Can anyone help me with this poor discus?

[Beurre blanc]

Hello everyone. I found this forum today when i was googling active discus forums where i could study and learn more about this fish. Sadly my first post here is about a possible sick discus. I'm posting this here since i did not get an answer from the discus forum i normally use. I'm mostly more of a reader then a writer on forums but i will do my best to explain my problem and i hope that someone will be able to help me since i'm afraid that i will loose my newest discus in the pack. :(

The discus i bought is a Stendker. I added him to a pair of two discus as i'm currently working on growing a bigger pack (it's comming three more on wedensday). When he arrived he took a huge beating and it ended up with me taking the two old discus into another tank so the new one would get some rest. The two males are about 12 inches and the female is around 10. When he arrived he looked very healthy and fresh and not very much stressed. After i wanted to give him some rest i noticed that he had some white "dots" on his fins. The dots is on the 4-5 first fins on the top and bottom fin. It is also one dot on each "arm". I have also not managed to get him to eat yet. When i separated the discus he had probably been bullied the whole day while i was at work, when i came home he was exhausted. Can this problem be of stress, or is it a disease he has gotten? Worth to mention is that he is often swimming against the stream, i have never seen my other discus do that.

I feed my fish 4 times a day with home made beef heart mix. I change 30-40% water twice per week. My PH is 6,5. My temp is 29C and i have zero nitrit.

I tried to post photos but it says i need to have posted 10 posts.I posted the link to the norwegian forum instead. Please remove the dots in between the link and the photos of the fish will be visible there. Thank you so much for any help on my issue... :)

ht tp://akvaforum. no/forum.cfm? thread_id =71159&sr=1

Fredrik

[Chicago Discus]

Hello Fred, and welcome to simply discus we will be more than happy to help you but first please fill out the questioner and post the answers so we can get a better understanding on whats going on thanks josie
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?38545-Disease-Questionnaire-please-complete

[Trier20]

Hey Fredric! Welcome to simply! How long have you had this fish. I got a pair of Stendker's that didn't eat for almost am entire month after I got them. Sometimes it just takes a bit of time.

[Beurre blanc]

Hello everyone and thank you very much for the feedback :) Here is the form filled out. I didn't see it in my haste to help out my poor fellow, hehe.

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

I bought a new discus from Stendker. I added him to a pair of two discus as i'm currently working on growing a bigger pack (it's comming three more on wedensday). When he arrived he took a huge beating and it ended up with me taking the two old discus into another tank so the new one would get some rest. The two males are about 12 inches and the female is around 10. When he arrived he looked very healthy and fresh and not very much stressed. After i wanted to give him some rest i noticed that he had some white "dots" on his fins. The dots is on the 4-5 first fins on the top and bottom fin. It is also one dot on each "arm". I have also not managed to get him to eat yet. When i separated the discus he had probably been bullied the whole day while i was at work, when i came home he was exhausted. Can this problem be of stress, or is it a disease he has gotten? Worth to mention is that he is often swimming against the stream, i have never seen my other discus do that.


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 not been eating since i got it, three days ago. It has whites on tips of fins.



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

I have not tested any medications/treatments yet since i'm afraid to use the wrong medication and make things worse. :/


Tank/Water

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

If i calculated correctly my tank is 142 gallons. In Norway we count in liters which is 540 liters. I hope i found the correct liter <-> gallon calculator. :) The tank has been running for roughly 3 months. I keep 3 discus, 10 corydoras adolfoi, 10 siamese algae-eaters, 4 pearl gurami (temporary), 1 betta splendens (temporary), one l-144 (temporary), three ancistrus sp. (temporary) and 10 leopard frog pleco. Also i keep one gibbiceps - i know he dosn't fit in there but he was my first fish and i don't have the heart to give him away. Some of the fish is temporary moved in from another aquarium becaouse i'm stripping that tank down and re-establishing it with a background. All of the fish from that tank was going togeheter with the discus previsouly in my old tank. Gibbiceps is approx 20 cm, discus is 10-12 cm, ancistrus fully grown and the rest is mostly 3-6 cm except for the guramis who are adults. Worth to mention is that most of this fish has been going togeheter in my old community tank for almost a year before i bought a bigger tank and moved them over there.



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

I change 35-50% water minimum twice a week and clean the gravel at the same time. It's been running for approx 3 months, with gravel. I don't age it, i use tap water and get the right temp on it before adding it to the tank. I use a am-top 3338 filter. I have two big roots in the tank and a good bunch of plants.


