One of discus not acting right

[Dogvet06]

DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE


Problem

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

Neon saphire dark in color, hanging by one of the heaters.



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)


turning dark, staying to itself. Comes out when fed, havent seen poop. Been going on 2 days.

http://www.pbase.com/ladymontava/image/147386447.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/ladymontava/image/147386448.jpg

http://youtu.be/y9zQMqlmu6g

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

none



Tank/Water

4. Tank size and age, number and size of fish
90 gal 9 fish range 3-5.5" neon saphire is smallest


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

Change 75%daily but missed a couple days here and there this week. Age water 24 hrs. Usually only use one of e barrels b/c the other barrel im tryign to sink driftwood in. Did a larger water change and had to use some from other barrel which has been aging for 4 days without use.

6 Parameters and water source;

- temp _84____

- ph __7.5___

- ammonia reading __0__

- nitrite reading __0__

- nitrate reading _10___

- well water ____

- municipal water _x___

7. Any new fish/plants added recently

None. Dont know if its just real cold in house or just the skipped water changes. I can move to quarantine if needed.

[Eddie]

When was the last time you cleaned your filtration? Have you wiped down all the surfaces of the tank and equipment lately? Some folks never wipe the tank/equipment down but I've ALWAYS felt it to be a good practice. Have you changed foods lately? New stuff?

[Dogvet06]

Cleaned the sponge under waste water from tank friday, changed filter pad in sump friday. Wiped down walls on thursday.

[Dogvet06]

New food two weeks ago was hans beef heart and dont offer every day bc it clouds the water.

[Dogvet06]

Ill have my husband do a full wipedown tonight. Should i remove more or less water?

[Trier20]

My honest opinion is he/she doesn't look bad. It still eats but just hides by the heater. My guess is that this little guy is the low man on the totem poll and hangs out there as easy refuge from all of the pecking order mumbo jumbo going on in the tank since they all have been introduced. Thats my two pennies! HTH!

[Dogvet06]

I sure hope so. He was the most adventurous until this week. Since im not the one doing the maintenance i have to take what i can get. At least his fins arent clamped

[Eddie]

Ill have my husband do a full wipedown tonight. Should i remove more or less water?

Well, you have a lot of age/size variations in your group of fish. Some people will slow down on water changes as the fish get older, some keep them up. I like to keep the water changes high and constant. If you generally do 75% every day, I'd keep that up. Are you feeding heavily? Also, you mentioned it was cold in the house, is the temp fluctuating a lot or something?

[Dogvet06]

I feed them 3-4 times a day what they eat in 10 min. I have two heaters in there with a heater controller. Have it set for 86 but its reading 84 and im sitting on couch with blanket bc im cold. Didnt know if thats why he hung by heater.

[Dogvet06]

All the others are swimming around grazing for any food that may be around. The shooting star leopard looks dark too but otherwise normal

[Eddie]

When in doubt, clean it out! LOL Try keeping things extra clean over the next week with the 75% daily and see how things go. ;)

[Dogvet06]

Thanks Eddie! I figured it had something to do with it being im not the cleaner until i get the all clear from my dr. Hopefully my hubby will follow orders well lol

[Eddie]

Thanks Eddie! I figured it had something to do with it being im not the cleaner until i get the all clear from my dr. Hopefully my hubby will follow orders well lol

Im sure you can convince him!

[Dogvet06]

well we cleaned the tank last night and wiped everything down. he was acting the same in the morning. so i brought home some metronidazole from work and i set up a 10 gallon and used the age water to fill it and raised the temp. put him in there and he looked fine. left for 2 hrs and he died. i forgot to put prime in the tank. doesnt aging remove chlorine? did i kill him by forgetting the prime or did he just die from the stress he was going through? :(

[nwehrman]

If your water has chloramines it will not age out... Chlorine will. And chloramines kill .... Way worse than just chlorine.

Sorry you lost him. I wouldn't think stress took him out that fast....

[Dogvet06]

ugh i knew i should have just left him alone. i rushed too fast and forgot the prime. now i will beat myself up about it.

[Eddie]

well we cleaned the tank last night and wiped everything down. he was acting the same in the morning. so i brought home some metronidazole from work and i set up a 10 gallon and used the age water to fill it and raised the temp. put him in there and he looked fine. left for 2 hrs and he died. i forgot to put prime in the tank. doesnt aging remove chlorine? did i kill him by forgetting the prime or did he just die from the stress he was going through? :(

Wow, sorry to hear that! I mentioned giving it a week to see if he recovered.

And as mentioned on the chloramines, you need to use something like prime/safe.

[Dogvet06]

yeah i should have waited. kenny told me if he didnt eat to do metronidazole. i was so worried about him getting too stressed i rushed and ended up killing him by forgetting the prime. lesson learned.

[Eddie]

ugh i knew i should have just left him alone. i rushed too fast and forgot the prime. now i will beat myself up about it.

It's okay, we learn from it. One thing important to remember, try to keep medicating down to a last resort. You want the fish to get better without any help of chemicals/antibiotics by keeping water/diet in check.

[Dogvet06]

k thanks... the other guys are on their own! luckily they are all acting fine.

[Second Hand Pat]

Sorry Jaimie really bites :(

[nwehrman]

Jamie --- I agree with Eddie if anyone is off I usually up water changes and watch for a few days. Rushing around for meds and whatnot is a recipe for forgetting something....

Just monitor everyone else and hopefully nothing else pops up. Keep us posted. Sorry again that you lost one.

[Trier20]

Sorry to here Jaimie! We all have killed a fish or two or three or more in our days. Lol at least it wasn't 30 fry like me!!!!

[nwehrman]

Same here ... I've killed my share on the learning curve...

Still sucks