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

I'm a newbie dicus keeper but have kept fishes for more than 12 years and have even bred angels quite a few times. I got 3 red turqs from a Shop A (3.5 inches), 6 red melons from Shop B (4 inches) and 2 red cover from Shop C (2.5 inches) to stock my tank. The biggest mistake i did was quarantining them only for a week each. Added them all together to my 90 gallon planted tank which has been previously running for more than 3 years with Angel fishes.
The problem started the next day (the red cover from shop C seemed to have diseases and that spread to all of them) The red cover had clamped fins and became very dark and also got a white velvety patch behing their pectoral fins and went hiding and floating to the side.
Both the red covers died in a few days and all the rest of them are now super sick.


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).
All of them (3 red turqs, 6 red melons) have clamped fins, always hiding and scared, I have not noticed the poop. flashing and darting, red turqs have become very very dark, important thing i have noticed is all the fishes including the 2 siamese algae eaters i have in my tank are trying to scratch themselves against plants and rocks in the tank (this is something i have never seen them do) and the discus are doing that too now.

Red melons are eating very little. Red turqs have stopped eating.

3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
I'm in my 5th day of Melafix treatment, added a handful of regular sea twice with 50% water change every 3 days. I'm also treating them with crushed metro tablets mixed with beef heart mix(only the red melons eat it) for the past 3 days.

Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
90 gallons. Number of fishes: 2 siamese algae eaters (more than a year old), 6 red melons (4 inches), 3 red turqs (3.5 inches).

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
50% every 3 days


6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
3 years. Planted tank (only jungle vals) with black sand (1 inch deep)

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
Yes, 24 hours. Not sure about 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?
Seachem prime (ageing barrel)

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 82-84

- ph 7.2

- ammonia reading ____

- nitrite reading ____

- nitrate reading ____

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 100%

- RO water ____


10. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
Yes 2 red cover discus which died shortly


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.
Home made beef heart mix (twice a day) and also a very little tetra complete as treat now n then.


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.