Newbie Question...Possible sick fish

[DocJoe]

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them? New fish approximately 2 weeks old. Several have gotten very dark and have stopped eating for about a week now


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). Several Turning dark, very skittish, and not eating. Not noticing any fin damage or spots on the body. My pigeon bloods are peppering. Poop (when i see it) is either brown, or clear.


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment. None yet



Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
110 gal, cycled, 15 2.5" discus . No other fish. I have a black background and my gravel is a bit darker

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
30-50% daily with substrate cleaning every third day

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
Tank has been up for years, gravel bottom (2") with undergravel filter (2 powerheads) and a canister filter (filstar XL)

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
I do not age my water

8. Parameters and water source; Tested twice daily


- temp __87-87___

- ph __7.6-7.8___

- 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 _X___

- RO water ____


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
Only new fish are my discus

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.
Discus Hans flake at 3x/day...considering mixing up a beefheart recipe if they don't start eating


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.

[DocJoe]

I made a beefheart food and fed them yesterday. Today I am seeing this (see picture). Not sure if it's a result of fat content in the beefheart recipe, or parasites.
Any suggestions would be appreciated

white poo.jpg

[DocJoe]

I started the fish on API's General Cure last week Thursday. Today will be the last day of that treatment (i did three doses).

There is still some white/clear stringy poop from a few fish.

My question is this... do I switch to just Metro and continue treating until symptoms are gone, or switch to a different strategy?
fish poop.jpgfish poop.jpg

[White Worm]

Where to start....Gravel is a crap catcher with 15 discus and the food you feed. Under gravel filter is crap catcher. You are not changing enough water nor are you cleaning the gravel enough. You are not gonna like this but young discus need different conditions than what you have. If you emptied half of that gravel, I bet you would be surprised at how much junk is in that tank. This tank has been up and running for years and you added discus? What was in there for years? Probably a lot of junk. You need to start with a bare bottom tank with 50% or more daily water changes with young discus. And then, yes, straight metro would be the medication to use for internal bacterial infections. Get rid of the dark background and dark substrate and provide lots of clean water to start with. General cure has metro and prazi (which is for external irritants).

[DocJoe]

Thank you for the response. I will start pulling gravel tonight with my water change. Will do some gravel with each change so I don't disturb things too much.
Should be able to remove the undergravel by this weekend.
As far as a background, my wall is ugly behind the tank, any suggestions on that would be kindly appreciated!

[White Worm]

Do large water change after you disturb the gravel. There are many things you can do to cover the back of the tank. i used a plastic light panel, painted the back a khacki color and secured it with hot glue. You could just paint the back glass a light color also. If you want some substrate, think about using a light colored sand. Driftwood and potted plants can be added.

[Ryan925]

Thank you for the response. I will start pulling gravel tonight with my water change. Will do some gravel with each change so I don't disturb things too much.
Should be able to remove the undergravel by this weekend.
As far as a background, my wall is ugly behind the tank, any suggestions on that would be kindly appreciated!

I've experimented with different background colors on my tank using thin plastic sheets from tap plastics. They look like a plastic poster board. You can cut to size and slide it between the upper and lower rims of your tank without having to move tank away from the wall. They come in a variety of colors and are cheap

Agreed about the gravel especially with fish of that size. It's a tough pill to swallow but if you want to be successful it's your best bet. I went from black gravel to white sand and difference in appearance of fish was night and day.

I used to deep vac every other day and was astonished at how much crap was in there way I removed it. That was only after a few months could only imagine what it's like after years.

I removed my fish and put them in a plastic tote with heater and airstone during the process.

[DocJoe]

I took out 90% of the gravel so far and removed the under gravel filter and power heads. Doing 50% water changes 3 x/day till the dust settles from disturbing the gravel. I also removed the black background.

My canister filter is rated for up to 195 gallons, but and now thinking that i'm going to get another one just to really filter the water. I'd rather have more filtration then not enough.

Still trying to decide on a background for the tank, and the suggestions are much appreciated!

[Ryan925]

I took out 90% of the gravel so far and removed the under gravel filter and power heads. Doing 50% water changes 3 x/day till the dust settles from disturbing the gravel. I also removed the black background.

My canister filter is rated for up to 195 gallons, but and now thinking that i'm going to get another one just to really filter the water. I'd rather have more filtration then not enough.

Still trying to decide on a background for the tank, and the suggestions are much appreciated!

Pretty dirty right? Now you see why gravel isn't recommended. You made the right choice. Keep up with those wcs in the meantime

[DocJoe]

Gravel and undergravel filter system has been out for 4 days now! Getting a pretty significant bacterial bloom now. Hopefully it subsides in the next day or two.
I did add an additional canister filter on Saturday.