2 headstanding discus

[armorex]

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?
About 2 months ago one of the discus started headstanding. There was a little bloated area close to the tail fin so i cut back on the food but it didn't resolve. After that another one started headstanding as well. They both eat aggressively and are active and show no signs of disease. But they headstand when they 'idle'. It's been 2 months now. Included a video at the end.

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).
One of them has bloating. Nothing else

3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
Decreased food intake now back to normal


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
4 x 1.5 x 1.5 feet

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
2 times per week 20-30%

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
1 year. Playsand 1 inch

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

8. Parameters and water source;
Tap
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 _____ 32C

- ph _____ 7.5-8.0

- ammonia reading ____ 0

- nitrite reading ____ 0

- nitrate reading ____ 5 -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.
No. There are two small german blue ram

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.
DIY beef heart spinach mix


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.

http://www.videosprout.com/video?id=...d-ea0da0bb2b40

[bluelagoon]

The PB looks like it may be a swim bladder issue due to swelling in that area.Not that the temp has anything to do with the issue but it can be lowered a few degrees.Do you notice any false pearling(gas bubbles)after a WC?

[armorex]

No bubbles seen. It is a continuous water change system which i turn on only 2 times per week. I have kept the water change rate really slow. Takes around 3-4 hours for 30% water change. How can this swim bladder problem be addressed?

[jmf3460]

looks like swim bladder problem due to bloat, I can see the bloating in the belly of the PB. Add salt at one tablespoon per 10 gallon promptly. You can safely double this dose as well.

[bluelagoon]

And make it epsom salt (magnesium)not sodium chloride.I have treated for blockage of swim bladder before;sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.It works best if you can do it as soon as it begins and not wait on treatment.These were my findings when I encountered this issue.

[armorex]

It's the third day now since epsom salt treatment. One of the members advised me to start doing large water changes around 80%, i'll see if that helps.