Is this cross contamination dragging on?

[scuba nat]

Hi all, Let me give you my tank stats:
125 gallon
fluval fx6
9 adult Discus currently
85F
85% water change twice a week
ph:8.2
nitrates: 25ppm
nitrites and ammonia: 0ppm

So back in January I used to have community fish (some angels, a bichir, gourami) , I wanted to get into discus So I read up on it and bought 6 discus from a lady off of craigslist (they were ok quality, definitely not stunted or football shape), acclimated them and then transferred them in.( 1st mistake)(obviously I did not research enough)
After a few weeks, 2 died, my conclusion was that they died from stress (did not eat because of bad tank mates).

I bought 2 new Red turqs from a reputable source ( Discus Madness, NJ).
Did not quarantine and threw them in. (2nd mistake)
One died after a few weeks (stopped eating, stress killed him probably because I still had my senegal bichir around)

Fast forward to late march. I removed all community fish from the tank resulting in 5 discus (1 from the reputable store and the rest from craigslist lady)
Every one was eating and super happy (because I got rid of the community fish).

April: I bought 6 large adult discus, (I did not quarantine them, only acclimated and put them in)(third mistake)
Everyone was super happy at this point because they were in a large shoal.
Everyone was eating and super happy.

At this point I realized the error of my ways, I was expecting cross contamination to hit at some point.

Late may: the one red turq began eating and then quickly going into a corner and turning dark; then he stopped eating at week 2 and began pooping pinkish gunky poo (maybe hexamita?), I waited a week until moving him to a hospital (4th mistake).
I moved him to QT and treated with API general cure with 88F temperature, he started swimming face down but it looks like I treated him too late and he died a few days ago.
Bought 11 neon tetras form petsmart and added them also (5th mistake)

My question is now about one of the fish I had from craigslist lady, It was the boss of the tank and super happy and eating until it stopped 1 month ago. It hangs out with the group sometimes but mostly keeps to himself. I havent seen any poop, no clamped fins (except for dorsal and ventral fins a bit), no color change at all, no cloudy eye.

Is this cross contamination still showing its face? And what should I treat him with?
I really want to never make this mistake again, I've moved him to a 10 gallon hospital tank (heater and HOB filter only) and I'm going to purchase a separate 20 gallon QT tank (with sponge filter) soon.

also added 11 neon tetras form petsmart and added them also last week (5th mistake, IDK what I was thinking!! )

[Ryan925]

Hi all, Let me give you my tank stats:
125 gallon
fluval fx6
9 adult Discus currently
85F
85% water change twice a week
ph:8.2
nitrates: 25ppm
nitrites and ammonia: 0ppm

So back in January I used to have community fish (some angels, a bichir, gourami) , I wanted to get into discus So I read up on it and bought 6 discus from a lady off of craigslist (they were ok quality, definitely not stunted or football shape), acclimated them and then transferred them in.( 1st mistake)(obviously I did not research enough)
After a few weeks, 2 died, my conclusion was that they died from stress (did not eat because of bad tank mates).

I bought 2 new Red turqs from a reputable source ( Discus Madness, NJ).
Did not quarantine and threw them in. (2nd mistake)
One died after a few weeks (stopped eating, stress killed him probably because I still had my senegal bichir around)

Fast forward to late march. I removed all community fish from the tank resulting in 5 discus (1 from the reputable store and the rest from craigslist lady)
Every one was eating and super happy (because I got rid of the community fish).

April: I bought 6 large adult discus, (I did not quarantine them, only acclimated and put them in)(third mistake)
Everyone was super happy at this point because they were in a large shoal.
Everyone was eating and super happy.

At this point I realized the error of my ways, I was expecting cross contamination to hit at some point.

Late may: the one red turq began eating and then quickly going into a corner and turning dark; then he stopped eating at week 2 and began pooping pinkish gunky poo (maybe hexamita?), I waited a week until moving him to a hospital (4th mistake).
I moved him to QT and treated with API general cure with 88F temperature, he started swimming face down but it looks like I treated him too late and he died a few days ago.
Bought 11 neon tetras form petsmart and added them also (5th mistake)

My question is now about one of the fish I had from craigslist lady, It was the boss of the tank and super happy and eating until it stopped 1 month ago. It hangs out with the group sometimes but mostly keeps to himself. I havent seen any poop, no clamped fins (except for dorsal and ventral fins a bit), no color change at all, no cloudy eye.

Is this cross contamination still showing its face? And what should I treat him with?
I really want to never make this mistake again, I've moved him to a 10 gallon hospital tank (heater and HOB filter only) and I'm going to purchase a separate 20 gallon QT tank (with sponge filter) soon.

also added 11 neon tetras form petsmart and added them also last week (5th mistake, IDK what I was thinking!! )

You have so many things going on here you probably are best starting over. There is no way to pinpoint the trouble since you have introduced new fish so many times.

Maybe someone can help but that's just imho

(editted)

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi guys, lets bring this back on topic

Hi Natalia, I sort of agree with Ryan that starting over might be a good idea or you could stop with introducing any new fish and let things settle. Simply do daily WC and see how the fish progress. Nitrates of 25 is a bit high for discus, try below 10 as a target. Also please take this time to learn about discus if that is where you passion lies. Watch this video in the first post of this thread http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...CH-THIS-VIDEO! as a starting point.
Pat

[scuba nat]

Thank you pat for your advice !

