afraid he will die overnight...please help

[ReeferKimberly]

ok i have this one big discus in my general tank. my tank parameters:
3 adult discus, and 4 juvies
60 gallons
50% wcs everyday
ph=6.8
hardness= 33mpl
kh and gh= ?
temp= 85

fed- cbw @ morning
live brine shrimp afternoon
and tetramin chips @ night

bare tank, with nothing but an ebo-jager and a penguin bio wheel 360 (i think)

everyone is healthy but this one. he is listless, and has cloudy eyes. not interested in food like the others. no patches like fungus, no ich, and has normal brown feces.
he just looks sickly and his fins are clamped. should i put a power head in there for more oxygen? i have meds but i'm not sure what is wrong with him. i need help fast. if anyone needs more info just ask and i'll tell u anything i know. thanks everyone a bunch. i don't want my big baby to die :'(
kim

[Kagan]

Hi,

Is he breathing normally and usng both gills? Any color tone difference? How does the belly looks like?

[Carol_Roberts]

If your other 6 discus in the same tank are healthy and you have not added any new fish to the tank (or elsewhere in your home) then it must be an individual problem rather than a contamination from outside source.

JimmyL posted an interesting thread a while back showing an autopsy he performed where a brine shrimp shell became lodged in the gut, causing the discus to bloat and die.

His symptoms are pretty vague right now. The first line of defense is to make sure the tank and inside the filter are clean. Continue with the daily 50% water changes - add salt at 2 tablespoons per 10 gallons and replace with water change. I'd quit feeding the brineshrimp.

Sometimes they get sick and die and we never know why . . . :-\

Carol

[ReeferKimberly]

well last night i went ahead and added a lot more air. i added a powerhead and a strong air stone. this morning he looks a lot better. actually, they all look more perky. i added salt also and he has enjoyed some brine shrimp this morning. i think he may have been air deprived or something. my filter is strong and i thought the water aggitation was enough. but i guess they showed me differently. if anything else looks wrong i'll let ya know. and oh yeah, his color was good and i just noticed he was breathing slowly but he seems to be good now.thanks all~!
kim

[ReeferKimberly]

they love the brine shrimp the best of all. i don't know if i could stop feeding it. its so entertaining to watch . but if anything goes wrong and i suspect the shrimp, i'll stop feeding them. it took me forever to find a place that sells them large and they seem just so much more healthy then flake food and such.
kim

[jim_shedden]

Kim : Glad to hear the good news. As for the shrimp...............I can't get my guys to even look at it. I even tried starving them for a couple of days..........as per Brewmaster...........and still they just looked at me..........what kind are you feeding them?

Jim

A Brine Shrimp Shell causing a blockage?

Mike

[Carol_Roberts]

. . . . or was it a ground up shrimp shell . . . anyway it caused an obstruction and the fish died.
CArol

[limige]

lol, i know what you mean jim, if i throw in anything else other than CBW they look at me like it's bread and water! half of them turn their nose up. but i'm working on them they're getting better. theyre reluctantly eating red worms, form 1, and JW discus food. my CBW's come in tomorrow. the last batch mysteriously died off