Parasite fish not eating.

[Nazareth4]

Default Disease Questionnaire - please complete


Please complete this questionnaire if your fish are sick (copy and paste). The more details you can provide, the better we are able to diagnose and help you treat your sick fish.

DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE
Thanks for any help you can give. Looking for another type of treatment since what I have done has not worked. Questionnaire below.

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?

I saw what looked like a pimple or several on fishes head. After a day or two it looked like worms hanging from the side of his head

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).

Had the white zits and fish wasn't eating

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

I tried general cure. Went through the four day treatment. White zits or parasites went away. Fish started eating. About a week later zits,returned. Did the treatment again they disappeared again and fish was eating well. A few weeks later fish stopped eating. After about a week zits returned. I've since tried the general cure again. Still have one small white spot fish still not eating.


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
Tank has been running almost three years. I have four discus only. No other fish Discus are four to six inches. Fish in question I have had for about 18 months

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
I had six fish at one time one has since died several months ago (stopped eating)and one got spooked hit its head and died. I was doing daily water changes when I had six fish in only a 55 So I have kept doing daily water changes about 33%
6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
Tank running almost three years It is bare bottom.

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

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 __84___

- ph __6.6___

- ammonia reading _0___

- nitrite reading _0___

- nitrate reading _less than 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.
No

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.

Mostly blackworms from Al. Feed twice a day. Also feed black worm flakes and frozen bloodworms. I think a parasite came in from the bloodworms. Have since stopped feeding blood worms.

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.

[Filip]

Please try to upload photos or videos of the affected area Nazareth .
Maybe its just hole in the head what your discus is experiencing . The worm looking pieces might just be skin detachments hanging from the head.
The fact that it respond so quick on Metronidazole also drives me to belive that its HITH related.
I would try another treat with Metronidazole but this time perform the treatment to at least 10 days . Raise the temp. To 92 F for the length of the treatment and change a lot of water daily (70 % )prior every redosing .
But please upload pics before you start any treatment for us to try and confirm anything solid .

[Nazareth4]

IMG__201710300__124747.jpg

Thanks Filip for your response I hope the pictures post properly. This is the first time I have tried to post pictures. You can see there are three holes visible sort of and one white spot. This is after the current bout with this. The holes from the last time a few weeks ago healed. Last time there was no white left after the treatment. The white things I saw looked like worms sticking out. Doesn't look like that now. Picture is upside down but it shows the problem.

[Filip]

I do think that this holes in the pictire are minor , first phase HITH disease . Holes/ wounds from the HITH regularly gets infected with fungus and oportunistic bacteria and that's propably what the white dot on the first hole is .
Never seen or had experience with any worms protruding from the discus head or holes though.

I would start a longer 10-14 days Metro treat followed by an elevated temps and overall maintenance - WCs , cleanups and all TLC needed .
Aim for 400-500 mg of Metronidazole for every 10 gallons water .

Good luck Nazareth .

[Nazareth4]

Thanks again Filip. There was four white spots with what looked like a string or worm hanging out before the treatment. After the treatment the white was gone and I could see the holes. All the local stores here have is API general cure. I will go with that for 10 days. I don’t have a quarantine tank. Any issues with treating the tank and the other three fish for that period?
Thanks again for your help

[Filip]

Thanks again Filip. There was four white spots with what looked like a string or worm hanging out before the treatment. After the treatment the white was gone and I could see the holes. All the local stores here have is API general cure. I will go with that for 10 days. I don’t have a quarantine tank. Any issues with treating the tank and the other three fish for that period?
Thanks again for your help

No issues with the rest of your discus .
Metro is not a harsh medicine and it won't hurt the rest of your discus .