AquaticSuppliers.com     Golden State Discus

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 21

Thread: Hole in the Head???? Please Help

  1. #1
    Registered Member Tanja's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Posts
    92
    Real Name
    Tanja

    Default Hole in the Head???? Please Help

    Problem:

    1. daedalus_head.jpgdaedalus2.jpgdaedalus3.jpgToday, a fish presented with what looks like a hole in the head. Prior to this, two other fish had gone crazy in the tank. Crazy to the extent that they were frantically bouncing on and off the glass until they got hit with something. All fish were eating. On the day of their move to quarantine, they stopped eating. 6 days later one of them presented with this in the head (picture attached). I have been able to successfully feed them brine shrimp today and some of them ate flakes.



    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).
    - flashing
    -not eating
    -green poop


    3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
    - salt (1 tbsp/gallon) for 7 days
    - oxytetracycline (1 day)
    - tetra paraguard (1 day)


    Tank/Water

    4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
    - 90 gallons
    - 4 discus (4-5 inch) and 4 pygmy corydora catfish


    5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
    - 40% twice a week


    6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
    - 1 year
    - sand substrate 1-2 inches


    7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
    - no aging except in quarantine tank (20 gallons)


    8. What type/brand water conditioner do you use? Do you add it to the tank or aging barrel? How much do you use?
    - Seachem Prime. Added to water 3-4 hrs prior to adding the water to tank

    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 ___84__

    - ph ____7.0-7.5_

    - ammonia reading __0__

    - nitrite reading __0__ (sometimes 0.5 in quarantine tank)

    - nitrate reading __20-40__

    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.
    - plants


    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.
    - frozen brine shrimp
    - sera discus granules
    - ocean nutrition discus flakes


    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.

  2. #2
    Registered Member + MVP danotaylor's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Aussie living in Cincy
    Posts
    3,219
    Real Name
    Daniel

    Default Re: Hole in the Head???? Please Help

    Hi Tanya. It doesn't look like hole in the head to me, though looking at your water parameters you are in the danger zone for pathogens. Your nitrates @ 20-40 would also indicate high levels of bacteria counts putting your fish at risk for illness or infection from injuries sustain tank dashing. I recommend trying to adjust your water changes to keep your nitrates <10 & I reckon the tank dashing will stop and your discus's wound will heal.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Hole in the Head???? Please Help

    Quote Originally Posted by Tanja View Post
    Problem:

    1. daedalus_head.jpgdaedalus2.jpgdaedalus3.jpgToday, a fish presented with what looks like a hole in the head. Prior to this, two other fish had gone crazy in the tank. Crazy to the extent that they were frantically bouncing on and off the glass until they got hit with something. All fish were eating. On the day of their move to quarantine, they stopped eating. 6 days later one of them presented with this in the head (picture attached). I have been able to successfully feed them brine shrimp today and some of them ate flakes.



    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).
    - flashing
    -not eating
    -green poop


    3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
    - salt (1 tbsp/gallon) for 7 days
    - oxytetracycline (1 day)
    - tetra paraguard (1 day)


    Tank/Water

    4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
    - 90 gallons
    - 4 discus (4-5 inch) and 4 pygmy corydora catfish


    5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
    - 40% twice a week


    6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
    - 1 year
    - sand substrate 1-2 inches


    7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
    - no aging except in quarantine tank (20 gallons)


    8. What type/brand water conditioner do you use? Do you add it to the tank or aging barrel? How much do you use?
    - Seachem Prime. Added to water 3-4 hrs prior to adding the water to tank

    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 ___84__

    - ph ____7.0-7.5_

    - ammonia reading __0__

    - nitrite reading __0__ (sometimes 0.5 in quarantine tank)

    - nitrate reading __20-40__

    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.
    - plants


    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.
    - frozen brine shrimp
    - sera discus granules
    - ocean nutrition discus flakes


    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.
    Hey Tanja one thing I'm seeing in your post that may be causing the flashing is the way you are using prime, if you live in the states you more than likely have chloramines in your water which is an extreme irritant to fish when you do your water changes, change your water and then add your prime and dose for the entire tank volume so in your case you would dose for 90gallons

