Bad quarantine problem

[Adam_Parker]

Hey guys I guess I didn't plan for this well, but I've got 10 discus at the moment. 9 4" and bigger in my 125 and 1 2.5-3"in a 20g quarantine. The little guy is doing great and eating well. It's been in qt for 3 weeks with no signs of sickness. In fact I've never had a discus eat so well.

Came home yesterday to one of my Alpha Blues nearly black. Every other discus is fine, eating eagerly. I've done 2 water changes since and it's still black and not eating. It's been doing this for a few days. I saw it pick at food and flare up to other discus but it's all of a sudden looking bad.

So I'm wondering if I should go ahead and move the small discus to the big tank and get the sick alpha blue to qt to try and fix him? I dont have anything else equipment wise to set up.

Bad situation but thought I'd see if going ahead and switching them would be fine.

[Phillydubs]

Anyone would need more info to help you Adam... A good start would be to fill out the disease form...

A few things come to mind for me. How long are the others in qt, the same 3 weeks?

How long have you had the first 9? Were they all added at once or mixed different with no qt?

Are you opposed to possibly treating your entire 125, good chance if one is showing signs others may. Taking out the 1 bad one adding new ones may help the bad one, may not, but I think you'd do more harm and have more issues this route.

No other of the 9 show bad signs but this one?

Others can chime in but I think it may be best to deal w the entire 125, or drain it half down and possible treat, or even try some salt to start.

[Adam_Parker]

I'll fill out the form later but off the top of my head:
Ph 7.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate between 5 and 10
Temp 82
Water changes of 80% once or twice a week

I've got one discus in qt for 3 weeks. It's almost at 3 inches now.

This alpha blue was ordered from a breeder in Florida. They were a sponsor here, can't remember the name. I got 3 and they've been amazing up until this one has gotten seemingly very sick.

No other discus is showing a sign period of being sick. I was hoping since the new little guy is doing so well I could go ahead and move it to the 125, but being smaller I didn't know how that'd work. Then I could change water more in the 20 and medicate if needed.

I have loaches in the 125 also and I don't think they do well with meds?

[Phillydubs]

Ah, I see, I mis-read, thought there were more in QT as in a new shipment that you were keeping separate and beefing up for the 125...

Hmm, so how were the other 9 purchased? You had 6 then got the 3 blues and added them with no qt?

My guess is, if you have been adding here and there, one of the new additions passed something along. Are you seeing white poop? clamped fins? some loaches don't do well with meds, but I recently treated with a variety of meds and have corries and pleccos and i only lost 1 smaller plecco in the process...

I guess you could try to move the little dude and use the other qt for the new sick one and go that route, but if another one in the main falls ill, I would consider meds for the main tank. You should really stay on top of water changes, sounds like it is back and forth with the consistency, I would shoot for every other day of 50 plus if possible

[Adam_Parker]

I've had these 9 for over a year now. Some for over 2 years. I got the 3 alpha blues almost 2 years ago now. They were from First Coast Discus. All 3 have done well. The others are from our lfs, one from The Wet Spot.

I had one from Hans that wasn't ever in good shape unfortunately. It died. Could have been from mixing Asian with German, but I never had any luck with that one.

The others have all done great. No signs of sickness or anything

Lately I haven't had time with work to do water changes of that much that often, so I do big ones every weekend and during the week if I can.

I think since the small guy is doing so well, I'll move it to the main tank and put the sick one in qt. I hope it works out well! Thanks for the assistance