Is this ich? Its been there for a while

[Prat B]

Can someone will tell me what this is? I have just two discus, a friend of mine gave them to be when he moved (and his whole tank). I've kept smaller fish like mollies and fighters very successfully before in planted tanks but never discus so I could really use some advice here. I've had these guys for two months now and I noticed the white dot on the blue turquoise (see in the picture just below his front dorsal fin) within a week of getting them and it hasn't spread or anything so I let it be but I noticed the other one (the red melon) has cloudy patches on her pectoral fins and specs on her body too. Both of them have been active playful eating well and seem quite happy. I can't tell whats going on. I've seen white spot on small fish but I can't tell what this is. My tank is 175 gallons and planted, also has driftwood. It has 3 clown loaches, 6 zebra danios, 2 dwarf gouramis, 3 serpae tetras and one plaeco. Its hot where I live so I am managing to keep the temp between 84 to 87. All other fish are healthy. I have two filters one sponge one with oxygen supply and one giant one (again given by friend) with sponge, carbon and ceramic. I clean them regularly. I haven't done regular wcs like I've been reading should be done because my friend didn't do it when he had them and they've grown with him for 2.5- 3 years and stayed healthy. I change 40% once a week which is more than what he did.

IMG_20180530_223243.jpgIMG_20180530_223209.jpgIMG_20180530_223303.jpg

[jmf3460]

It appears to me that this is not ich, one clue is that ich should not take place for long periods of time in a discus tank as the temperatures should be above 80 which ich does not do well in. Not saying its impossible but just ich isn't an issue most discus people deal with because of temperatures. On the fin looks bacterial, on the body of the spotted fish just looks like a pimple which can occur from unclean water. How often do you change water? What substrate if any? Salt will help both FYI

[brewmaster15]

Im wondering if you have the start of a protozoan infection (not ich)...maybe something like velvet which usually appears on the fins of discus and their eyes as a milky appearance at first. It maybe that because the tank is so large volume wise its progressing Slowly.When you got the discus did they come with the non-discus in the tank or were those added? Did you add anything like plants?
al

[Prat B]

Hey thanks for the quick response. I change about 30% in a week. Tank has sand at the bottom.

[Prat B]

I did add plants and the danios and tetras

[Prat B]

Im wondering if you have the start of a protozoan infection (not ich)...maybe something like velvet which usually appears on the fins of discus and their eyes as a milky appearance at first. It maybe that because the tank is so large volume wise its progressing Slowly.When you got the discus did they come with the non-discus in the tank or were those added? Did you add anything like plants?
al

I did add plants and also the danios and tetras

[Prat B]

It appears to me that this is not ich, one clue is that ich should not take place for long periods of time in a discus tank as the temperatures should be above 80 which ich does not do well in. Not saying its impossible but just ich isn't an issue most discus people deal with because of temperatures. On the fin looks bacterial, on the body of the spotted fish just looks like a pimple which can occur from unclean water. How often do you change water? What substrate if any? Salt will help both FYI

Hey thanks for the quick response. I change about 30% in a week. Tank has sand at the bottom.

[brewmaster15]

If you can move the discus to a hospital tank and try treating with sea chems paraguard....
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...azOJilBbDFGoSQ

or fmg(formalin + malachite green) Itd be a good option. If the fish recover then you will have to treat the whole tank. You may have introduced a parasite.

You should also try bumping up that water change amount and frequency... that alone could fix this if its not parasites and maybe something you could try before the med route.
hth,
Al

[Prat B]

If you can move the discus to a hospital tank and try treating with sea chems paraguard....
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...azOJilBbDFGoSQ

or fmg(formalin + malachite green) Itd be a good option. If the fish recover then you will have to treat the whole tank. You may have introduced a parasite.

You should also try bumping up that water change amount and frequency... that alone could fix this if its not parasites and maybe something you could try before the med route.
hth,
Al

I have planned 50% daily wcs. I started yesterday and will do this for a week and see. I'll post here on how things go and if they develop any new symptoms. Hoping for the best since I don't have a hospital tank but I will buy one if things get worse. Thanks a lot for the help.

[Prat B]

I have been doing daily water changes and her fins look much better. They seem to be healing and the cloudy patches have reduced. But her body still has these little white spots and I noticed ruptures in her slime layer. But just yesterday I found something shocking... I caught my common pleco (I had just got him couple of weeks back. He's about 4 inches in size) chasing her trying to attach to her body. I immediately returned him to the pet store. I've done some reading since but I'm still unsure how I should go about nursing her. She still has a great appetite though and like I said her fins are healing. I'll post a picture here soon. If anyone could advice on how to get her back to optimum health?