    Jeanne

  4. #4
    Registered Member Tanja's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Posts
    92
    Real Name
    Tanja

    Default Re: Hole in the Head???? Please Help

    Quote Originally Posted by danotaylor View Post
    Hi Tanya. It doesn't look like hole in the head to me, though looking at your water parameters you are in the danger zone for pathogens. Your nitrates @ 20-40 would also indicate high levels of bacteria counts putting your fish at risk for illness or infection from injuries sustain tank dashing. I recommend trying to adjust your water changes to keep your nitrates <10 & I reckon the tank dashing will stop and your discus's wound will heal.
    Thank you so much. I finally associated the high nitrates with my canister filter which would always shoot out massive amounts of debris into my tank even when I cleaned every piece of it imaginable and replaced all the foam. I never understood why I would have so many nitrates in a 90 gal having basically only 4 fish. So I got rid of my canister and am keeping them in a quarantine tank now while their new filter finishes cycling. It does seem as if the wounds have spread to other fish however. I've been dosing tetra parasite guard which is a combination of metro and prazipro. Should I treat with metro only and how long should I wait before trying another treatment if the wounds keep spreading? Thanks again for your help!

  5. #5
    Administrator jeep's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    O.P. KS
    Posts
    6,607
    Real Name
    Brian

    Default Re: Hole in the Head???? Please Help

    Hi Tanja, How is it behaving today? Unless it looks like it's spreading, would just give it a lot of clean water and about 3 TBS salt per 10g for about 10 days. Replace the salt removed during water change. Let us know if there's a change in appearance or disposition.

  6. #6
    Administrator and MVP Dec.2015 Second Hand Pat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Central Florida
    Posts
    31,726
    Real Name
    Pat

    Default Re: Hole in the Head???? Please Help

    Quote Originally Posted by Sturiosoma View Post
    Hey Tanja one thing I'm seeing in your post that may be causing the flashing is the way you are using prime, if you live in the states you more than likely have chloramines in your water which is an extreme irritant to fish when you do your water changes, change your water and then add your prime and dose for the entire tank volume so in your case you would dose for 90gallons

    Jeanne
    Hi Jeanne, don't you mean to add the prime to the tank just prior to adding the new water?
    Pat
    Your discus are talking to you....are you listening


  7. #7

    Default Re: Hole in the Head???? Please Help

    Quote Originally Posted by Second Hand Pat View Post
    Hi Jeanne, don't you mean to add the prime to the tank just prior to adding the new water?
    Pat
    No you add the prime to the tank after your water change and you treat for the entire tank volume, what Tanya is doing is treating the tank 3,4 hours prior to her water change and by the time she adds her fresh water the prime is spent sort of speak so she is essentially adding untreated water to her tank which may be causing a lot of her issues

    Jeanne

  8. #8
    Registered Member Tanja's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Posts
    92
    Real Name
    Tanja

    Default Re: Hole in the Head???? Please Help

    Quote Originally Posted by Second Hand Pat View Post
    Hi Jeanne, don't you mean to add the prime to the tank just prior to adding the new water?
    Pat
    Thank you Pat, so I add the prime into my 30 gal tote where the water sits for about 3-4 hrs before I then do the water change. I only dose prime for the volume of the water in the reservoir however. Should I dose the total volume of the tank in addition?

  9. #9
    Registered Member Tanja's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Posts
    92
    Real Name
    Tanja

    Default Re: Hole in the Head???? Please Help

    Quote Originally Posted by jeep View Post
    Hi Tanja, How is it behaving today? Unless it looks like it's spreading, would just give it a lot of clean water and about 3 TBS salt per 10g for about 10 days. Replace the salt removed during water change. Let us know if there's a change in appearance or disposition.
    Hi Brian, he's doing much better today and the hole is turning black/dark brown so I assume it's healing. He has another darkened mark similar to that one however that wasn't there before. I treated them with salt for 7 days last week when two other fish presented with dashing all over the tank. Is it safe to resume the salt or how long should I wait between treatments? They've been on tetra parasite guard (a combination of metro and prazipro) this week now. Thank you for your help!

