Discus Gone REALLY dark, Almost black

[Avinitlarge]

Hi
I have a problem with one if my two discus. A few days ago it went really dark, It also looks to have a grey tinge to it when you look at it from a different angle
DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE


Problem

1. Please explain the problems with your fish/when and how they started

Really dark in colour and hiding in corners

2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/ white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds)

It Has gone really dark, Almost black. It's fins are clamped. I think it has excess slime. Eating ok, Still active but does hide alot.




3. What medications/ treatments that you have already tried and results. Include dosages and duration of treatment.

Not used anything yet


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and age, number and size of fish

Tank age is about 4 years, Its a juwel trigon 350 (350 L) The discus are only about 3" and there are 2 of them

5. Water change regime/ how long has tank been running/ bare bottom or gravel/ do you age your water?

I usually do a 1/3 water change every 3 days, The tank has been setup and running for about 4 years. It has a gravel bottom and I dont age my water

6 Parameters and water source;

- temp 29oC

- ph6.4

- ammonia reading 0

- nitrite reading 0

- nitrate reading 5

- well water no

- municipal water no

7. Any new fish/plants added recently

One discus from the same supplier, This discus is ok

[drpynchon]

Personally, while I think these are non-specific symptoms, going really dark, being listless, and sloughing slime coat are signs of something bad, whatever it is. If the water parameters have been stable at the stated values, I'd be worried about some form of infection.

Are the gills moving symmetrically without visible abnormalities? Is the respiratory rate normal? Is the stool black? Are there any other specific lesions on the body besides the sloughing grey slime coat? If these are all non issues, infections I'd personally be concerned about might be something along the lines of columnaris or chilodinella, but I'm not an expert on aquatic disease so I'd be curious what others would put on their differential. It can be very hard though to make a specific diagnosis without a scraping or something in a scenario like this.

Personally, I would start by isolating the fish in a quarantine tank as soon as possible, and start with large water changes and aquarium salt (though salt is often debated). I defer to the more experienced folks here on whether/what antibiotics to consider.

[Avinitlarge]

Are the gills moving symmetrically without visible abnormalities?
They gills seem to be opening symmetically but I think they are opening wider than normal

Is the respiratory rate normal?
Yes, It is breathing the same rate as the other fish

Is the stool black?
Not sure on this one, Ive not actually seem any poop

Are there any other specific lesions on the body besides the sloughing grey slime coat?
Ive had a good look and cant see anything else wrong

Here is a picture, Not a pretty sight

[Eddie]

Yeah, that fish is super bad off.

Get it into a hospital tank and treat for external parasite first. Your best bet is to go with Potassium Permanganate. If you've never used it, check back when you have it and we'll walk you through it. There is a sticky in this section that also explains it very well.

Eddie

[Avinitlarge]

Yeah, that fish is super bad off.

Get it into a hospital tank and treat for external parasite first. Your best bet is to go with Potassium Permanganate. If you've never used it, check back when you have it and we'll walk you through it. There is a sticky in this section that also explains it very well.

Eddie

What is Potassium Permanganate and where would I get it from??? Is it like Methylene Blue?

[Eddie]

What is Potassium Permanganate and where would I get it from???

Not sure where to get it in the UK.

Another option, as this is an emergency is to perform a formalin dip. 30 drops per gallon for 30 minutes with heavy aeration in the dip tank.

Eddie

[Avinitlarge]

Panic over I think. I dosed the tank with methalene blue and have done many water changes. Here is what the fish looks like now.

[mjs020294]

He looks a hell of a lot better, well done.

[pinoysport]

Panic over I think. I dosed the tank with methalene blue and have done many water changes. Here is what the fish looks like now.

can you be more specific?

how long did you dose? and how many water changes?

are we talking over weeks here? days?

that fish was pretty bad... wondering what you did that was soo effective. that fish looks ALOT better

[Avinitlarge]

one dose of methalene blue 70ml for my tank
10% -15% water change every day
Took about 8 days from bad to the picture above

I thought the fish was a gonner.

I added the methalene blue on 31st March
Did a 20% water change on the 1st April, The discus no longer had clamped fins
From then on I did a small water change every day (10 - 15%)

I am so happy

[Eddie]

Thats a great recovery! Good work!


Eddie

[kitykatfunkiehat]

Oh my god! That discus looked almost dead in the first picture. Wow. I cannot believe how quickly you brought him back. You should update us in a few days on how he is!

[Wahter]

He might have had some Costia (Ichthyobodo) or Chilodonella - usually medications for ich will handle those two.

IME, Methylene blue can knock out the nitrifying bacteria in your filter, but keep treating the tank as if you had ich just to make sure you've wiped out what it was that was affecting your fish.



Walter

[darkknight87]

he looks alot better..how much had you been doing water changes before that happened?

[DiscusChris]

Im shocked to read this thread, I thought that guy was a goner for sure. WOW