Brown algae affecting my discus?

[fljones3]

Will be doing a water change today Frank, I'll try to wipe away all that algae, it looks a bit feral haha

On a side note, the discus have not been skimming off the plants today, I am home all day, so I'll keep an eye on them

Wipe it, then siphon it out. you will not get the tank pristine.

[Sabrina]

Thank you Frank

I plan to do this today, I brought a fish tank scrubbing stick thing, I didn't get around to it before now.

I have observed my discus yesterday and now they are not skimming off anything anymore. I wonder, a few days ago the tank tested at 0.25 Nitrite & 0.25 Ammonia, that is when they were skimming, could this have been the problem?
I tested the water yesterday early morning and the Nitrite & Ammonia had gone again.

[brewmaster15]

Hi Sabrina,
Any more fish flashing off things?

Al

[Sabrina]

Hi Al,

Thank you for asking!

Yes, now and then they are skimming off the plants. I had planned to buy treatment tomorrow but I am now going to the city today, so I will grab the fluke & worm tablets & start treatment today for this, I hope they will be ok and it works.

[fljones3]

I forgot Sabrina, do you use sponge filters for filtration?

[Sabrina]

Hi Frank

Yes, I have 1 jumbo sponge filter (stand alone) in the tank as well as the internal built it filter which has layers of filter media (black, white & grey) & a bag of ceramic rings too... Should I leave them all running during treatment?

Has anyone heard of this stuff? The pet shop assistant said it is for Gill flukes treatment, Lice and Anchor Worms.... I hope it will be ok to use?

Snapchat-1136320168.jpg

[Sabrina]

Well, since my last post I have dosed the tank with that stuff. All filters are running. No carbon in tank.
I put the bully back in the discus tank this morning in preparation for this treatment this afternoon. It seems that PB is intent on killing my other discus fish! It sits up the top corner on the tank and if any other discus dares to go near that side of the tank it launches at them like a missile and hits them head on! It is out of control and causing havoc in my tank, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh
SO i went to the local shop and brought this plastic stuff to fence it off but it got through it straight away
Out of all the discus, it is the one who needs the treatment the most, its gills are swollen up big. I don't know what to do! It is going to damage my other fish. Even the big SS is scared of it, which it is almost the same size. I am upset!
The tank looks like the discus are at the snow having a white Christmas at the moment.

[brewmaster15]

HI Sabrina ,
I havent heard of that brand but it contains trichlorfon which is found in many other brands of fluke treatments. Its actually an insecticide used to kill all kinds of bugs.

Unless the fish have flukes that have become resistent to it , it can be very effective. It works differently from medications like praziquantel or flubendazole.

One thing to note is the fish will often lose their color during treat and can lose their appetite and may grow a bit listless. Its temporary. Follo the instructions carefully on the dosing.

Al

[brewmaster15]

As for the one thats real bad off.. a salt dip may help.
Al

[fljones3]

Did you squeeze out the sponge filter when you wiped the tank from the brown algae? I am speaking by experience here but the brown algae also gets into the sponge. I have had occasions when a fish "flashes" and I thought about dosing. However, a wipe down and sponge cleanse fixed the issue.

I am not saying to stop the dosing (follow Al's recommendations!) but if you did not do anything with the sponge filter when you wiped down the tank, you can try that. Oh, brown algae can also get into internal filter media also.

[Sabrina]

Hi Al, Frank

Frank, you are correct, I did not squeeze the sponge filter out or the media in the built in filter after cleaning the brown algae! Should I do this during the treatment I have in the tank now?

Al, thank you, yes the discus colours seem off this morning but they are all eating breakfast. The PB seems to be a bit calmer at the moment too. The bottom of the tank is still all white.

This medicine does not say when to do a water change? It just says to repeat the treatment after 7 days until all bugs are eradicated... When should I water change please?

[LizStreithorst]

I would still do WC every day, a good large one, and replace the amount of the drug that you took out with the WC to bring the medication level up to were it is supposed to be. For example if you do 100% WC replace 100% of the drug. For 30% WC, replace of the drug.

[fljones3]

Liz is spot on. Do a good WC, pull the sponge and then replace.

[Sabrina]

Hi Liz + Frank

Thank you for your comments!

I have just finished a marathon water change on the discus tank, it took a couple of hours almost. I took 80L water out, that is almost 50% of the tank. While down I took out the built in filter medias and washed them in old tank water in a bucket, I ran around the bottom of the tank with the syphon sucking up most of the medication, then with a fish net picking up all the crap too. Then I pulled the stand alone sponge filter out & washed that too. Filled it back up with Primed water & a few doses of Stability too to be safe seeing I messed with the medias... Fed them a little food to clam them after all the chaos, now its bed time for the fish.

I did not add more medication, my reason for this is that Al said that it is a strong medication (and there is still heaps of it laying around on the bottom of the tank!), I do not want to harm them or worst kill them, so I have chosen not to add any more at this stage. I will be watching for any flashing over the next days, and go from there. If they need to be treated again I will wait until day 7 since first treatment. They have all had a slight change of colour, and all seem to be feisty, the bully PB seems to have calmed down since treatment, perhaps he was feeling bad and that is what caused his behaviour. There has been no flashing since I added the medication, from any of them. We will see what the next few days bring...

Thank you all for your help

[Iminit]

Yes I got to say I’m with the big water change but not so much with the re-medicating. Most meds use up their effectiveness in 24hrs. The reason for 7 days repeat is to give the fish a chance to recover from the meds. So repeating the meds daily may be worse. But I don’t know the strength of the med or their treatment. Just sucks that it’s not written on the container. For that reason I wouldn’t use it at all.