Discus seems off, how would you recommend treating it?

[lpsouth1978]

Thanks for all the help. I will get him in the QT this evening and the Furan 2 will be here tomorrow. I am not really freaking out, but I want to take of whatever is bothering him before it gets too serious.

[LizStreithorst]

Good.

[Sturiosoma]

I wouldn't be so quick to medicate I'm thinking you may have some ph issues going on and I say that because of the number of tetras you say you have lost, tetras are extremely sensitive to ph changes even more so than discus and if I'm not mistaken you said you started with 30 and now you're down to 3 that's a big loss what you could try is to check the ph in your tank before a water change and then again in 12-24hr as though your tank was your aging bucket, and another thing I have noticed at this forum is a lot of people who are feeding raw beef heart are having problems and with all the recalls on beef for possible ecoli, listeria and so forth is it not possible to introduce that to your tank, using raw beef is I have never been able to bring myself to do, try a quality fish food instead.

Jeanne

[lpsouth1978]

Quick update -

I moved the sick discus into a 29g QT tank and treated with Furan 2. After a full round of treatment (using manufacturers directions) it looked to be doing very well, so I returned it to the DT. I can no longer tell which fish was sick. Thank you all for your help in bringing this guy back to full health. The tank temp has since been dropped to 83 and I have continued the daily 30g water changes. I also purchased some Tetra color bits and Hikari discus gold pellets and am trying to train them to eat these foods in addition to my BH mix. Hopefully these changes will help to keep all of my fish happier and healthier.

[jeep]

A happy ending!!!

[danotaylor]

Good one Lyle. Glad things have returned to normal mate!

[lpsouth1978]

Is it possible that this guy is simply always going to be in bad health, or maybe had a bad start and should have been culled? It is once again in QT. It almost looks like it is peeling. Like we do after getting a sunburn. I assume this is a problem with its slime coat, but I am not sure. ALL the other fish are healthy, happy, eating, etc. This poor guy has just had issue after issue. it is easily the smallest fish and the only one that has not grown since getting him. There is another one that is barely larger than it that I am keeping an eye on. So far the only symptom it is exhibiting, is that it is VERY dark, almost black. I may just move it into QT for safety. I think these are from the same batch of fry, as they are almost identical.

[jeep]

I'm sorry to hear this. It could be that is its weakened state it's more susceptible to something in your tank than the others are.

I would go ahead and QT. And just an idea, try adding tap water to the QT tank, and increase the percentage over about a week until you are at 100% tap. I've heard a very few cases where certain discus don't take well to reconstituted RO water.

There is something irritating this discus. If it were bacteria or protozoa, I'd think it would be affecting the entire tank, but in a stressed or sick discus, it doesn't take much to make them even more sick. I would also go ahead and add some salt to the QT tank, but not as much as before. Maybe 3 TBS per 10g for now...

In the end, if it appears to be getting better, I would continue QT for at least 2 full weeks...

[lpsouth1978]

I'm sorry to hear this. It could be that is its weakened state it's more susceptible to something in your tank than the others are.

I would go ahead and QT. And just an idea, try adding tap water to the QT tank, and increase the percentage over about a week until you are at 100% tap. I've heard a very few cases where certain discus don't take well to reconstituted RO water.

There is something irritating this discus. If it were bacteria or protozoa, I'd think it would be affecting the entire tank, but in a stressed or sick discus, it doesn't take much to make them even more sick. I would also go ahead and add some salt to the QT tank, but not as much as before. Maybe 3 TBS per 10g for now...

In the end, if it appears to be getting better, I would continue QT for at least 2 full weeks...

thanks jeep, I have the sick fish in QT and added some salt tonight, though I'm not sure it will help. He seems to be doing very poorly tonight. The white fuzz seems to be gone, but now his eyes are a bit cloudy and he seems very weak. He is swimming, but is constantly bumping into the glass, swimming on his side, and just seems "out of it". I will not be surprised if this little guy does not make it through the night.

Unfortunately, I don't think that going to all tap water will work for me. The water here is SOOOO bad that we don't even drink or cook with it. I am working on coming up with a way to filter the water from the tap instead of using RO, but I am not sure how effective it will be.

[jeep]

I think you've done a good job at trying to bring this one around. Unfortunately, sometimes they just don't come around. When they drift and bump into the side of the tank, it's not a good sign.

[lpsouth1978]

He made it through the night and seems to be swimming better this morning, so there is still hope, I will just take it day by day. Hopefully he will start feeling better soon.

[JamesW]

If Furan 2 and salt has not helped it might be worth trying the combination of Kanamycin and Metronidazole. I've dosed Kanaplex according to seachem's instructions with metronidazole (500 mg/10 gal/day) for 10-14 days to good effect for a fish with persistent external bacterial issues.

There are human studies which show that the combination is particularly effective for surgical prophylactic treatment to prevent infection.

Do you have a KH and GH test kit? Does RO right add KH to the water? Does your pH drift at all? It might be that you don't have much buffering capacity in your water which is upsetting to all fish but particularly to the runt of the group.

[lpsouth1978]

If Furan 2 and salt has not helped it might be worth trying the combination of Kanamycin and Metronidazole. I've dosed Kanaplex according to seachem's instructions with metronidazole (500 mg/10 gal/day) for 10-14 days to good effect for a fish with persistent external bacterial issues.

Unfortunately, I do not have either of those meds. I have the Furan 2, ParaGuard, and Prazipro. I can certainly get some different meds, but I won't have an opportunity to do so until Friday.

There are human studies which show that the combination is particularly effective for surgical prophylactic treatment to prevent infection.

Do you have a KH and GH test kit? Does RO right add KH to the water? Does your pH drift at all? It might be that you don't have much buffering capacity in your water which is upsetting to all fish but particularly to the runt of the group.

R/O Right does add KH to the water, but I am having issues with the pH SLOWLY dropping. It is not swinging, but it is slowly getting lower. Right now it is @ 5.55. Yesterday morning it was 5.62. I added another media bag full of Aragonite to help add more buffering capacity. I now have about 2lbs of aragonite in the sump to help with buffering. I also plan on removing some alder cones and decaying IAL this weekend. I will get GH and KH readings this evening when I get home and update you on those.

[LizStreithorst]

Are you sure the RO right bumps kH up. I remember it only affecting gH but it's been a long time so I might be wrong. I don't see why your pH would be dropping otherwise.

[lpsouth1978]

Liz, you could be correct. I was under the impression that it added KH, but I could be wrong. I will test both tonight and let you know. I would still think the aragonite would help dramatically, but pH continues to drop. My thinking was that I just need to remove some of the organics, which are likely causing the pH to drop as it decomposes, and let the pH rise as a result (through water changes).