1 Dead, 1 Dark, 1 dead anyday, 2 healthy

[HollyPocket]

So I THINK this may have been caused by me trying to clean too much gravel at once and releasing some Nitrate pockets. The next day all of my tetras were dead and then about a week later my Red Cover had some bumps on his head, then the next day it was twice as bad, then the next day really bad and he died. I was told maybe HITH?

The past 6 months I have noticed that my blue diamond was really black - he turns white and then black again but doesn't look like a blue diamond. I am new to the discus world and realize that I was not feeding or doing enough water changes this past year. I have since changed that but he remains black.

I have put everyone in a QT tank on 2/10/17 - since then I have a ruby leopard that has gone down hill. First she would only eat bloodworms and then nothing. She hasn't eaten in about 3 or 4 days. She is about dead I think and lays at the bottom of the tank. Super thin!

I noticed my blue diamond was only eating blood worms but I think I caught it soon enough and he has started to eat brine shrimp and beef heart again.

The checkered pigeon - who is newer to the tank. Maybe a month now. He is great! and my male ruby leopard is great!

I started dosing the QT tank with Metroplex as directed and nothing was happening. After talking with some discus owners I have been dosing twice the amount every 8 hours and doing a 90% water change every 16 hours. I have added aquarium salt twice as directed.

Is there any suggestions on what is going on or what I should do? This is day 4 of the double dosing of metro and nothing has changed and I started dosing on 2/10/17 and was dosing once a day with 75% water changes every other day.

I have since changed my planted tank to BB for when they are well so that this doesn't happen again.

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?

Blue Diamond - Dark, was only eating blood worms but is eating normal again - noticed dark about 5-6 months ago
F. Ruby Leopard - Won't eat, laying on the bottom of the tank - noticed sick on 2/12/17
Red Cover - Dead - noticed sick on 2/7/17

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).

1 Turning dark
1 not eating

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

Metroplex - 2 measures per 10 gal daily with 75% water changed every other day from 2/10/17 - 2/21/17
Metroplex - 4 measures per 10 gal every 8 hours with 90% water change every 16 hours from 2/21/17 - present
Aquarium salt - 1 tablespoon for every 5 gal - done 2/16/17 and 2/24/17

Tank/Water

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

20h 4 small discus, 1=5", 2=4", 1=3"

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
on my regular planted tank I was doing 60% once a week - I plan to start doing 3x a week when they are better

currently on QT 90% every 16 hours

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
my tank was a planted tank with eco complete - it is now a BB

QT is BB

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
No I don't but my PH from the facet is the same as the tank

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 _87____

- ph __7.6___

- 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 ___100%_

- RO water ____


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

1 discus added a month ago
12 tetras and 3 algae catfish added 2 months ago died about 3 weeks ago - all of them dead as per my too much gravel water change - they all died that night at the same time

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.

2x a day I feed blood worms, brine shrimp, beef heart, pellets and flakes made for discus. I change it up so it's always something different.

Right now I'm mixing blood worms with brine or beef heart to make sure that they will eat.

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.

[HollyPocket]

So when I got home the one that had quit eating was dead. The other 2 never showed signs of even being sick, do you think they are okay to put them back in the big tank? and do you think I should continue to treat the blue diamond? I saw a feed on here that said about trying methylene blue...

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Holly, you have three discus left? Are they all eating? The blue diamond is really thin and appears to be in a state of decline. I would left them in the QT for now.
Pat

[HollyPocket]

So before all this sickness took place I had already ordered 2 new discus. As per a few local discus experts and my LFS suggested, I added the 2 new ones and the 2 that are not sickly back into my tank. I left the sickly "black" blue diamond in the QT tank. I stopped medicating the tank. I can see flashes of his blue but he is still mostly black and white. I found a pic of when I first got him and how blue he really was. I think he has been loosing his colors for awhile now due to worsening water conditions but I wasn't noticing. I am feeding him 2x a day and cleaning the tank daily hoping to get him back healthy. He is eating well so that is a good sign. Do you suggest anything that could help bring him around him any sooner or how long should I wait to see some improvement?

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Holly, the BD is in pretty bad shape (thin) and if it eats but does not add weight it's organs may have shutdown. On the others I would have suggested to QT the two new guys. Oh well. You might consider spending some time reading here on the forum to learn about these awesome fish and their care. Lots of good information here.
Pat

[HollyPocket]

Yeah I'm finding out a lot of info - I thought I had done my homework but I guess not. It's hard when the internet has so many conflicting suggestions. So yeah my BD isn't looking much better - any suggestions on something to try to snap him out of it? He is eating! Hopefully it isn't organ failure...

[Second Hand Pat]

You will need to give it time. If it does not fill out a bit in a week or two you might have a decision to make.
Pat

[HollyPocket]

So I think it's called "flashing" where he is rubbing on the tubing and the heater in the tank a little bit - idk if that's a sign of anything - he looks a little better, I can see some blue on his fins and his body is a little fatter - I have faith - thanks for your help!

[HollyPocket]

So Pat - I'm watching your video again... I watched it right when I first started with discus. I want to de-worm my discus but I can't understand the name of the medications that you suggested and it says I don't have permission to view the link.

Also - do you think that my BD could have worms?

Ahhh I want to save him! I search everyday for more suggestions on what it could be - I'm not just trying everything though... Maybe just time and waterchanges? How do you feel about adding salt? Or trying API general cure? or upping the temp? Or tetracycline? - So many suggestions! IDK what to do???

[HollyPocket]

So I treated with levamisole and my fish is still not looking any better - still black and stopped eating - do you think it is a lost cause at this point?

[Second Hand Pat]

So I treated with levamisole and my fish is still not looking any better - still black and stopped eating - do you think it is a lost cause at this point?

I do Holly.
Pat

[HollyPocket]

So I am just updating this thread with hopes that you have maybe any other ideas? I know that you said this is probably a lost cause but he's still alive and he's eating still so Idk what to do... Since then I've tried Epsom salt and then the next week I tried PP. Then a week after that I brought the temp up to 100. He's still alive. Looks about the same but eats a little bit. Now he's been at 100 degrees for 2 weeks so I unplugged the extra heater and I thought I would bring the heat back down... any other ideas? Should I put him out of his misery? If so, how?

[pastry]

Holly, good news... you have room for new fish now. More good news, learning has occurred. Bad news... you learn like I do.

Hang in there. Meanwhile, preventive maintenance is key. Bumps and scratches usually heal if water is good but if Discus get sick then sometimes hard to pull them out. I rarely ever use medications and think that's something to steer clear of. I have substrate too and try not to disturb it much - it happens though. If I do it then I do it right as I start a WC with the pump right by disturbance. Don't get deterred... just get more. You'll get better and better. Hopefully will learn better than me who usually has to learn every hard lesson 2 or 3 times