1 fish not eating + white feces, after being bullied & high nitrite levels

[j0ris]

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?

I'm new to discus fish, just bought 5 about 3 weeks ago.

It all seemed to go OK, except for one fish being bullied by the largest of them all. About a week ago this fish stopped eating, and started having white feces (solid string, it doesn't look slimey to me). On top of that there were high levels of NO2 in the tank due to insufficient water changes (entirely my own fault which I dearly regret).

So I suspect the cause is stress by bullying and too much nitrite. Both problems were taken away 3 days ago: I put the bully in a separate tank, and I've been doing lots of water changes while monitoring NO2.

However the fish doesn't seem to be getting better. He's also not getting worse: looks healthy and swims along with the others, but he just won't eat anything and his feces keeps being white. I'm getting worried as I read once a discus starts having white feces and stops eating, he may be hard to save.

My main question: shall I just try and wait for him to get better by himself, or do I need to take action now before he gets worse, and use some kind of medication?


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).

White poop, will not eat.


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.

I turned up the heating a few degrees, as I read this may help against internal parasites.


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.


120 x 50 x 50 cm (= 50 x 20 x 20 inch)

5x discus: 4x 3 inch, 1x 3.5 inch (the bully)

20x cardinal tetra
15x corydora sterbai
2x corydora Venezuela black
1x pair of Apistogramma Agassizzi
1x Farlowella acus
2x Rineloricaria fallax



5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).

50% twice a week
10% (almost) daily


6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?

2 years, but the discus fish have been there for only 3 weeks. I used to have 5 moon fish, which I sold to make place for the discus about a month ago.

On the bottom there some sand and gravel.


7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.

No. I'm told the water in my region (Netherlands) is apparently not that bad for aquariums.


8. Parameters and water source;


- temp: 86 F

- ph: 8

- nitrite reading: 0

- nitrate reading: 12.5 mg / l

What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.


municipal water



9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.


10. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.

Tank: http://postimg.org/image/r1z6n5135/

Some snaps of the sick discus including white feces:

http://postimg.org/image/br9gc1rif/
http://postimg.org/image/o95z340qp/
http://postimg.org/image/j8inr9h1j/

Many thanks in advance for any advice!

[PP_GBR]

Welcome. Hopefully, Don sees your thread and he'll help you out. Meanwhile, read this thread:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?107851-Is-this-normal

[lipadj46]

That's a tough one as I'm not sure what meds are available in holland. In the mean time in crease your daily water changes to at least 50% if your water does not need to be aged, you can try epsom salts in the water or soak into food (Others would have to chime in on this as I don't really use epsom salts). Have you checked your water for pH swings, the pH is quite high so any mini cycles could cause problems with ammonia.

[strawberryblonde]

I'll chime in on the Epsom Salts treatment. =)

Definitely up your water changes as Don advised.

Then create a 3% Epsom Salt solution to treat food. To do that, measure 2 cups of water into a clean jar. Add 1 Tablespoon of Epsom Salts, cap it and shake well to dissolve it.

To use it: Soak food in the solution and feed twice a day. I used cubes of freeze dried blackworms, but you can soak flake foods, pellets or even thaw some beefheart cubes, mix it in and then refreeze them.

ONLY use this for 3-5 days. It can be toxic if fed any longer than that.

If you don't see marked improvement in the discus with the white feces within 3 days, I'd discontinue using the Epsom solution and move on to using Metro.

[2_Basic]

Joris.....whats the update??? have you done anything??

I started with discus about 7 mths ago and I've always had it go from one discus to another. I've lost a couple and the symptoms seem to come on and off a couple others.

[timmy82]

I'll chime in on the Epsom Salts treatment. =)

Definitely up your water changes as Don advised.

Then create a 3% Epsom Salt solution to treat food. To do that, measure 2 cups of water into a clean jar. Add 1 Tablespoon of Epsom Salts, cap it and shake well to dissolve it.

To use it: Soak food in the solution and feed twice a day. I used cubes of freeze dried blackworms, but you can soak flake foods, pellets or even thaw some beefheart cubes, mix it in and then refreeze them.

ONLY use this for 3-5 days. It can be toxic if fed any longer than that.

If you don't see marked improvement in the discus with the white feces within 3 days, I'd discontinue using the Epsom solution and move on to using Metro.

+1 certainly start with the above. For the minute keep the bully in the QT but it may have been better to put the stressed one their.... Epson salt orally is a very good natural fix. The stressed one because he hasn't been eatting will be shedding his stomach lining. What food are you trying to feed and what were they feeding where you got them from?? When ever I sell discus I give the new owner some of my BH mix and FDBW to help with the transition.