My Nanay wild Greens ..Whirling Disease

[Jandiscus]

Very cool to see.

[danotaylor]

Spots and halos! Gonna be sweet watching them settle and color up further. Do you already have a domestic cross in mind Al? What are you hoping to create?

[brewmaster15]

Spots and halos! Gonna be sweet watching them settle and color up further. Do you already have a domestic cross in mind Al? What are you hoping to create?

Hi Danny, Hoping for some F1 wild x wild. And to work more on this cross of mine.

https://forum.simplydiscus.com/showt...in-a-Long-time

[jeep]

Very nice! Look a those red eyes!!

[fljones3]

Sweet! Beautiful Wilds.

[brewmaster15]

Thanks guys. I'm really liking these guys. Everyone is settling nicely..

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[Second Hand Pat]

These guys are sweet Al They are going to be amazing
Pat

[LizStreithorst]

I noticed the red eye too, Brian.

Al, you are a very lucky man.

[Kingdom Come Discus]

This batch looks fantastic! I hope they produce well for you. I am excited to be a part of watching them thrive in your tanks through Simply!

[jwcarlson]

Looking nice, Al, and it doesn't look like they're gaunt on arrival either.

[brewmaster15]

Thanks guys. They have settled in nicely in the 125. Out and about exploring and have plenty of growing room. Favorite food so far is the loose blackworms.
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[Second Hand Pat]

They’re looking wonderful Al and you can tell they’re getting more comfortable because they’re showing very little bar. Super happy for you.
Pat

[Kingdom Come Discus]

These guys are making me drool.

[brewmaster15]

I guess I need to do an update here. I have been putting it off now a few weeks. I had the unfortunate experience of watching 7 of my 8 wild greens die of whirling disease in a matter of days. It is a heart breaking thing to watch. It has completely changed my opinion of "whirling Disease" . In the past I have seen cases where fish freak out from too big a water change and the dissolved gases. I was sure that the reports of Whirling Disease could be attributed to that. I was wrong. What I experienced here was not from water. All parameters were perfect, ..8 juvenile discus in a 125 gal fully cycled tank.The tank got 30% water changes per day, aged water. I have many discus tanks here all treated the same and never have I had a case of a discus whirling like this. My guess is its either Viral or parasite similar to the coldwater fish illness, Myxobolus cerebralis. That parasite is passed to the fish when they eat live aquatic worms in their rivers. I suspect this may be the case here at the exporters, if live foods are fed.

Before I go further, I need to be 100% clear. This fish loss was not the fault of the seller, Tristan's Tropicals. I was in contact with him continuously and he was incredibly responsive. I had asked him to import these and he was 100% honest that he had never brought in Discus from this exporter. He agreed to bring me in a test order of these 8 fish. He quarantined them at least 2 weeks and kept me updated ..They looked fine and acted fine. I received the fish and started my quarantine of 6 weeks. They looked and acted fine. for 2 weeks. They had gone throuigh 2/3 dewormings and were fine. Then they started whirling.. One or two fish at a time. I would remove the fish and try to save it but within 24 hours of the onset the fish was dead. Seeing what was happening I opted to try and learn as much as I could. I had a group of juvenile domestics That I added to the tank as test fish. I really wanted to know how contagious this maybe. I added 7 juveniles domestics on 2/21/24 and they never showed a sign anything was wrong. They were exposed when the wilds were whirling. Its been 3 weeks now. The remaining wild green which was one of the smallest of the 8 looks and acts fine and the 7 test fish do as well. On 2/26 the remaining wild green and the domestic test fish were moved outside the house to an insulated 55 gal tank. They have been there since and will never come back in. I will keep them as long as can in the hopes that the domestics start to whirl. If they do, I will at least know that this is contagious and has a lengthy incubation. At that point I will try and find a lab to examine the whole group.


My quarantine procedures here are stringent. Some would say overly so.. however I am glad that I do what I do.This reinforces it. The 125 gal has been broken down and bleached and then rinsed clean and followed up with a week of PP.


I did not have a chance to try many treatments and really don't like to just throw meds at something. I did try the reported high Metro doses on one in a hospital tank and it made no difference. If this is related to the cold water Myxobolus cerebralis parasite there is no treatment that will work. My gut tells me its something that attacks the brain. Viruses can do that, but its unusual that they would all succumb so closely together. To me, that indicates a parasite. In the end I have more questions than answers.


You may ask what does this Whirling Disease look like? click the video

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130140...5/53543662229/


Its an incredibly depressing thing to watch happen to a group of discus in a span of a few days.


As I mentioned I did keep Tristan in the loop and we tried to get the fish to a lab but the timing did not work out. I specifically told him that I did not hold him to blame in any of this and honestly do not. Between his 2 weeks and my 2 weeks , these fish were were absolutely fine. He felt terrible this happened and without asking he refunded my order. Which was above and beyond anything anyone could ask. For that he has my utmost respect and has gained a life long customer.


So that is where we are. Its all extremely depressing. I was really counting on those greens for my breeding program but thats all on hold now as my finances have tanked ( blackworm shortage) I will have to continue with my F1 and F2 crosses and hope Pat has luck with her greens.

al

[brewmaster15]

The remaining 1 wild green and the test fish.

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