Please help!! Sick discus - possible bacterial infection??

[Eddie]

Ok just got home from work and they're looking pretty bad, one has died ( they're still spread out and not so tightly huddled though. I've also noticed a couple scratching themselves on the heaters, and the fungus seems to have spread a bit more but they aren't behaving as freaked out as they were before.

Sorry to hear about the loss. If they weren't improving, I would more than likely recommend another hit with an external parasite treatment. It might be something to think about. Just watch them to make sure they do not regress.

[Duckesd]

I'll be keeping a close eye on them, if they don't start improvIng would you suggest something like pp or a specific parasite medication?

[Eddie]

I'll be keeping a close eye on them, if they don't start improvIng would you suggest something like pp or a specific parasite medication?

I'd go for another round of PP but be patient on them. If they regress than retreat. Keep trying to get a hold of some nitrofuran based antibiotics. Something like Nifurpirinol would be best.

[Duckesd]

Hi Eddie, the fish are still looking bad - probably about the same which is good and bad I guess. What would be the earliest point to stop antibiotics and go for pp instead? I don't want to stop antibiotics too early incase I create some resistant bacteria, but I've been speaking to a lot of people and doing heaps of reading and they all think it sounds like discus disease/plague and are mainly suggesting the pp too.

I now have fish in 3 other tanks that look like they may be starting to get sick with the same thing I'm thinking I'll try the pp with them first then salt?? How many treatments and how many days apart should I do the pp?

I'd really appreciate any further advise.

[Eddie]

You can stop now but you will have to have a different antibiotic on hand after the PP treatment. I've never had to do consecutive PP treatments but I've read of people doing them every 4 or 5 days.

The discus "plague" is merely an infection of multiple issues, parasite and bacteria.

[Duckesd]

Ok thanks, I'm not familiar with too many antibiotics, can you suggest a couple so I can see what's available here? I'll probably have to order some.

[Eddie]

Ok thanks, I'm not familiar with too many antibiotics, can you suggest a couple so I can see what's available here? I'll probably have to order some.

Try to some type of Nitrofuran

[Duckesd]

Ok quick update, this has now spread to multiple tanks in our garage as well as two in the house. I don't know how it can spread like this if it's a mixture of parasites and bacteria???

The sick fish have all started to look really 'beaky' - cant think of a better word to describe it but they look like they have a parrots beak rather than the beautiful shape they were before. I don't know what causes this but I'm hoping they'll be able to recover from it. In general the ones we started treating look slightly better but no where near well.

What would you suggest as a first course of action for the other tanks which are getting infected? PP first? So far I've only given them salt, today was the first day they've started looking really bad so I'm sure they've caught the same thing.

[Eddie]

I'm sorry to the hear of the news. This a really tough call. You have to be 100% sure that this is not related to your water. I won't tell you what you to do, do what your gut tells you. If its viral, it could be something that jeopardized the immune systems of the fish allowing any/all parasite/bacteria to overwhelm the fish. If you decide to treat, PP would a good choice but follow through with a more aggressive/effective antibiotic. Get some Furanase, its truly amazing stuff.