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Thread: Identifying Discus Disease - Fungus or Bacteria?

  1. #1
    Registered Member
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    Jul 2019
    Location
    Dallas, TX
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    Real Name
    Eric vanGemeren

    Exclamation Identifying Discus Disease - Fungus or Bacteria?

    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?
    - Just noticed it today, after deep-cleaning gravel bed and performing weekly maintenance. I watch my fish pretty closely, and did not see this yesterday.


    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).
    - Brownish-white growth at base of pectoral fins (see photo at bottom of post)
    - Fish seems to be hiding more than usual, but still eating fine
    - Everything else seems to be normal


    3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
    - Since I was unable to determine if this was fngal or bacterial, I decided to start treatment today with Polyguard and Stressguard together, after performing 25% water change


    Tank/Water

    4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
    - 130 gal display tank, with 40 gal sump (total 170 gal of water in the system)
    - Tank has been running for about 18 months
    - 12x discus, ranging from 1.5" to 5"
    - 6x albino tiger barb
    - 5x neon tetra
    - 5x cory cat
    - 4x horsehead loach
    - 4x pleco (various sizes ranging from <1" to 3")
    - 2x German Blue Ram
    - Heavily planted (mostly Anubias species)



    5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
    - 25% three times a week
    - Start with RODI water, re-mineralized to 2.5kH (using Aquavitro Carbonate) and 2.5 gH (using Aquavitro Mineralize and Seachem Discus Trace), aerated for 24 hours and heated to 87 degrees F before adding to tank


    6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
    - 18 months
    - Planted tank with 2" Ultum Nature Controsoil


    7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
    - Yes - see above ... start with RODI water at ZERO TDS, then re-mineralize, aerate, and heat water to 87 degrees
    - pH of water is around 7.5 before being added to tank


    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 _____ 87 +/- 0.5 degrees (Controlled by Apex)

    - ph _____ 7.5 at night when lights are off, 6.5 during the day when lights are on (controlled via CO2 injection and Apex)

    - ammonia reading ____ 0

    - nitrite reading ____ 0

    - nitrate reading ____ <10

    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.

    - well water ____

    - municipal water ____

    - RO water ____ I have my own RODI unit that makes true ZERO TDS water


    9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
    - NONE

    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.
    - Fish are fed 2x a day by automatic feeder ... drops Hikari Bio-Gold pellets ... approximately what fish eat in 2 min
    - Fish are fed 1x a day manually, using frozen spirulina-enriched Brine and Mysis shrimp ... 2 cubes of each, thawed in glass of tank water, then poured into tank. Fish eat this in approximately 5 min



    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
    - See attached

    IMG_1809.jpg

  2. #2
    Registered Member
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    Eric vanGemeren

    Default Re: Identifying Discus Disease - Fungus or Bacteria?

    In case it helps, here is a trace of the typical temperature trend in my tank

    Screen Shot 2019-06-29 at 10.23.23 PM.jpg

    And here is a trace of the typical pH swings in my tank,

    Screen Shot 2019-07-02 at 10.13.27 PM.png

    Again, all of this is controlled by my Apex controller.

  3. #3
    Registered Member
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    Jul 2019
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    Eric vanGemeren

    Default Re: Identifying Discus Disease - Fungus or Bacteria?

    Here's another screenshot showing how pH, CO2 injection, and lighitng levels (measure in PAR at substrate) are being controlled.

    Screen Shot 2019-07-02 at 10.17.29 PM.jpg

    Not sure this helps with diagnosis, but figured better safe than sorry.

    Thoughts on what this is?

    Simple fin rot or body fungus?

  4. #4
    Registered Member
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    Jul 2019
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    Eric vanGemeren

    Default Re: Identifying Discus Disease - Fungus or Bacteria?

    Here's a better picture of the infection I'm trying to identify.

    Any thoughts would be appreciated.

    IMG_1838.jpg

  5. #5
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    Oct 2015
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    42

    Default Re: Identifying Discus Disease - Fungus or Bacteria?

    Were you able to cure this?

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