Is that gill flukes, need advise

[Naveedk]

I bought these discus a month ago.
One of the fish is breathing heavily with one gill clamped. Gill plate has a vertical cut and there is red spot near mouth and is not eating. A couple more fish has that vertical cut in middle of gill, they are eating though.

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 week ago.


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).

Some stress bars, not eating, one gill clamped, somewhat hiding.

One gill clamped, breathing heavily.

Naturally there is a vertical line in gill plate, now that line is converted into a cut. Now when it breathe its like two gill disks moving. Does not look good.


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

Salt bath today, still no use.

Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.

75 gallons. 15, 2”-3” fish.


5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).

Daily 50%


6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?

Tank running for around 3 months. Sand substrate. 1 inch deep.

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.

I do not age water, add from tap match temperature and use prime.

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 F

- ph 7.2

- ammonia reading 0

- nitrite reading 0

- nitrate reading 5 ppm

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.

- municipal 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.

3 times a day. Freeze dries black worms, San Francisco bay beef heart.


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.

Fish with problem


Fish with cut in gills but eating and moving happily

[Tuterosso]

only if you check in microscope, cut a piece of gills and check

[Naveedk]

Ok. I mean anyone encountered similar problem? Maybe its not gill flukes but something else.
I am going to treat with prazipro though.
Anybody? Any suggestions? I need help. Thank you.

[Filip]

Never encountered a cut in half Gill so far Naveedk and it's hard to see the actual cut from those blurry photos .
Heavy breathing along with one Gill closed though is a common problem among discus and it may reffer to parasites / protozoas issues . Protozoas are treated with PP , FMG based meds or pronged heavy concentrated salth baths depending on their type - gull fluke , Oodinum , Ichtyo etc.
You can check if it's Gill flukes with PP bath. They will feel much better after a PP bath if they deal with Gill flukes. But it's a harsh and dangerous treatment that requires some experimenting and experience beforhand.
API quick cure is FMG based med. so you can count that as an option too.
Heavy concentrated Salt baths 1 TBS or 15 grams per gallon also may help eliviate the problem .

Sorry that I just threw options there instead of givving you a specific method to follow but we can not guess what may be the specific parasite without a microscope and a Gill srape sample , which is something that regular hobists like us arent equipped to do.

BTW . 50 % daily straight tap can be a big stressor on the long run because if the gasses / microbubbles And potential PH swings . Try finding a way to age at least half of your WC volume .

[Naveedk]

Filip thank you so much for advise. I will definitely look in to options you provided. But I am unable to find API quick cure, is it api quick cure or something else, I also ordered prazipro, can i use prazipro as well?

[sayid]

I have used PP at 2ppm concentration for 4 hours with a lot of success in IMO it is more effective that prazipro and much cheaper , you just have to stick to the procedure .

[Filip]

You can try the Prazi too Naveedk. It should aliviate the hard breathing symthoms if the problem is Gill flukes.

[Naveedk]

Thank you all for the help.

I gave saltbath on sunday and looks like it has recovered a bit because now it is swimming with other fish and good thing is it start eating. so hopefully it should be better soon.
But still I am gonna treat whole tank with prazipro to get rid of whatever cause this problem in first place.

[Mando]

Thank you all for the help.

I gave saltbath on sunday and looks like it has recovered a bit because now it is swimming with other fish and good thing is it start eating. so hopefully it should be better soon.
But still I am gonna treat whole tank with prazipro to get rid of whatever cause this problem in first place.

I'm so happy for your fish and the speedy recovery. If your fish healed this quickly, I would refrain from medicating. but I'm no expert.

Just incase he is not fully healed, can you move the affected fish to a QT tank for now to avoid spreading ? I would even do a second salt dip over adding meds.

[Paul Sabucchi]

Hopefully the fish are on the mend, on the offc-chance it should reoccur if it is caused by gill flukes (Gyrodactylys), these at the temperatures discus are kept can complete their life cycle in a week or even a little less so multiple treatments 4 days apart may be required

[Naveedk]

Thank you Mando and Paul. 2 other fish are getting dark, so I did a salt dip, one of the fish’s color faded after the dip, is that normal? (Though it got much better later on)
And yes I am gonna move them to quarantine. And continue main tank with prazipro treatment.

[Filip]

Thank you Mando and Paul. 2 other fish are getting dark, so I did a salt dip, one of the fish’s color faded after the dip, is that normal? (Though it got much better later on)
And yes I am gonna move them to quarantine. And continue main tank with prazipro treatment.

Salt and PP dips are harsh treatment that burns and strips their slime coat . It's normal for their colour to fade and occasional fin and eye burns can also be seen after a dip.
It's extremely important to put the fish in a new sterile enviroment after a dip , new QT tank or at least do a 90% WC on your current tank prior the dip because after the dip they are left deffenssles against any pathogens in the water .