you can provide, the better we are able to diagnose and help you treat your sick fish.

DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE


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?


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).


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



Tank/Water

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


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


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


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


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 _____

- ph _____

- ammonia reading ____

- nitrite reading ____

- nitrate reading ____

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 ____

- RO water ____


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


10. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.



11. 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.

[MelH]

DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE


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? Problems started bout 2 weeks ago. Nothing different we have done in this time that we can think of which started this.


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).
So our largest discus has stopped eating but when he tries he shakes his head and looks like he's chewing gum, also opens mouth really wide. He has one gill which he breathes much heavier out of and the fillament is sticking right out, the other gill is working slightly. He darts,flashes round tank at times, has had yellow stringy poop only once, no white poo in tank. They clamp thier fins sometimes, some excess slime on his body but not alot.


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
Was told he might have gill/body flukes and or worms so i used blue planet gill and body and tapeworm treatment over the course of a week (this has prazi in it). Did a 30%water change twice in the week as directed, no signs of improvement!!!!



Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
Tank is 250 litres or 4 feet long. There are 3 large discus, tetras and bottom feeders in there.


5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
We do a 25% water change twice a week.


6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
The tank has been here for 4 years. It has live plants and gravel on the bottom, the gravel is about 3cm deep.


7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
No


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 degrees__

- ph ____7_

- ammonia reading ___0_

- nitrite reading ____0

- nitrate reading ____0

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 ____Tap water

- RO water ____


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently. No


10. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.
We feed them frozen blood worms. Have tried various flakes, pellets but they have no interest.



11. 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.

[RogueDiscus]

Hi Mel,
I hope you'll get some other responses, but here's a couple things I would suggest.
- First, I would recommend more frequent and/or larger water changes, especially if you suspect the fish are sick. 50% daily or 75-90% every other day. This would be the best first step.
- I would avoid more medication until you get a better idea what's going on with them, like more white or stringy poo (others may have suggestions).
- You didn't mention what filtration you are using, but filters and your substrate will trap pathogens and waste, which will dissolve into the water, and cause problems. Again, the need for more water changes. If you had a tank you could use as a bre bottom hospital tank, that would be a good idea.
- Not necessarily a problem, but most folks here consider bloodworms to have fairly low food value; mostly water and more of a treat rather than a good staple. Your fish can go a while without eating, and probably don't feel like it if they're sick. Once they recover, I would recommend sort of forcing them to start eating something else. Don't give them anything other than a new food like a good pellet, freeze-dried blackworms(high protien) or a beefheart mix or flake. You could research those in our food section. Be sure to clean it up if they don't eat it. Eventually they should start to accept it.

You'll read it here frequently, but I think the water changes are a good start. If you had pics, that might help others with a diagnosis,too.

[MelH]

We are using an Eheim professional ll filtration system. Yes agree about the gravel on the bottom of tank, i try hard to go through the whole tank when i do do a water change. I guess we could try our pellets as i have heard bloodworms are not a staple diet. Thanks for your response. Hope fully others will give us some input!!!!