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Thread: sick discus

  1. #1
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    Default sick discus

    Hello. I am new to discus and to this forum, as i got them as a gift after a few years pause in fishkeeping. Couldnt let my girlfriend down so I decided to keep them and in the past few months they really grew onto me. Currently Im keeping them in a 30gal tank, and when the finances of a college student allow it I plan on upgrading. They are about half the size of adult, maybe a bit more. At first I had 4, 3 were from a LFS that is absurd and were stunted and sick so I lost 2 until I finally got my hands on some metro (here you cant buy it without prescription from a doctor, so it was v hard to get it). I finished the treatment on the 1st of January and the remaining two were doing great, the red melon that is slightly bigger from a local breeder my girlfriend found and the surviving turq from the 3 turqs she bought at LFS. The turq wasnt affected before treatment, and was eating fine before and during, but when the red melon healed and started eating again it got very aggressive. I decided to buy a blue diamond so the red melon wouldnt be focused on the turq only. it was all well until a few days ago the turq stopped eating. He was always a picky eater, but would ALWAYS take food if hand fed. Needless to say I bonded with him so this is very hard for me. Today he refused hand feeding, picked at tubifex cube but seems he spit it all out, hes hiding between driftwood and glass and I think he is slightly darker than usual. Last night I also noticed a strange head and fin movement the red melon displayed when he was sick before metro treatment. Any help would mean a world to me.

    DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE


    Problem

    1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
    last couple of days the turq was eating less and last night he was displaying odd head and fin movement. Nothing unusual happened that could cause it.


    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).
    slightly darker than usual, barely eating, hiding between wood and glass, i am not sure what a clamped fin is but he is keeping his right pectoral fin along the body and it has a strange white spot on it(not ich), but he uses it from time to time, and I also notice him vibrating/flicking/rapidly moving his fins from time to time, and moving his head to one side(dont know how to describe this better). He does cheer up and come out when I come near the tank, but ignores the food unless its hand fed, and even then eats only a few granules.


    3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
    I have used metro until 1st of January but he was well before and during that. Havent yet used anything for this.


    Tank/Water

    4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
    30 gal, 1 red melon, 1 blue diamond and 1 turq, 3 panda cory cats, juvenile twig catfish, juvenile l333 pleco, 5 horned nerite snails and 2 kuhli kuhlies.

    5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
    30% at least 2 times a week, sometimes more, depending on my studies.

    6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
    the tank was running 2 months with above mentioned fish and 5 neon tetras before discus, the neons were killed when discus were added and its running about 3-4 months since. About 2 centimeters of sand as a substrate.

    7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
    I age it at least a day

    8. What type/brand water conditioner do you use? Do you add it to the tank or aging barrel? How much do you use?
    sera aquatan, I add it to the aging water. I use a bit more than the instructions say.

    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 __30-31C___

    - ph __7,5___

    - ammonia reading _0___

    - nitrite reading _0___

    - nitrate reading __10__

    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.
    i added more snails and the twig catfish a few days ago.


    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.
    I feed Tetra discus, Sera discus granules nature, dried tubifex cubes and beef heart mix, all daily. I dont have a set regime but just add in a bit of food whenever I can during the 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.
    Last edited by aleksamrki; 01-15-2021 at 10:09 PM.

  2. #2
    Silver Member Iminit's Avatar
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    Default Re: sick discus

    Hard to even guess without pictures. But from what you wrote your tank is overstocked. Your not changing enough water. What type of filter? You need to be moving at least 8x the volume of water in the tank an hour. So being a 30g your filter should move 250-300gph. Next plecos are waste machine’s and discus need clean water. 30g gets dirty easy. You need to change 50% daily or ever other day.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: sick discus

    Thank you for the input Iminit. I am currently using a Tetra canister filter which is supposed to have 1200 liters per hour flow rate and i clean it once a week or two weeks so that not much gunk is trapped inside of it. I agree about the plecos, but the L333 is hiding 99% of the time so not much food comes his way, and ill rehome the twig catfish if I see that its producing too much waste. I will up the water changes. Unfortunately the camera on my phone is broken but ill try to take a picture, cant guarantee quality tho haha. I did question the water quality as the culprit but the other two are acting fine so i thought the reason could be something else. Maybe another bacteria/parasyte that wasnt killed by the metro treatment, or could there be a possibility its because he is the "runt" in the tank, least dominant one, so hes depressed because hes on the bottom of the pecking order? He was always on the slim side since the beginning.

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    Last edited by aleksamrki; 01-16-2021 at 01:12 AM.

  5. #5
    Silver Member Iminit's Avatar
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    Default Re: sick discus

    Ok you’ve had this fish for a few months. Pet store probably had it for a few month too. So it’s safe to say it’s stunted and maybe 6-8months old or older. Being in the 30 it’s probably not going to grow. You’ve got the temp up and that usually gets them eating. Discus should be in a bigger tank. Maybe the pros can grow them in 30s but not beginners. Just too hard. I’d say at least a 55 for discus.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: sick discus

    Thank you again for the input Tom. Unfortunately I wont be able to upgrade in several months or more. Should I rehome them in that scenario? He did grow a little bit since ive gotten him but I guess not enough. The red melon did grow much more tho.

  7. #7
    Silver Member Iminit's Avatar
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    Default Re: sick discus

    No I’d still keep him. He is what he is. Unless you know someone with discus who’s willing to take them. If not just try to do more water changes. Even just 10g as often as you can will help.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: sick discus

    The L333 is nocturnal and a carnivore and doesn't produce much waste. Try to up the frequency and amount of each water change. I agree its sometimes a PIA but after awhile it be3comes easy and you will feel good about it.

    I would consider using a dewormer such as levamisole or even prazipro. You will have to watch the pleco and lower the dosage as scaleless fish are very sensitive to both medications.

    Finally, you might try either live brine shrimp or live black worms. I know many oppose live food but if the fish wont eat its likely going to die down the road.

    Start with the water changes, elevated temp and many of our experts usually suggest adding salt.

    Also, read to the hundreds of threads on this exact issue.

  9. #9
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    Default Re: sick discus

    Thanks a lot Tom. I do know people that would take him, but I do not mind the way he is so id rather keep him. Will definitely up the water changes.

  10. #10
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    Default Re: sick discus

    I actually do not mind the water changes much, its just that im immersed in studies so I am often too tired to do them. Will change that in the future.
    Ill try to get my hands on levamisole or prazipro, could the sera baktotabs work as well in the time being? My friend has some on him.
    Thank you for the live food suggestion, will try that out along with salt treatment. I did read lots of threads before making this account, and posting, using advice given to people before me for my metro treatment but I thought this issue was a bit different than what I could find so I decided to post myself and get an opinion from more experienced people. Sorry if it came out like I did 0 research and wanted to waste people time.
    Thanks for the advice Andy, really appreciate it

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