  10. #10
    Registered Member seanyuki's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    B.C. Canada
    Posts
    5,338
    Real Name
    Francis

    Default Re: Hole in the Head???? Please Help

    You should add Prime just b4 adding new water in the tank .


    Quote Originally Posted by Tanja View Post
    Thank you Pat, so I add the prime into my 30 gal tote where the water sits for about 3-4 hrs before I then do the water change. I only dose prime for the volume of the water in the reservoir however. Should I dose the total volume of the tank in addition?
    Grasshopper
    Francis

  11. #11
    Administrator jeep's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    O.P. KS
    Posts
    6,607
    Real Name
    Brian

    Default Re: Hole in the Head???? Please Help

    Quote Originally Posted by Tanja View Post
    Hi Brian, he's doing much better today and the hole is turning black/dark brown so I assume it's healing. He has another darkened mark similar to that one however that wasn't there before. I treated them with salt for 7 days last week when two other fish presented with dashing all over the tank. Is it safe to resume the salt or how long should I wait between treatments? They've been on tetra parasite guard (a combination of metro and prazipro) this week now. Thank you for your help!
    I would just stick to your current treatment and make sure to keep the water clean. Personally, I would not feed the brine shrimp. Maybe pick up some black worm flakes from Ken's Fish. It's pretty cheap and my fish took to it immediately. If this is HITH, water and nutrition can be the cause. The metro is a decent choice for treatment if the hex is present, but it's not caused by hexamita. Hex is just opportunistic. At first I thought it may just be an injury, but if you're seeing more areas then it very well could be HITH.

  12. #12
    Registered Member BrendanJ23's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2019
    Location
    Brisbane, AUS
    Posts
    307
    Real Name
    Brendan

    Default Re: Hole in the Head???? Please Help

    Quote Originally Posted by Tanja View Post
    Thank you Pat, so I add the prime into my 30 gal tote where the water sits for about 3-4 hrs before I then do the water change. I only dose prime for the volume of the water in the reservoir however. Should I dose the total volume of the tank in addition?
    Just to be clear. If you’re adding prime to your aging barrel, dose only for the volume of the barrel.
    If adding water directly to your aquarium, dose for the entire tank volume. Prime is to be added when you start filling your tank, not at the end! Otherwise your aquarium will be exposed to untreated tap water causing stress and disruption in the cycle.

  13. #13
    Administrator and MVP Dec.2015 Second Hand Pat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Central Florida
    Posts
    31,726
    Real Name
    Pat

    Default Re: Hole in the Head???? Please Help

    Quote Originally Posted by Sturiosoma View Post
    No you add the prime to the tank after your water change and you treat for the entire tank volume, what Tanya is doing is treating the tank 3,4 hours prior to her water change and by the time she adds her fresh water the prime is spent sort of speak so she is essentially adding untreated water to her tank which may be causing a lot of her issues

    Jeanne
    Jeanne, if you add prime to the tank after adding the new water to the tank you are exposing the fish to untreated water containing unknown levels of chlorine/chloramine. An unnecessary risk. You are correct about dosing for the volume of the tank however.
    Pat
    Your discus are talking to you....are you listening


  14. #14
    Administrator and MVP Dec.2015 Second Hand Pat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Central Florida
    Posts
    31,726
    Real Name
    Pat

    Default Re: Hole in the Head???? Please Help

    Quote Originally Posted by Tanja View Post
    Thank you Pat, so I add the prime into my 30 gal tote where the water sits for about 3-4 hrs before I then do the water change. I only dose prime for the volume of the water in the reservoir however. Should I dose the total volume of the tank in addition?
    Hi Tanja, I would suggest adding prime to the tank just before adding the new water to the tank and enough for the tank volume. Regarding your 30 gal tote, are you aging your water with an airstone to handle any ph swing?
    Pat
    Your discus are talking to you....are you listening


  15. #15

    Default Re: Hole in the Head???? Please Help

    I guess maybe I'm confused about this post first off by the answers given in the questionnaire, no aging barrel but now a barrel for water changes, just ignore my post, or better yet delete it

    Jeanne

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Cafepress