Discus with exposed Gill Membrane not eating

[Red Eye.]

Gills are very sensitive in all fish if they get inflamed ...maybe this is the clue....?

Tapwater here in the UK is not good enough very high in TDS and all sorts....

Pentair Chlorplus Chloramine filter is used here.

[brewmaster15]

Can scar tissue appear overnight, because this did, which is what I find confusing

If you are sure of this, then I would suggest doing a salt Dip...then place the fish in a clean hospital tank. Its possible there is a fluke problem and as a result inflammation. The Dip will kill all the flukes ( not eggs) and allow the inflammation to go down...hopefully the gill tissue will go back to normal at that point. Salt dips are more aggressive than salt baths but work immediately to kill external parasites. If you haven't done one they are down right scary at first but I have never lost a fish to one.


https://www.simplydiscus.com/library...et/salt2.shtml


al

[brewmaster15]

Gills are very sensitive in all fish if they get inflamed ...maybe this is the clue....?

Tapwater here in the UK is not good enough very high in TDS and all sorts....

Pentair Chlorplus Chloramine filter is used here.

Water quality can definitely affect fish gills. TDS is a bit hard to judge. We have members with TDS all over the place that successfully keep discus so it hard to nail down whats an acceptable range. We know what they evolved in and what works best for breeding (low TDS) but I don't think we can link TDS to gill problems.maybe someday...who knows?

[Red Eye.]

Top stuff Al...we all try our best with Water specs ...just for me and others Al were do the flukes come from in a closed system..... Food ....I,m I close.

[brewmaster15]

Top stuff Al...we all try our best with Water specs ...just for me and others Al were do the flukes come from in a closed system..... Food ....I,m I close.

Flukes are often called the Gift that keeps on Giving.. Because discus can harbor them with absolutely no symptoms..Its next to impossible to know if your fish have them without gill scrape/snips and microscope. Over time with stress and poor water , over crowding etc. what was a low level infection can flare up and the flukes overwhelm the fishes immune system..."all of a sudden" they have flukes as they are flaring gills and flashing off things... I say all of a sudden but obviously they were there all along.

to make it harder to treat and diagnose... 99.9 % of the time flukes are diagnosed solely by symptoms which gives rise to many problems such as meds reportedly "not working" or resistent strains develop from the incorrect use of meds.

There are technically 2 kinds of flukes for fish.. Dactylogyrus aka gill flukes ..These reproduce by eggs . Then theres Gyrodactylus, skin flukes which reproduce in a crazy fashion akin to live birth... there is a fluke within a fluke with in a fluke ready to hatch.
https://www.simplydiscus.com/library...ematodes.shtml

Its unlikely gyrodactylus would be spread by food... but there is a theoretical possibility that Dactylogyrus could as their eggs are pretty resistent. Its also thought at least by some that some flukes are species specific. I believe that Untergasser thought that some species of flukes could be carried by other fish species and infect discus in a low level way, but other species would be harder on the fish...I am paraphrasing and not 100% on this .. It would make sense as there are many species of flukes.

Dactylogyridae is one of the most studied families of parasitic flatworms with more than 1000 species and 166 genera described to date including ecto- and endoparasites. Dactylogyrid monogeneans were suggested as model organisms for host-parasite macroevolutionary and biogeographical studies due to the scientific and economic importance of some of their host lineages.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...20751922000340

The salt dip I mention is a non-specific mechanical treatment for external freshwater parasites like flukes.

al

[jeep]

If you haven't done one they are down right scary at first but I have never lost a fish to one.

Yes! If you choose any salt treatment, follow directions precisely and don't be intimidated. Discus are tough and can handle it!

[Kangela]

Thanks. This fish is in a 120 in my home office, I work from home. Spend a lot of timing staring into the tank and in particular at this fish. Eruption came from the Netherlands is one of the largest and one of my favorites. I will muster the courage and remove him from the tank and try the salt dip. Your help is very much appreciated. Thank you.

[brewmaster15]

Good luck and please keep us posted.

[Kangela]

So to create a 3% salt solution in 1000 millilitres (1 litre) of water:*1000 x .*03 = 30. So, it takes 30 grams (equal to 2.5 tablespoons of salt).* Not sure what is meant by untreated water.* Dechlorinated water with no meds? Want to make sure i get this right.**

[brewmaster15]

Thats correct on the conc. I just use tank water... or aged water( degassed). Fully dissolve salt in water. Add fish and stay there. Watch carefully for it roll over ...it basically will float to the top flat. Immediately move to a clean tank. It will regain its balance shortly. It will look a literally beat up but its superficial.. just do not leave the area... it can happen really fast with some fish.

[Red Eye.]

Flukes are often called the Gift that keeps on Giving.. Because discus can harbor them with absolutely no symptoms..Its next to impossible to know if your fish have them without gill scrape/snips and microscope. Over time with stress and poor water , over crowding etc. what was a low level infection can flare up and the flukes overwhelm the fishes immune system..."all of a sudden" they have flukes as they are flaring gills and flashing off things... I say all of a sudden but obviously they were there all along.

to make it harder to treat and diagnose... 99.9 % of the time flukes are diagnosed solely by symptoms which gives rise to many problems such as meds reportedly "not working" or resistent strains develop from the incorrect use of meds.

There are technically 2 kinds of flukes for fish.. Dactylogyrus aka gill flukes ..These reproduce by eggs . Then theres Gyrodactylus, skin flukes which reproduce in a crazy fashion akin to live birth... there is a fluke within a fluke with in a fluke ready to hatch.
https://www.simplydiscus.com/library...ematodes.shtml

Its unlikely gyrodactylus would be spread by food... but there is a theoretical possibility that Dactylogyrus could as their eggs are pretty resistent. Its also thought at least by some that some flukes are species specific. I believe that Untergasser thought that some species of flukes could be carried by other fish species and infect discus in a low level way, but other species would be harder on the fish...I am paraphrasing and not 100% on this .. It would make sense as there are many species of flukes.



https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...20751922000340

The salt dip I mention is a non-specific mechanical treatment for external freshwater parasites like flukes.

al


In this case

Just read Al ...Thank you for writing this piece.