Can someone kindly ID this disease and course of action? *PICS

[lnky]

Would anybody be able to plan a course of action for me? I added 5 new discus to my pair. One of the new ones showed signs the next day (white film). Introduced salt and he appeared to get better a week later (colors still dull however film has greatly subsided). However, now the older 2 I had have that same film along with clamped fins, flashing, I catch them swimming with one fin, and hide more often. I have increased my water changes to 30% daily and raised temps to 85F. Should I wait it out like I did with the new fish or should I introduce meds? None of the others are nor have showed any symptoms (4 of the 7). Thanks!


I assume I can't attach photos because of my post count. You can see the excess film here: https://imgur.com/a/yUepq

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?
Introduced 5 new discus to my tank of 2 from a reputable dealer here. Didn't QT *DOH! One of the new ones developed it the next day. 2 weeks later, my original 2 has developed it.

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).
White film. Flashing. Sometimes notice white poo - not sure who it is coming from. Clamped fins. Sometimes only using one fin to swim. Less active than normal. Still eat time to time.

3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
Raised heat to 85F. Salt.


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
90 Gallon. 7 Discus. 4-6 Inches.

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
Routine 50% 2x a week. Ever since the symptoms started I have been doing 30% daily.

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
2 months bb. Filtration (two sponge & eheim established from 3 year old tank.)

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
24 hour aged, heated, and aerated 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 85. Remaining parameters TBD



9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
5 New 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.
Omega Discus Flakes morning/noon. Frozen Beef Heart or Freeze Dried BW at night.

[jmf3460]

Welcome to the forum Inky. A thick white film sounds like either a fungus in which salt will help, so will upping your water changes to 50% or more a day. Or it could be the shedding of their slime coat as a result of some type of irritant. When a foreign chemical is added to the water column, often times discus will shed their slime coat. For example many medications cause discus to shed their slime coat, other times a ph or nitrate burn will cause them to shed their slime coats.

Can you get any pictures of your fish? Can you prepare to do a salt bath for the affected fish should we determine its fungal? A good medication to have on hand for fungal breakouts is quick cure. Its a malachite green + formalin medication, it is strong so don't go dumping it into your tank just yet. Lets figure out what you've got going on first, pictures will help us a lot.,

[lnky]

Hi Jacklyn. Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure why I can't attach photos (possibly because of my post count). Does this link for my photos work? https://imgur.com/a/yUepq

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Inky and welcome to the forum. What you are seeing is shedding of the slime coat as Jacklyn mentioned and is common when adding two groups of fish together. I would not raise the temp but ease it back down to it's original temp. Jacklyn's suggestion of increasing your water changes to 50% is a great idea and you could try this for a couple days to see if the fish resuming it's normal appearance. Please report back on how things are going.
Pat

[jmf3460]

+1 for pat's advice above, and I agree that its slime coat shedding. Upping your water changes will help them through this natural process. If it were me, I would continue to add salt to the tank with water changes, one tablespoon per 10 gallons, this will aid them in the slime coat rebuilding process and it is totally optional.

[lnky]

Hi Inky and welcome to the forum. What you are seeing is shedding of the slime coat as Jacklyn mentioned and is common when adding two groups of fish together. I would not raise the temp but ease it back down to it's original temp. Jacklyn's suggestion of increasing your water changes to 50% is a great idea and you could try this for a couple days to see if the fish resuming it's normal appearance. Please report back on how things are going.
Pat

Thanks, Pat! I'll do as you suggested and keep the thread updated. I was worried it might be something very serious.

[lnky]

+1 for pat's advice above, and I agree that its slime coat shedding. Upping your water changes will help them through this natural process. If it were me, I would continue to add salt to the tank with water changes, one tablespoon per 10 gallons, this will aid them in the slime coat rebuilding process and it is totally optional.

Excellent and thanks!!!

[lnky]

+1 for pat's advice above, and I agree that its slime coat shedding. Upping your water changes will help them through this natural process. If it were me, I would continue to add salt to the tank with water changes, one tablespoon per 10 gallons, this will aid them in the slime coat rebuilding process and it is totally optional.

They're doing much better w/ the 50% Daily WC + salt. Thanks for the help!

[lnky]

Hi Inky and welcome to the forum. What you are seeing is shedding of the slime coat as Jacklyn mentioned and is common when adding two groups of fish together. I would not raise the temp but ease it back down to it's original temp. Jacklyn's suggestion of increasing your water changes to 50% is a great idea and you could try this for a couple days to see if the fish resuming it's normal appearance. Please report back on how things are going.
Pat

They're doing much better w/ the 50% Daily WC + salt. Will drop back down to 2x weekly WC once they get adjusted. Thanks for the help!

[jmf3460]

OP I would keep up with at least 4 times weekly water changes until everyone is 5+ inches or more.

[Willie]

And add a quarantine tank to your fishroom...

Willie