Amanda's Discus Journey

[seanyuki]

should not be a problem doing a 30% water change......how much crushed corals were added into the tank?

[Acerrato]

I added a lot - If I had to guesstimate, I'd say 8oz or so (I was told by several people that the amount didn't matter)... Hopefully I've figured out the Snakeskin mystery....

[seanyuki]

my limited knowledge.....crushed corals in a mesh bag will leech faster inside your HOB or Canister......I put mine in the HOB filter otherwise I may suck the crushed corals at the bottom of the tank while doing water changes.....just my 2 cents.

[Acerrato]

Yes, it was in a mesh bag in the HOB!

[Acerrato]

Alright guys... we have long white stringy poo from one of the Snakeskins... Today is day 3 of them both not eating.. I've only seen one with the white stringy poo though. Do you guys think I should wait a little longer on this? Or do we think I need to take the 2 of them out & put in their own tank w/ high heat & epsom salt? Or should I do this to the entire tank?... The only meds I have on hand is metronidazole powder purchased from Dena Edwards at Everything Aquatics..... I'm also waiting on a message back from Hans on what his suggestion would be

[seanyuki]

1. Transfer sick fish to hospital tank.
2. Using a cycled sponge filter (disease free) for hospital tank.
3. Adjust water temperature to 33 Celsius. Using a heater.
4. Add .5 mg Metronidazole to every 10 gallons using digital gram scale.
5. Metronidazole treatment twice a day with a water change in between for 14 days(compulsory).
6. Add one tablespoon of Epsom salt per 10 gallons on the first day.
7. Monitor sick discus and observe the poo.

HTH

[Acerrato]

Thanks Francis - I have the hospital tank setup and ready to go - just waiting on a response from Hans... I'm not sure if I should try heat/epsom salt first prior to the metro.. Also not sure if I should add the 2nd snakeskin to the hospital tank.. I haven't seen white poo from him but that doesn't necessarily mean that there is none - I'm down here with them half of the day.. I don't know what goes on the other half of the day!

[seanyuki]

Thanks Francis - I have the hospital tank setup and ready to go - just waiting on a response from Hans... I'm not sure if I should try heat/epsom salt first prior to the metro.. Also not sure if I should add the 2nd snakeskin to the hospital tank.. I haven't seen white poo from him but that doesn't necessarily mean that there is none - I'm down here with them half of the day.. I don't know what goes on the other half of the day!

Hans is the man to solve your problems and keep us updated.

[Iminit]

Being Hans fish I can’t believe it’s sick. I think the white poo is because it’s not eating. No substance of food just whatever minerals are going through it. I think it’s stress related because of all the new fish together. I believe put it in the qt tank with the higher temp and maybe add a garlic flake food or (from @coralbandit) a drop of orange extract. These are known to get fish to eat. I would not medicate just yet.

[seanyuki]

Just sharing

The trick was to place an orange peel in the aquarium for 24 hours. Each day, remove the old orange peel, and add another. As he explained it, you can do this for up to seven days before you should “give the fish a break.” A few days “off” with some carbon and a water change and you could repeat the “treatment” if needed. But wait, I haven’t even told you what this supposedly does!
For whatever reason, the result of this process, is*an increase in vigor and appetite among the Discus, particularly those that are newly imported. In short, add the fresh orange peel every day and there will be “more awareness and appetite.*No ‘black death’ look to them.”

Dick Au author of Back to Nature Guide to discus & Trophy Discus .

[coralbandit]

Just sharing

The trick was to place an orange peel in the aquarium for 24 hours. Each day, remove the old orange peel, and add another. As he explained it, you can do this for up to seven days before you should “give the fish a break.” A few days “off” with some carbon and a water change and you could repeat the “treatment” if needed. But wait, I haven’t even told you what this supposedly does!
For whatever reason, the result of this process, is*an increase in vigor and appetite among the Discus, particularly those that are newly imported. In short, add the fresh orange peel every day and there will be “more awareness and appetite.*No ‘black death’ look to them.”

Dick Au author of Back to Nature Guide to discus & Trophy Discus .

That is the info from the article I read also .
I am a junk food junky so no oranges in the house and honestly too lazy to peel an orange everyday !
Further research shows that orange peel is not really all that water soluble so I started to conduct my own experiment using orange extract found in grocery stores .Most articles I found said orange peel needs alcohol to dissolve it so orange extract seemed like a logical choice to me .I have been doing it for almost a year now .I don't add every day but I was also not changing water everyday ..I think the garlic has only antecdotal evidence of working and is another one of the things many do and believe in that I do not ..Besides the orange extract smells and makes the fish room smell much better IMO !
I have dosed between 1-3 ml. per 20g of tank water and had no issues at all .I do it with water changes for no real good reason .I figured in nature there really was a far greater chance of an orange finding it's way into the water then garlic , but what do I know ?
The article ;
https://www.reef2rainforest.com/2016...e-peel-discus/

http://r.search.aol.com/_ylt=AwrExdq...ynIdwTWc7hXfs-
^ this is the particular brand I use but I think they are all the same . Just orange peel and alcohol ..

[Acerrato]

Hi Everyone.. It was suggested to me to wait a few days to see if there are any improvements. I did turn the heat up to 88F though. Both snakeskin's have not eaten - one of them is still having CLEAR poo (I said yesterday that it was white - it is not)... So I'm not sure if the clear is just what Tom (Iminit) said - maybe it's just from not eating and that's what came out? Really hoping to see improvements tomorrow.. I'm getting worried about them.

[icuRN]

How are they looking?

[Acerrato]

Hi Everyone! They're doing okay - they've been in a QT tank for about 5-6 days now!! I've been treating with metro once every 24hrs... Today was the first day that they attempted to eat... they ate a couple of bloodworms each and a small bite of beef heart - I'm really very happy about this! On a side note, I'm lucky I ordered extra metro last week.. One of my dogs got my other 100 gram bottle of metro and decided to spread it all over my living room floor this morning.. I can imagine he got one taste of it and ran away... haha

[Acerrato]

They're going back in the main tank tomorrow - wish me luck!! They stopped eating again, but hopefully that changes when they're back with the others