[scuba nat]

Thanks Ryan for your advice

I have a big mess to clean up !

[Ryan925]

Thanks Ryan for your advice

I have a big mess to clean up !

Just use this as a learning experience Nat. It happens all too often here. I know it's tough to make an investment and get attached then have such a failure.

Do your homework and get fish from a reputable source. Sponsor section here is your best bet I know I have made mistakes but I definitely feel the quality of the fish I got from Kenny has helped me to be successful despite mistakes

If you are going to try again you definitely will need to be dedicated to better maintenance. Twice per week water changes will only result in troubles again

[brewmaster15]

I'm only going to make this statement once. This is the"emergency room" of the Forum. Its a section where we have guidelines in place that restrict members from posting their advice until they have sufficient experience to really help members in need. With that goes the responsibility for members that are approved to post in this section to do so professionally and courteously with the intent to help. If a member does not want to do that or can not than they should not post at all or they will loose access to this section and possibly the Forum.

I have edited out the BS here and do not expect to see more of it.

Thank you,
Al.

[brewmaster15]

Hi all, Let me give you my tank stats:
125 gallon
fluval fx6
9 adult Discus currently
85F
85% water change twice a week
ph:8.2
nitrates: 25ppm
nitrites and ammonia: 0ppm

So back in January I used to have community fish (some angels, a bichir, gourami) , I wanted to get into discus So I read up on it and bought 6 discus from a lady off of craigslist (they were ok quality, definitely not stunted or football shape), acclimated them and then transferred them in.( 1st mistake)(obviously I did not research enough)
After a few weeks, 2 died, my conclusion was that they died from stress (did not eat because of bad tank mates).

I bought 2 new Red turqs from a reputable source ( Discus Madness, NJ).
Did not quarantine and threw them in. (2nd mistake)
One died after a few weeks (stopped eating, stress killed him probably because I still had my senegal bichir around)

Fast forward to late march. I removed all community fish from the tank resulting in 5 discus (1 from the reputable store and the rest from craigslist lady)
Every one was eating and super happy (because I got rid of the community fish).

April: I bought 6 large adult discus, (I did not quarantine them, only acclimated and put them in)(third mistake)
Everyone was super happy at this point because they were in a large shoal.
Everyone was eating and super happy.

At this point I realized the error of my ways, I was expecting cross contamination to hit at some point.

Late may: the one red turq began eating and then quickly going into a corner and turning dark; then he stopped eating at week 2 and began pooping pinkish gunky poo (maybe hexamita?), I waited a week until moving him to a hospital (4th mistake).
I moved him to QT and treated with API general cure with 88F temperature, he started swimming face down but it looks like I treated him too late and he died a few days ago.
Bought 11 neon tetras form petsmart and added them also (5th mistake)

My question is now about one of the fish I had from craigslist lady, It was the boss of the tank and super happy and eating until it stopped 1 month ago. It hangs out with the group sometimes but mostly keeps to himself. I havent seen any poop, no clamped fins (except for dorsal and ventral fins a bit), no color change at all, no cloudy eye.

Is this cross contamination still showing its face? And what should I treat him with?
I really want to never make this mistake again, I've moved him to a 10 gallon hospital tank (heater and HOB filter only) and I'm going to purchase a separate 20 gallon QT tank (with sponge filter) soon.

also added 11 neon tetras form petsmart and added them also last week (5th mistake, IDK what I was thinking!! )

Okay so lets start at the beginning here.... No more additions until you have a quarantine tank. The root of all your mistakes is that you are perpetually adding fish without quarantining and with out carefully researching your suppliers. Cross contamination happens the moment you add fish but that doesn't mean your current issues came from that... They could have been just waiting for the opportunity to take hold. You really want to stop with additions unless you Quarantine your fish a min. 4 weeks...preferably 6. Also stop adding fish from Petsmart type stores.

Please post some photos of your 125 gal tank and its occupants, as well as the sick fish in the 10 gal. We need to see what we are up against here.

Thanks,
al

[scuba nat]

4E897E9D-7780-46C6-8E4C-F7184F8690DC.jpg

[scuba nat]

The one I am treating is a pigeon. started treating with API general cure yesterday.

[scuba nat]

It is not letting me post a picture of the pigeon. Maybe the file is too big?

Well he is quite thin, I think it is wasting fish disease as indicated on the API general cure box.

This morning it looks like he is not clamped up as much, that is a good sign.

[RogueDiscus]

Pics need to be 2 MB or less. You might try to resize it.

[scuba nat]

IMG_4480.jpg

[scuba nat]

His color is still good, stopped clamping his ventral fins a bit. I've been using API general cure this week.

He is still not eating.
help

[RogueDiscus]

Hi Natalia,
I'm no expert on diseases, so I won't try to go there. Your descriptions of what you did are good, but I think most of what you stated as the reasons were assumptions that may not be true. Is the PB the only fish showing symptoms? Can you tell us more about your water change routine, sand cleaning? How are your parameters now? Are you still medicating?