sick discus, dark, clamped fin, white coating

[eak]

Last night I noticed that one of my discus was not feeling well. It turned dark and is keeping one of his fins to the side. I noticed that on the same side he has small clear patches ,looks like more slime in a few places but maybe it is something else. He is eating and swiming and his gills seem to be ok. I added new fish to the tank last saturday and they are bigger than he is so maybe he is under some stress as he is not the one in charge anymore. Also one of the new discus got white coating in one spot on the top of the body. I raised the temp to 89F and added a quick cure last night, I don't know if I did a right thing. The white coating on the new fish seem to get smaller. Can somebody let me know what this could be and what I should do, please. I only have discus for 6 months but I didn't have any major problems with them. Once 5 mnths ago they had ick but that is all, so I don't have too much experience. Thanks for all of your help.

[KIWI13]

If you treated your fish for ich and irradicated it, then it seldom comes back cause they become immune to it.

There are things you need to let us know first before we help you out..

1) How big is your tank ??

2) Did you quarantine the new fish and for how long ??

3) How often do you perform Water changes and how much do you take out ?

4) Are you currently treating the tank ??

5) Did the new fish come from the LFS ?

6) how many fish were in there with him to begin with ??

if you increase the bio load and your filter hasn't yet adjusted , you can have ammonia spikes. This will stress him out.

So please help us first so we can help you.

Jason

[eak]

I have a 55 gal tank,I have few plants which are planted in glasses.In my tank I had 6 discus including him, before I got the new fish. Five are about 3 in and the sick discus is 4 in long. I added two new fish which are about 4.5-5in. I got them from a local breeder. I quarantine them for 5 days. I change 50% water once or twice a week. The last change I did was this Monday. Maybe I over clean it because I removed all of the plants and cleaned them. Also I cleaned all of the filters. But I did it in the tank water so the bacteria should be ok. The tank was clean also. All of the readings are fine and amonia is 0.
Can those simptoms be a sign of stress only. He seems to clamp his fin more when he is passing by the new fish, especialy the red marble.

[eak]

I just went to my tank to feed them and they all eat like crazy, but now the eye of the sick discus is white and I noticed that few other discus have like a white film over their eyes. What is it? I never had this before. What should I do? Please help me.

[tpl*co]

What are your Nitrite and Nitrate levels? I'd say you are still having water quality issues. Also, 5 days is not long enough to quarantine a new fish (too late now though). What color is their poo? I've had good results (but some have had bad, depending on the tank) with Jungle Parasite clear.

[eak]

I just did another test of my water. I am using tetratest laborett and amonia is at 0 mg/l NO2 is less than 0.3 mg/l. According to this test this is where it should be. Ph is 8 but this is what I always have.
I used quick cure last night. Is it ok too? Should I change the water now and use something else. I have melafix at home I don't know if I could use this before I buy something else. I read somewhere that this will help with cloudy eye but I don't know. Did anybody use it?
When should I change water when using medication? Do I change it before a new dose or I add the medication for a couple days and then change water? Sorry for those questions but I don't really know and it doesn't say on the bottle. I don't want to kill my fish with over-dose.

[tpl*co]

I'm not familiar with quick fix, what does it say on the label it is for? I'd start by doing a water change and change water 50% each day with the same temp water for a while. Could you post some pictures of them? Melafix may help too.

[Carol_Roberts]

I think you mixed the fish too soon. Continue with water changes. Quick Cure is formalin and dye. IF it is helping continue to add it. I'd put in salt too @ 4 - 6 tablespoons per 10 gallons. Could be parasite, could be columnaris . . .

[KIWI13]

Here's a little advice for the future cleaning routine.

never clean the plants, glass, gravel and filters all at the same time. This will elliminate most of the benificial bacteria and this can give you ammonia spikes. try cleaning the filter one week, then the gravel the next, then the plants the following. Well you get my drift. Too much is bad. If I was you, I would step up my water changes over the next few weeks. Do 30% or so every 2 to 3 days instead of one massive one once a week. Reason being, if there is a problem with the water, you don't go ushing things out of balance.

Like Carol mentioned, salt is very good. But I would increase the quantities slowly, as in try 2 tablespoons to 10 gallons to begin with and then raise to the 4 after a couple of water changes. Then again seeing as how your fish are stressed , its better to work with Carol's formula cause you can clear of any parasites before they set in and build up the fish's mucous membrane.

Change your water every two days and make sure your adding back the quantity of salt you took out by performing a water change.

Good luck and keep us informed



Jason

[tpl*co]

Also, (some of the experts refresh my memory, but I thought I read...) doesn't formalin (Carol, you said this is in quick cure?) also effect the biofilter? If so, then your biofiltration is seriously affected and I'd do daily water changes until it is cleared up. I've read that cloudy eyes are a result of water quality.

[Carol_Roberts]

Yes, formalin does impact the biofilter somewhat.

[eak]

Thank you all for helping me. Last night I did a 50% water change and I added the salt. I noticed that two of my discus had one of its gills closed so I added prazipro for flukes and I didn't add any quick cure. This morning they all look a little better. They breath from both gills and they fight over food. The cloudness in the eye got a lot smaller. Now it is just in the center of the eye, and it is not as white anymore. Also they don't have as much body slime. I keep my water temp at 89F.
Today I purchased pimafix and furan-2, I don't know if I should try one of those or just work with salt now, and give them some break. Like I said before I used prazipro last night and it said to dose it only once every 3 to 5 days and that it will last from 5-7 days so I don't know if it will be safe to use one of those new meds that I got with 25% water change. It states that furan will remove the cloudness but I don't know if I should use that many different medications in that short period of time. The pimafix is for fungal infections and internal and external bacterial infections.
Can I do a 25% water change daily now or it can stress them out even more since before I was changing it only once or twice a week and just yesterday they had a 50% water change?

I took some pictures of my fish yesterday and I wanted to post it for you to see but it tells me that my file is to big and I don't know how to play with it, so sorry. Once again thank you and please let me know if I should use one of those meds. or it just won't be safe.

[eak]

1 pic

[eak]

They look a lot better but the eye still has some cloudness on it.

[eak]

pic 3