6 Parameters and water source;

- temp _____29

- ph _____6.5

- ammonia reading ____

- nitrite reading ____0

- nitrate reading ____

- well water ____no

- municipal water ____yes

I currently don't have any nitrate/ammonia tests in the house but i can run and pick up some tomorrow.

7. Any new fish/plants added recently

Only the last discus as previsouly explained. None other fish seems to be infected, look different or behave different then they did since i got them.

Sorry for forgetting this form previsouly i was taking some hasty turns to the post button. Trier20: Which food did you get your stendker fish to start eating? My plan is to go and buy the stendker beef mix tomorrow to see if it will eat it since it grew up on it. Over time i will mix my own beef heart mixture into it and eventually he will eat the same beef heart mix as my other discus. Thats the plan, anyhow... :) We'll see..
Thank you everyone for the help!

[Trier20]

I got them to eat freeze dried black worms. They eat my beef mix now too.

[Chicago Discus]

Ok I will give it a shot, first the new discus not eating is pretty normal when discus are afraid or stressed they go off food. Putting him in a new environment with new tank mates and lots of them will cause him to go off food (not much to worry about at this time). Second your Tank seems a little on the crowded side to me not bad just a little busy. I would get more Discus and less other fish, Discus tend to do better in larger groups, sounds to me like you need another Tank....LOL...I would sure not want to give up my favorite fish either. What I tell most of my customers is when they have a community Tank with Discus its best to make them the main attraction otherwise they feel insecure in environments with large assortments of fish. No wonder there is aggression going on in the tank with the Discus they are jockeying for space....LOL.... In an aquarium of that size you should keep like six or seven discus they do better in larger groups. You should always quarantine new fish for a minimum of 4-6 weeks you never know what nasties they have picked up. And last just have fun with your fish and try not to over think it to much.........Josie

[Beurre blanc]

Hello Josie :) Don't worry about the tank mates - most of the fish are going to another tank in a couple of days when the silicon on the backgruond has dried out. Same for the group of discus, by wedensday there will be six of them and the other fishes will be out. :) Those things i'm not worried about, i'm just a little bit stressed about these white dots on the fins. Wondering if it will be dangerous for the fish or if it will go over as he calms down and starts eating properly again. Thanks for the heads up.

Fredrik

[Chicago Discus]

Hello Josie :) Don't worry about the tank mates - most of the fish are going to another tank in a couple of days when the silicon on the backgruond has dried out. Same for the group of discus, by wedensday there will be six of them and the other fishes will be out. :) Those things i'm not worried about, i'm just a little bit stressed about these white dots on the fins. Wondering if it will be dangerous for the fish or if it will go over as he calms down and starts eating properly again. Thanks for the heads up.

Fredrik


Fred I need to see them to see if I or someone else can identify them. Trying to diagnose white spots on a fish without a photo is really hard. Can you post a photo so we can see.......Josie

[Skip]

12 inch fish??

think you mean 12 cm fish..

[Fishwhispererpam]

12 inch fish??

think you mean 12 cm fish..

I was thinking same thing! Or else I want proof!! LOl. JK

[Dogvet06]

here r the pictures since you can't post them
http://akvaforum.no/images/forum/32018_121125112939_1.jpg
http://akvaforum.no/images/forum/32018_121125112940_2.jpg

[Chicago Discus]

Looks like some sort of injury to me. Lots of fresh clean water and time......Josie

[Beurre blanc]

Yes, i ment 12 cm. I'm not so used to these english word measurements and wrote the wrong one, sorry about that. Dogvet06: Thank you very much for re posting the photos. :) Thank you all for the help, i'll keep the water changes comming and keep my patience up. :) Pretty interesting these forums, a lot more information and activity on this forum then on the norwegian one. I was up all night reading ... :book:

[Chicago Discus]

Yes, i ment 12 cm. I'm not so used to these english word measurements and wrote the wrong one, sorry about that. Dogvet06: Thank you very much for re posting the photos. :) Thank you all for the help, i'll keep the water changes comming and keep my patience up. :) Pretty interesting these forums, a lot more information and activity on this forum then on the norwegian one. I was up all night reading ... :book:

We are pretty happy with our little corner of the world and feel free to share anytime you want. I knew that you mixed up inches with centimeters no biggie ........Josie