Help with Dx please

[DocJoe]

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?

Noticed in the last three-four days. Slight tail standing, loss of slime coat near dorsal fin with mild fin loss (see pic). now with loss of appetite and up near the surface at rear corner of tank


2. Symptoms

Clamped dorsal fin, some fin shivering on occasion, loss of slime coat near dorsal fin along with what looks like mild dorsal fin rot.


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

I haven't done anything yet.



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

110 gallon, 8 ~2year old discus that are all approximately 4-6 inches


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

25-30 percent 3-4 x/week


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

tank is 2years running, bb, 2 canister filters, no carbon.


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

I do not age my water. roughly 0.2 pH swing


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

I use prime with each H2O change


9. Parameters and water source;



- temp 84-86_

- ph 8.0-8.2

- ammonia reading 0.0

- nitrite reading 0.0

- nitrate reading 15-20

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 _X___



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

Nothing new added in a long time


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.

Hans flake 1x daily, and homemade beef mix 1-2 x daily



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.Discus 1.jpg

[LizStreithorst]

It looks bacterial for sure. Your nitrate reading is quite high indicating that you need to do more WC. I like to keep mine at 5 although others settle for 10. Do large daily water change to make your water more friendly for the fish. I'm not sure what antibiotic to use on this. I usually go to Furan ll, but there may be something better in this case. Brian may have a suggestion.

For now, along with the very large WC, lower your temp to 82 and add 5 tablespoons of regular salt per 10 gallons. Worry not. More advice will be on the way.

[bluelagoon]

I think You have it right. Looks like columnaris from the pic but you'd need a sample to be sure. It spreads fast and can start killing off fish within days to a week. But do all your fish have it or if it's just that one then might not be columnaris. Salt will do nothing for this disease. An antibiotic like Furan 2 or kanamycin or both.. if it were my fish.

[DocJoe]

Just this one fish is showing signs. I do have a microscope, so at lunch today i will try to see if I can get a sample and look at it under magnification.

Would it be advised just to treat the whole tank?

Thanks,
DocJoe

[LizStreithorst]

Isolating the fish in it's own BB tank would be best.

[jeep]

It looks bacterial for sure. Your nitrate reading is quite high indicating that you need to do more WC. I like to keep mine at 5 although others settle for 10. Do large daily water change to make your water more friendly for the fish. I'm not sure what antibiotic to use on this. I usually go to Furan ll, but there may be something better in this case. Brian may have a suggestion.

For now, along with the very large WC, lower your temp to 82 and add 5 tablespoons of regular salt per 10 gallons. Worry not. More advice will be on the way.

I like this approach. Definitely increase the water changes to reduce nitrates.

If you do a salt only treatment you can treat the whole tank. If you use Furan 2 then I would isolate in a hospital tank.

It's pretty far advanced if it's due to water quality. I agree that Furan 2 or nitrofurazone would be a good treatment.

[DocJoe]

Three days so far in hospital tank...treating with Kanaplex (last night was the second dose).
The dorsal fin rot continues to get worse.

Any suggestions on what to?

Thanks

DocJoe

[captainandy]

Patience and double the kanaplex dose