That is a pic of the same fish from today. Here is one of our older, larger striped discus that was added three weeks prior to Patient 0 (our original sick fish).
0-4.jpg
That is another discus that just today began to act strange and developing this strange white coloration at the edge of his fins. All the fish with similar infections swim away from the other fish, sometimes parallel to the floor of the tank, and will sporadically undulate their tails with fine fibrillations, almost as if they are trying to rid their tail of the infestation.
This is the entire tank: 0-7.jpg
Any kind of salt will work, Jeep's is just the cheapest but how long will it take for you to use 40 lbs. of salt? When I need salt I just use normal table salt.
Dump the UV filter. You'll be throwing your money away.
If you want me to go away and not help you with your problem, all you have not to do it the pH swing test. Hell, All it takes is a bucket filled with water and an air stone. What's so hard about that?
Mama Bear
The PB looks fine, The 9 bar doesn't look well.
Mama Bear
Ok thnx, how much salt and can I skip the ro/di water mixture?
40lbs of salt lasts me about 5+ years, lol... And that's with about 8 tanks... But I also use it for cooking from time to time... Don't use iodized if you use table salt.
And I agree with Slicksta. I'm sorry to say, these fish look malnourished and/or lacking in water changes, but we can work on that after the current issue is resolved.
Liz is correct - Forget the UV. Is that a wave maker or power head I see in there? If so, stop using that as well. Just follow the water change and salt routine (then Furan 2 if necessary) and try to get us some ammonia and nitrate numbers.
If you get discouraged or skeptical, have a look at this recent thread...
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...110-devastated
Power head is turned off.
Powerhead is turned off. Someone said not to worry about ro/di right now is that ok?
Using RODI for discus is a myth under most circumstances. I fell into the same trap when I first started out. Discus do fine in most hard waters and ph as long as they are consistent parameters... This is why ageing your water is important!
Sweet thank you so much I’m going to do a 75% change now from tap and age the next water change
My initial impression is that the sponge filter is Insufficient and/or not fully cycled.
We really do need you to test. Ammonia /Nitrite /Nitrate and the pH water aging as Liz has requested.
How are you treating the tap water when doing changes from tap? Dechlorinator? Before/during /after?
Are you matching the tank temperature when using tap? How fast are you adding water back?
Salt and a wide spectrum antibiotic are a good treatment to start with.
But without the tests we can't narrow down the cause.
ps... and I'm with jeep, cheap.
I haven't used salt in years but when I did buy it came in a very big bag for very little money and was around for years :-D
What I am seeing here and please forgive my opinion, but what I have been told in speaking with many people in the tropical fish hobby is that there are two golden rules whether you're keeping a discus or a guppy and those are water volume vs density as much water you can provide given the bio load so lots of water and a few fish and the second being filtration as much filtration as possible up to 6 times turnover now what I'm seeing is a lot of fish and very poor filtration I think I would invest in a good filter, and I also think it's easy for the experienced fish keeper to forget the basics, I am expecting fires water tests to be pretty bad as far as amonium and nitratites but we shall see
Jeanne
Did 50-60% water change last night. Added salt about 3/4 of a cup and it was some aquarium salt from a previous time I needed it. I appreciate all comments and have taken some suggestions to heart. The power head has stopped and all the fish seem happier!
To clear up some confusion, Ive been in to the hobby of keeping freshwater for about 13 yrs and some of the questions people have asked seem to make me think that you believe I’m new to the hobby. I’m new to discus and I’m about 4-5 weeks strong. So I’ll clear the air by saying this: sponge filter is more than cycled, it came from an existing tank that after cleaning it out (squeezing it in a bag of aquarium water)the detritus that came out proved that the sponge was more than cycled. Also it is a filter that claimed that it filters up to 125 gal tanks. I’m almost positive that the filter is fine. My temp is always the same going in and I use “prime”and I add it to the tank while I refill. This method is probably not the best but it has worked in all my tanks before. I’m now aging my water and I’ve ordered meds in-case things get bad. I run a 75 g freshwater Arizonan tank with an Asian flare. This tank runs on a sump with an extra 15 g. I also have 4 betta bowls filtered with a sponge filter and plants for filtration. Not to sound like a smart$&# but I’m not new to the hobby and I’ve had Ick three times treated it successfully once, transfered fish from home to home successfully, growing plants at a rediculous rate even without co2 or fertilizer being added. Of course you must understand that this hobby has a million people telling what to do. Through experience I have learned to take a bit here and a bit there. However, I appreciate the comments and please keep them coming!!
PS SOLAR SALT OR POOL SALT ARE MADE AROUND INDUSTRIAL AREAS KNOWING THIS THE SALT MAY BE CONTAMINATED WITH UNKOWN METALS, TOXINS, ETC... NOT WORTH THE RISK.
Last edited by Firecraca; 06-05-2019 at 08:57 AM.