Sick Discus

[Aquaman218]

Came into my fish room today to find one of my discus hiding in the corner. Once I got a better look at him I notice what you see in the picture below. Looking for treatment suggestions.

20220226_184320.jpg

[Aquaman218]

Should have posted this along with the picture last night:

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?
White Poop


2. Symptoms

Fish has been hiding a lot, but has still been eating. Will not eat Beef Heart mix, but was eating Tetra Prim pellet food. Found him in the corner of the tank yesterday afternoon, and got the picture of the white poop.


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
No medication, I have isolated the fish. All 6 of the other fish are eating well and appear to be healthy.


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.

Tank is 130 gallon, with 7 Discus, 4 baby angels that I raised from eggs, a Blue eyed Yellow Bristlenose catfis, 7 Cardinal Tetras, 4 cory cats. All were purchase together from the same source at the same time (Received Nov 2nd 2021), except for the Angel, which were placed in the tank at around dime size in Dec.

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).

~1/3 to 1/2 changed twice a week using RO water.


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

Tank has bee running since early September


7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.

Water is aged in a 55 gallon barrel. it is refilled after every water change and remains in the barrel ~3days


8. 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___

- ph __6.8 - 7.2___

- ammonia reading __0__

- nitrite reading __0__

- nitrate reading __20 - 40__ checked daily, varies slightly between water changes

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 ____

- RO water _X___
9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
Nothing new added since Juvenile Angels were added in December

10. 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 a Frozen Beef Heart/Fish/Shrimp/Spinach\Krill mix every morning, with additional feedings of Tetra Prime at various times during the day.

11. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms.

Picture above

[jeep]

It's hard to say what it is without a microscopic examination of the feces. The symptoms are an indication of hexamita, and in a planted tank with high nitrates, it'll be very hard to treat. It's hard to tell in a single photo, but I think I see other conditions as well that appear to be related to overall water quality. The best way to treat this individual would be to place it in a hospital tank and turn up the temp to 93 and treat with metro. If this doesn't work then you might consider an overall deworming with levamisole, but again, this is best achieved in a hospital or bare bottom tank.

In the long term, I would increase your water changes and overall cleaning routine. I'm not saying you are slacking, it's just that planted community tanks can be difficult to maintain.

Also, why are you using RO? In most cases, RO is not necessary except for breeding, and even then it's only for the actual spawning period and not growing out.

Have a look at this thread and see if it paints a picture of what I'm trying to convey... http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...-Are-Important

[Aquaman218]

Thanks for the response. I took a quick look at the article and will read it in-depth today. From a Bio-Load perspective, the total bio-filtration should be good for a well stocked tank, even one somewhat larger than the 120. I have 2 power filters running and a Fluid Bed Sand filter, that is supposed to be good for 300 gallons by itself. I also have a 19 watt UV light. I say "should" be good, but you can never tell everything that is going on.

The water parameters stay very stable, but the Nitrate is one that fluctuates. Generally it is around 10 -20, when I measured it after finding the sick fish it was a bit higher between 20 and 40. It's hard to tell exactly since the colors on the chart are pretty close. It was due a water change, which I accomplished this morning. The other six fish seem to be doing fine. All are eating well and hang out in the front of the tank when I enter the room. If there is a problem it makes sense this one would be the first to be affected. This particular fish has been troubled since he arrived. He and the other Eruption Discus both suffered a spell of some sort exactly one week after arriving from Wattley Discus. They were both swimming upside down, laying on their side, and gasping for air when I walked into the room that morning. I added salt to the tank and consulted Gab about possible treatment. Within 10 minutes the other was dead. Within a half hour this one had returned to swimming normally. One week later he repeated the episode, but again recovered. He has always been a little strange since. That was the first and second week of November. There has been no repeat of the episode since, and none of the other discus ever showed any signs of being affected. I have no explanation for whaat might have happened.

I did set up a bare bottom hospital tank. It is only 10 gallons. I hope that is sufficient. I have some Metro, and will start a course of that today. How long do you recommend I treat him?

Your other question about the RO water. I understand it is not strictly required. When I kept Discus previously I used straight tap water (different source), with good results. Back then everyone said RO water was a necessity, so when I decided to set up a Discus tank this time, I decided to try going all-out with the best information and set-up I could. I do hope to breed Discus at some time and felt, while it may not be necessary, it couldn't hurt. I have to store water, and heat it anyway, I might as well go the full 9 yards. At some point I will likely ease off, but I wanted to see if it would really make a difference. I do water changes twice a week due to water storage capacity and heating. While I now have a larger barrel (55gal as opposed to 29 i had at first), heating that much water, this time of year, is a problem.

Robert