Multiple holes developing around the head

[HarryDk]

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

About 4 days ago, Getting darker, eat less, small holes appear around the head and eyes, 1 extra large hole over left eye (as result of fighting or hitting driftwood I hope). May be HITH or possibly bacterial infection (please no), I'm afraid of an outbreak now

2. Symptoms

Turn dark, still get brighter as he greet me, not eating as much, barely eat australian blackworms.
Multiple small holes plus a big one over left eye, not as active but show some aggression ( he is an alpha in the tank ), area around the gill show slightly white/pale colour when view from angle with light.

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

slighly rising temp from 27 to 30 celsus
1 does of Malachite green, one discus have a whitespot
some metro mixed blackworms, have not dose the whole tank.
small amount of salt (may not be enough as I do not like abuse salt: 4 tbsp in 450L tank)



Tank/Water

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

450-480L incl sump, about a year old tank, 9 adult discus, multiple smaller fish


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

80% twice weekly

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

About a year, fine sand as gravel


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

I aged 80% of the water for wc (48 hour at least), 20% is hot water from tab to match temp with such big volume change. very small to zero swing (6.8-7.0)
Use prime/safe to dechlo


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 __28-29___

- ph __6.8-7___

- ammonia reading __0__

- nitrite reading __0__

- nitrate reading __10__

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.

I add a blue ram after the problem appear so he is innocent.


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.

BH mix, tetra colour bit, algae waffer, Aus Freeze dried blackworms, live earthworm ... 3 times a day, plus some minor snack in between (premium dried food)



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.

First photo is the female, she has some but not as much, in the photo with 2 fish, the male on the left, he is the one with all nasty holes, he getting very dark, only brighter as greeting me.

IMG_4446.jpg
IMG_4451.jpg
IMG_4454.jpg
IMG_4456.jpg
IMG_4467.jpg
IMG_4475.jpg

[brewmaster15]

Harry,
They look pretty good to me. The holes you are seeing are naturally occuring pits on the face of the discus. Yours for the most part are not something to be too worried about at this point, but often they indicate water quality issues or possibly mineral deficiencies when they start to enlarge. I see you do 80% 2x a week. I would try upping the frequency. Also measure your nitrates just before your water change. You mentioned a value of 10 for nitrates, but honestly thats not too likely with 80 % water changes every couple of days in a moderately stocked tank unless you have it well planted.


hth,
al

[HarryDk]

Thanks al, I always test nitrate before wc, using API test, colour is just slightly orange, not close to 20. A month ago this tank is overstocked with another 5x 4.5" growing discus which ate alot and double that nitrate count. I sold them because I can not do more water change during winter, thus aging 400L of water and match temp in winter twice a week is a big job lol . I know more water change is better but is it really bad if nitrate reach closer to 20? I may throw in some pothos down the sump lol.
This is where I start to think about bacterial infection, where I have no experience dealing with. The fish still dark, those holes look like they are increasing, most of the good medication is hard to get in Australia (whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?) I got my hand on a broad spectrum antibiotic called Aquari-cycline from Blue planet, contain Tetracycline Hydrochloride. But I always nervous when it come to antibiotic ..

What should I do to improve overall mineral issue? Water here is neutral, great for drinking but they have almost nothing in there, I do add some magnesium, calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate (we have zero KH/GH out of tap), what are the other mineral supplement would you recommend? Because I also agree that mineral deficiency is a problem with this tank (they got fed some good dried food, may not be enough?), they have never look 100% satisfy even after good water change. Always have some scratchier there and then. May be paranoid but frankly im worry -.-

[brewmaster15]

I would not use the tetracycline on these guys Harry....its not really effective as an aquarium antibiotic... and you aren't probably there. If get to that point, I would use something like Furan 2... this AUSSIE EBay sellers has it... http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/API-PRO-T...-/281319281266



What foods do you feed?

20 ppm nitrates is not generally considered dangerous for fish, but mine and others experience is they do better in less... But its probably something that is affected by pH and hardness ...who knows.. Pothos is not a bad idea. I would be concerned if the pits are enlarging , generally what often happens is they will become infected by bacteria and then that inflames them more. One thing you can do is swab the large ones with hydrogen peroxide. If you do they should start to close up.

If you have access to a copper and Iron test kit, I would also test for those...There may be a link.


al

[HarryDk]

Just try the peroxide today, he very pissed about it but I hope it will help him lol. Will get the iron/copper test soon .... I shall give him a week or so to see if he get better before try antibiotic. He still bully the rest of the tank even with his ugly face . I may be able to get kanamycin/kanaplex, do you think it would work as well as furan 2?
THanks

[HarryDk]

, wake up today and the one received peroxide swab having white spots all over him. Look like ich, should i dose the hole tank to treat white spot now? im getting paranoid