Need help with sick discus please

[Deman]

IMG_3953.jpgDefault 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


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?
A couple of the younger discus started exhibiting unhealthy behaviour a few days ago. One turned very dark and it and another one started hiding in the rear of tank. They didn't seem interested in joining the rest at the front of tank during feeding time. Now a few others are just starting to exhibit somewhat off behaviour.


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).
Last week I noticed ick looking spots on a couple of them and treated with Marineland Ick Remedy which seemed to clear up the issue. Now I'm seeing the behaviour noted above which has now affected about half the discus in that tank. Some are turning dark, some are hiding in the back with clamped fins. I have noticed some have some white inside the mouth and my male Red Dragon breeder seems to have quite a bit of fuzzy white stuff on his gills and he is breathing fairly hard and has darkened somewhat in the last few hours. Some others may also have similar gill issues.


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
As noted I treated for Ick last week and they all seemed fine till the last couple of days.
Yesterday I did a 90% water change and added bifuran to the tank using about 75% of the recommended dose. The sickest discus seemed to recover a little bit but then others deteriorated today. I just did another 90% water change but added nothing this time



Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
75 gallon. Five larger discus that are roughly 1.5 years old varying from 6 or 7" down to 3" or so. I also moved five younger discus into that tank a month or so ago. They are 2 to 4" and are roughly 7 months old. There are also two bristle nose algae eaters and a couple of corys and 11 neon tetras. I added 9 of the neons two weeks ago.


5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
90% at least once a week


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 running for a year and a half or so and is bare bottom

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
No. I am blessed with water from a aquifer that comes out of the tap at 6.2 to 6.5 and less that 50 PPMs


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 ____6.7_

- ammonia reading ___0_

- nitrite reading ___0_

- nitrate reading ___0_

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.
9 neon tetras


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.
I feed them beef heart that I made, tetra crisps, blood worms and freeze dried black worms. I feed three to five times a day and vary the food. Mostly they get beef heart recipe and tetra crisps with the worms added to menu a couple times a week



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.
Last edited by brewmaster15; 01-27-2017 at 04:43 PM. Reason: Added food question
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[Deman]

Ok.
Now I'm seeing much more of the fuzzy gill issue with more suffering. Some are getting that skinny head look and others are darkening and hiding in the rear of tank. Most are still eating still.
What are steps I can take to turn this around? Is it gill flukes or some sort of bacterial disease?
I'll add a couple short videos once I figure out how to convert iPhone videos to jpeg

[Ryan925]

Did you qt new fish? Where are they from?

[Deman]

The new neons came from my local fish store. I have bought many fish from him with no issues in the past, and they all look fine. Just the discus have issues
Does BiFuran cure whatever they seem to have ?
I do however quarantine new discus before adding them.

[bluelagoon]

I'm not sure what disease the neons brought in but if it's bacterial,the furan II/Bifarin should work.Just turn off the lights while the week or so treatment takes place.Temp no higher than 82 degrees.You need to keep new fish separated for a least 4 weeks at least before adding with other fish;for the more common diseases.Other disease like worms or flukes might take longer to notice.

[Kyla]

Just a couple points to consider:

- you need to do much more frequent large water changes with that many fish in a 75gal tank or you will keep having problems
- your nitrate tester is not working if it shows 0 nitrate, if it is the liquid kit try smashing the base of the bottle on a table top multiple times and retesting
- you must quarantine any fish going into a discus tank, the longer the better
- mixing large and small discus can cause issues with aggression, watch for this

I won't recommend meds, but if it were my tank I would be doing daily wc, not weekly

[bluelagoon]

Just a couple points to consider:

- you need to do much more frequent large water changes with that many fish in a 75gal tank or you will keep having problems
- your nitrate tester is not working if it shows 0 nitrate, if it is the liquid kit try smashing the base of the bottle on a table top multiple times and retesting
- you must quarantine any fish going into a discus tank, the longer the better
- mixing large and small discus can cause issues with aggression, watch for this

I won't recommend meds, but if it were my tank I would be doing daily wc, not weekly

+ 1 and Tap water from municipalities should always be greater than 7 ph due to corrosion to pipes;many use sodium carbonate.
Always use the recommended dosage not part of.
If you see a lot of gassing off(micro bubbles)during that big of a WC from the tap you'll need to age your water.

[Ryan925]

Just a couple points to consider:

- you need to do much more frequent large water changes with that many fish in a 75gal tank or you will keep having problems
- your nitrate tester is not working if it shows 0 nitrate, if it is the liquid kit try smashing the base of the bottle on a table top multiple times and retesting
- you must quarantine any fish going into a discus tank, the longer the better
- mixing large and small discus can cause issues with aggression, watch for this

I won't recommend meds, but if it were my tank I would be doing daily wc, not weekly

+1 weekly wc is recipe for disaster. I do about 80% wc every other day in my 75

[Deman]

Update...
I used BiFuran and Metro+ together as suggested by the fish guy in my pet store and a few days later they all looked fine again. I may have stopped treatment too early as whatever their issue is has returned and I lost my first discus today. I have done water change and re treated with the same combination and plan on treating them for a longer period
Yes I have too many fish in that tank. I was moving a few around between my two 75 gal discus tanks when a pair started spawning so I stopped. Then the tank with too many in it went sour so I couldn't move more into the other tank

[Deman]

Another update.
Another 80% water change then another dose of BiFuran and metro + to almost the dosage recommended. This stressed almost all (especially the younger ones) of them dramatically. The two smallest looked close to death. They went almost colourless and went mouth up near the surface. I immediately did a 50% water change to dilute the medications and they perc'd up somewhat. Hoping they look better in AM