Looking for help!!

[Fonda1963]

When using the rid ich did you put the whole dose in every day or just for the amount of water you took out?

[klthering]

Tom I just read through this whole thread and I'm so happy your fish made it! I have never had CC but I am not keeping meds stocked just incase. Nice work, this is a great thread for others to learn from.

[Iminit]

Lafonda sorry I just saw this. Guess I have to figure out how to get notifications. I used the full treatment everyday. From what I understand it is used up in about 12+hrs.
Thank you Katie. For me this was an eye opener. I had no meds at all and was helped out greatly here. I did jump the gun in the beginning with the metro. But listened to the pros and had patience and it worked it’s way out. Second tank that was mostly rid-ich came through better and faster. The first tank was a longer ordeal and even relapsed. Plus months later the first tank has not come back to itself. Everything is good and back to normal water wise but the fish just look off to me. It was a planted tank when the cc hit. So I’m not sure if the lack of plants is bothering the fish. They grew up with plants. Going to add some of my giant hygro to one side and see if the plants help.

[LizStreithorst]

Forgive me for just now reading this thread. First, what you said about the forum totally nails it. We work hard on problems. Shan knows...Brian helped him the most in both of your cases.

Rid X Plus it only salt, formalin and Malachite Green. I'd have jumped to Furan II. Brian is more conservative with treatment and always goes with the gentlest one. I can't figure why the Rid Ex worked for you but it worked. It goes against everything I have learned here. Perhaps I need to make my mind more open.

A great big congratulations on having saved these fish. And a big thanks to everyone who took part in it.

[Iminit]

Thanks Liz!! It’s a shame more don’t use this site. Through my wife Facebook profile I use simply’s Facebook site and the amount of new discus keepers is amazing. But help is so scattered it’s scary. Tammy does a great job but it being Facebook there’s so much resistance. But here they will find start to finish help that stays on target. Saved my fish! I’m not a medicator but read many times about rid-ich plus and cross contamination. I believed Hans was offering with his fish if they were being introduced to others discus. Lowering the temp and the rid-ich did work for me.
My cc was strange. The new fish were in a qt tank in another room. But it moved into my tank on my hands. Now about 2 months later new discus I have been qt ing for over 2 months and have had hero fish in with them for at least a month have been added to my second discus tank. 1 was added last week and all went well. No problems! I added a second on Friday and I’m seeing problems. Closed fins on a few and some patchy spots on 2 fish. Yesterday I added a 1/2 cup of salt but as of yet no change. Will wait till tomorrow and if still no change will dose the rid-ich after my water change. Again I find this strange that again after the qt and all I’m still seeing signs. Water is fine and my other tank which nothing has been added is fine. Was going to move the other 2 into this tank but now I won’t till I see what happen with the infected one.

[LizStreithorst]

When I do a for sure good QT the fish are not only in another room, they have all separate WC equipment. Bacteria in the water can transfer in everything that is shared between the QT tank a the fish room. After 3 weeks I add a sacrificial lamb from the fish room and see if the new fish make it sick. If after 10 days, if all is well with the mixing the sacrificial lamb, the fish are safe and good to move. That works for bacterial stuff but viruses can travel in the air so even if you keep doors closed between the fish room and the QT room there is still a chance of transfer. I got Discus Plague that transferred because I never thought about air borne pathogens. It wiped out every Discus in my fish room. I can't believe that I didn't give up after that.

[dspeers]

Tom, having a quarantine failure after 1 month of isolation and then 1 month exposure of a hero fish is truly depressing. My tentative plan was to mix the same varieties from various breeders, my personal theory is that many Discus are at a disadvantage due to inbreeding. No way to prove that at my level but intuitively makes sense. Do you use UV in your tanks. Wonder whether that would reduce the incidence of CC infection.

Liz I wonder whether it was actually airborne, not that it matters. CC is exquisitely hard to avoid, even in hospital situations where staff are wearing gowns, gloves, masks there are still failures. A few drops on your sleeve, face, etc and then you touch there after washing your hands or the faucet handle/door knob you forgot to clean and you are again a super-spreader. Almost need to change and take a shower between tanks, but then cannot touch anything you touched in the bathroom before you showered. What a pain, if you are not currently doing this I would add using alcohol based sanitizer on entering either room to your current regimen and make sure you rub down the dispenser wherever you touched it to dispense the gel as well as whatever part of the door you touched to open it.

[Iminit]

Yes Don uv in all tanks. Still got through. As you said I don’t believe it was airborne I believe it was on my hands. Other thing it was only discus that were affected. All dither fish showed no signs and none of my other tanks were affected.

[dspeers]

Damn, your experience certainly supports the argument of discus from one and only one breeder per tank......I wonder whether using Al's quarantine with prophylactic medications prior to mixing is actually a better option. Kinda wanted to stay away from that approach to avoid possible immunity development or medication side effects.

[dspeers]

One question, how old are the bulbs and do you run it 24/7

[Iminit]

Yes run 24/7 and replace bulbs ever 8months. I’ve bought discus from 4 different breeders and locally. Seems the last 2 I bought locally came with something none of the others had before. It got all of the others but never affected the new guys.

[LizStreithorst]

Don, you are right about CC. You think that you are being meticulous it can happen. There are so many tiny things we simply may not notice. All we can do is the very best we can do and understand that we may still fail.

So many newbies get away with mixing fish from different sources. They generally have good luck until they don't. Fish get sick and die and they have no clue what to do and no meds in the fish closet. Learning this stuff the hard way makes it stick forever.

[dspeers]

Tom, would have done exactly the same, sorry this happened to you. If you do buy more discus the same local source again with the plan to mix (which I would not......unless they were really cool looking (us rednecks aren't all that bright) then I would prophylactically treat with Rid-ich.

[Iminit]

Yes and I learned that the hard way too. Before any of this happened in I think Jan. I ordered 4 discus from Dennis discus. Because of covid these didn’t make it to the states till I was smack in the middle of my outbreak. Dennis held onto my fish till the cc was past. So when they came I had the 50 I put all my plants in ready for them. All went great. 2+ months later I add my first of these to one of my tanks and again all good. So I take the trouble fish who I got at a quarter size and are now at around 2 and 3” and add them to the rest of the dennis. Still all good. Wait a week and add another one of Dennis’s to the first and bam there showing signs of sickness. The original stock not Dennis’s. 3 day rid-ich and 50% water changes and all better. So this cc didn’t affect Dennis’s fish but did get all the rest in that tank. So all the rest in the 50 also got a rid -ich treatment! Live and learn! Now just hope the next move goes smoothly! I still have 6 more to move. Than I’m done!! No more new guys for awhile! Lol!

[Pet Detective]

I am a new discus keeper and was searching for help on a different matter when I caught your post. Everything you have been doing seems to be working because you haven't lost anyone yet, but did you clean your filter? There could be contamination there and it may just be pumping it back into the tank.