Dejected discus / gills issue?

[pablos]

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

One of my Alenquer started to act strange. First of all it doesn't swim a lot, in opposite stays in one place for a while.
As you can see on attached video it's breathing heavily.
I think it might some sort of gills issue, and can be connected to an incident which happened a day before.
Yesterday morning I noticed that air pump stopped to work. As it had happened overnight, I'm not sure how long was no proper aeration in the tank, so something between 1 and 8 hours. Some of discus (an especially that one, was swimming closer to surface, to catch some air). I immediately changed the water pump followed by the water change. Fish start to act normally after that .. however the next morning I saw the mentioned symptoms.


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).

- not eating (actually not only that Alenquer, but also others doesn't eat as piranhas anymore)
- doesn't swim, just hanging in one place
- breathing heavily


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
epsom salt - 1T per 10 gallon


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
BB - 40 gallons. Originally 11 small 2.5", they are already grown from mid September to around 4" and I'm going to move them shortly to final destination - 190g tank

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
90% mornings + 20% evenings

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
Germans are living in that tank for 2months. Tank was setup more than 6 months ago and used for different discus pair.

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
No aging, no Ph swings.

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

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 86F

- ph 7.2

- ammonia reading 0.0

- nitrite reading 0.0

- nitrate reading 0.0

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.
nope

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.
Beef Heart Mix - 5 times per day


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.



Zoom in
https://youtube.com/watch?v=P4kdwJX8bJo

[pablos]

Few hours later it’s gone

[Second Hand Pat]

WOW, so sorry to hear. I was going to suggest using regular table salt vs epsom salt as regular table salt can assist with gill function. Everyone else recover ok?
Pat

[pablos]

Others are doing good. Maybe they don’t have a big appetite, so food doesn’t disappear before hitting bottom of the tank anymore.

I’m observing them closely, but apart of smaller appetite everything seems ok.

Never too late for an education. How much regular salt would you add? iodized salt or sea salt ?

[Second Hand Pat]

Others are doing good. Maybe they don’t have a big appetite, so food doesn’t disappear before hitting bottom of the tank anymore.

I’m observing them closely, but apart of smaller appetite everything seems ok.

Never too late for an education. How much regular salt would you add? iodized salt or sea salt ?

Either salt will do. Generally two tablespoons per 10 gallons at a starting point.
Pat

[pablos]

Thanks Pat!

I found also nice article about using salt
https://www.aquaculturealliance.org/...ulture-part-2/

[Megalodon]

You need to regularly test for chlorine when you're relying on carbon to remove it. The test should be a total chlorine test and be able to detect as low as 0.02 mg/L.

[pablos]

Luckily I don’t have chlorine even directly from a tap. Anyway thanks for an advice, as you never know how water supplier might change it.

I’m still a little bit concerned about rest of the fish. They look healthy, but eat literally 5 time less than before. Should I just wait for their appetite to come back?

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi pablos, I reread thru your thread and you have 11 (10 now?) 4 inch fish in a 40 breeder? Try adding more air, that is a lot of fish in a small space.
Pat

[pablos]

Hi pablos, I reread thru your thread and you have 11 (10 now?) 4 inch fish in a 40 breeder? Try adding more air, that is a lot of fish in a small space.
Pat

I know, it’s overstock and they should be in the 190gallon tank already, however I had some technical issue there so had to postpone move a bit.

As all have been fixed in the main tank, I might move them even today. I just and about their appetite, which is not as good as it was few days ago.

I accidentally scared them so they moved to one corner ... at least you can see them all.

8B8B35A6-95CE-466E-A2E8-516739BE0F89.jpg

Tell me if you don’t agree, but they looks healthy to me, but from some reason they eat a little. Do you think it would be the best for them to move to better home, or watch them/cure for some potential gills issue?

[pablos]

I moved out two who were eating normally, so I left with 8 once which don’t have an appetite at all.

I also improved aeration by an adding extra pump apart of existing 2 outlets pump (eihem 400 l/h)

O top of it (based on your suggestions) I added salt, so they are sitting 2nd day now within salty water (2 table spoons / 10 gallons)

Unfortunately I don’t see improvements and they still haven’t started to eat. Neither beef hearts nor blood worms are attractive for them anymore.

So the main concern is that they don’t eat and poop (3 days now). Apart of that they act normally, no hiding, no additional slime, no stress bars ... nothing. They just don’t eat from some reason. Any advices?

[seanyuki]

Try to increase water temperature to 92 degree Fahrenheit. With an increase in temperature, the fish also produce more antibodies to help fight infections. Higher temperatures also increase the fish's metabolism and apetite.

[pablos]

It looks like I need another heater, as current one can heat the tank to 87-88 only.
E574BB80-A5B9-4B5D-AAE4-460579B10A3F.jpeg

[pablos]

Bump to 92. Should I still use salt ?
I’m not sure is it a good sign or not, but I see some white/transparent poops.

[seanyuki]

Stools which change to a hollow, white stringy nature are “casts” and are seen when a fish has not been eating well for a while or which has an
intestinal infection. Stools, which change to the color of the food that is being fed, may indicate a digestive problem in which the food is not broken down or absorbed. You should then examine the stool under the microscope. You may see eggs under the microscope, which would indicate a de-worming is in order....... Salt can also assist osmoregulation problems and help clear congested gills as well as supporting fish suffering from stress. One to two Tablespoon per 10 gallons.