Issue with eyes

[kmwcane]

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?

As you will see in the pictures, cloudy eyes and some protrusion on two of my discus that I first noticed 5 days ago. Nothing unsual happened that I can recall, other than the addition of a new piece of driftwood; the driftwood was throughly sanitized. Eye issues began perhaps two or more weeks after the introduction of the driftwood.

Discus eye 2.jpg

Discus eye 1.jpg


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).

Eye issues shown in the pictures; otherwise the affected fish are eating, not dark, etc. They seem to be slightly more lethargic at times than their companions but that may just be me over analyzing and looking for issues.

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

I added salt (3 tablespoons per 10 gallons) 5 days ago after I first discovered this issue; have not added any medication yet. I have Seachem Paraguard, metronidazole and minocycline on hand for use if necessary.


Tank/Water

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

125 gallons. 10 discus between the sizes of 4" and 5", 17 cardinal tetras, 8 rummynose tetras.


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

75% every other day.

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

Tank has been up and running since December 2018 (discus added in March); 2" layer of pool sand; driftwood, anubias barteri and 2 amazon swords.

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

No - the ph between .4 and .5 degrees lower after 24 hours out of the tap and aerated.

8. What type/brand water conditioner do you use? Do you add it to the tank or aging barrel? How much do you use?

API tap water conditioner

9. 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 84F

- ph 6.0

- ammonia reading 0

- nitrite reading 0

- nitrate reading 5

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 x

- RO water ____


10. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.

Nothing new other than the driftwood noted above.


11. 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.

2-3 feedings per day; FDBW, hikari frozen bloodworms, NLS flake, beefheart

12. 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 above.

General comments: I am quite perplexed by this situation as the water parameters seem perfectly fine and nothing has changed in the aquarium. This is my first attempt with discus and everything has ben going well until now. I mainly kept Tanganyikan cichlids prior to this (Tropheus, Cyphotilapia gibberosa, Cyprichromis, etc.). Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[LizStreithorst]

The only thing I can see you doing wrong is that you're not aging your water. My swing is .4 and I could tell that the fish were bothered by it over time. If you can't age, I suggest daily WC of 35%.

As for the eye, I don't know how to fix it but fear not. Someone who has had this before will chime in.

[jeep]

Do you have a hospital tank? I would isolate, increase water changes to every day and bump the salt to 5-6 TBS per 10g for 10 days but your plants won't like it...

If there's no improvement within a few days, I would treat with Furan 2...

This condition is usually not contagious but can be a sign of poor water quality, even though you do water changes quite regularly.

[kmwcane]

Liz and Jeep - thank you for the prompt feedback.

I can (and will) begin aging my water so hopefully that will help.

I do have a 30 gallon QT tank that I can house the affected fish in. I'll up the salt dosage as well, I'd much rather replace plants than discus...

So is this condition likely a bacterial infection brought on by resulting stress caused by the ph swings?

[jeep]

It's possible that something came in with the driftwood, and it's also possible it's caused by not aging your water, but I think it's 100% something in the water. You have a good water changing routine, but with a sand bottom and plants, there always the possibility for something to go unnoticed, become trapped and cause an issue. What type of filtration do you use?

I would also recommend using Prime as your water conditioner...

[kmwcane]

It's possible that something came in with the driftwood, and it's also possible it's caused by not aging your water, but I think it's 100% something in the water. You have a good water changing routine, but with a sand bottom and plants, there always the possibility for something to go unnoticed, become trapped and cause an issue. What type of filtration do you use?

I would also recommend using Prime as your water conditioner...

I have fx4 canister, aquaclear 110 and a sponge filter for good measure.

I will switch to prime.

[jeep]

I've never used a canister so I don't know what to specifically recommend other than to make sure its in good condition inside. A closed environment can trap all kinds of nasty bugs.

[LizStreithorst]

It's good to hear that you will begin to age your water. Never having it happen to any of mine I didn't have a clue what to tell you. I hope the prognoses for this condition good and I hope he will recover for you.

[kmwcane]

Update: I decided to go with more frequent water changes (30% daily). Slowly but surely the eye condition is improving to the point so that only one fish has any cloudiness left on its eye.

Thank you Liz and Brian for your advice!