looks like Ich

[rasbora]

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 noticed this starting about 24 hours ago. One of the BD spooked right before this and scraped himself pretty good, also split a dorsal fin and tail fin. That is the fish that got the symptoms first.

2. Symptoms (i.e. , excess slime, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds).

White cysts on fish.

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

Added a little salt after a water change, about 5 tbs but that was actually for the sake of the rummynose and the plecs. I thought it might help with the stress of adjusting to big water changes. Did this twice.

Tank/Water

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

75g 6 discus 4-5inch. 2 sub adult BN plec. 6 rummynose which I have since taken out.

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

40% daily

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

4 months Bare Bottom

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

I age water 24hrs. Ph swing is .5 or less.

8. Parameters and water source;

Note: Water Parameters are important in diagnosing problems within a tank. If you don't own test kits for the following information, you can purchase them, test your parameters and post this info as soon as possible.


- temp __84-86___

- ph __7___

- ammonia reading _0___

- nitrite reading _0___

- nitrate reading __<5__

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 _100%___


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

Added 10 days ago: 3 4inch discus
Added a few days ago: 6 rummynose 2 BN plecs

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.

http://imageshack.us/a/img6/2190/ibh8.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img855/705/c0vw.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img12/4738/9mw3.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img32/6515/bw8.JPG
http://imageshack.us/a/img7/6625/auv9.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img585/2549/sk0p.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img196/2390/gw2j.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img36/7044/6rk.JPG
http://imageshack.us/a/img843/2459/wjok.jpg

[Allwin]

Can u check ur water temperature one more time? ich normally won't survive in warm water.

[OC Discus]

I had a stubborn, re-occurring case of ick that 89 degrees would not eradicate. Treated with Quick Cure for 3 days at 1/2 dose because of Tetras. Did large water change after third day and ran carbon 24 hours to remove med. Completely removed all traces of ick with no negative side effects.

I wish I had done this the first time when the heat and salt was too much for my tetras and I lost 7. Then my heater malfunctioned- shot up to near 100 degrees then dropped down to 70, resulting in a second outbreak of ick. 1/2 dose of Quick Cure for 3 days will remove it without harming your fish.

[Tazalanche]

Can u check ur water temperature one more time? ich normally won't survive in warm water.Ich is totally possible in a tank at discus temperatures, especially when the fish were newly introduced. There are many threads on here of new discus keepers having issues with ich.


Rasbora,
What you describe is probably ich, but we would need close up pictures to be certain.
Info about ich (http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/disease_medications/external/ich.shtml).

Proper quarantine procedures normally prevent this from affecting your display tank, but with everyone in the tank for 3-10 days, any of them could have been the carrier.

Merry & I dealt with a bout of this when starting out with discus in 2012 because we went lax in our quarantine procedures for some plants & mystery snails in an 86 degree discus tank. I turned out the lights on the tank, raised the temp to 88-90, added roughly 1.5 tablespoons of salt per 10 gallons & did feeding, water changes & everything else normally. At day 10 we turned on the lights to check everyone over, then turned the lights back off. On day 14 the lights were turned back on. On day 15 we dropped the temperature back down to 86. No ich since. Now all new plants get dipped & all new aquatic creatures get a 4-6 week QT in another room at the opposite end of the house from our display tanks.

As OC Discus stated, if you do not follow that precisely for the full 15 days, it will not work.

With the very short time frame that ich is actually susceptible to chemicals, plus the quantity of meds needed to treat your 75 gallon tank is an unnecessary expense & risk to the discus when salt & high temps can do the same thing. You mentioned pulling fish out of the tank, but I'm uncertain if you meant the tetras, plecs, or both. The plecs are able to handle the higher temps for treatment a lot better than they could handle any type of medication. I'm unsure if the rummynose tetras can handle the high treatment temps, but being a scaleless fish, be careful with what meds you use on them for treatment.

If you have a smaller QT tank, you could consider treating the tetras with a chemical treatment in it. Either way, to ensure total eradication of the parasite in the 75 gallon's water column, it needs the high temps.


If you wish to read up on it more, in the upper right corner of this forum, search keyword(s): ich salt raise temperature

Good luck!

[Skip]

I have dealt with ich once..

Used maracine (sp?) Concentrate for ich and velvet. . 1 drop per gallon for 5 days.. worked great.. no problem anymore.. plus left light off...

[rasbora]

Thanks for the replies they are helpful. I've had the temp at 88 to 90 for going on 48 hours. The white spots have multiplied a lot. I'm going to start quick cure after a water change. I have used it ten or twelve years ago on a 75g community tank and it worked. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Tazalanche]

If you plan to medicate the tank instead of doing the method I described, please return all settings to normal & only follow the instructions on the medication.

Keep in mind that tetras and plecs are scaleless fish & the proper dosage of medication to prevent harm to them may not be enough to do what you want as quickly as you expect.

[OC Discus]

I think you can reduce temp to normal with quick cure- 84 degrees.


Thanks for the replies they are helpful. I've had the temp at 88 to 90 for going on 48 hours. The white spots have multiplied a lot. I'm going to start quick cure after a water change. I have used it ten or twelve years ago on a 75g community tank and it worked. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Tazalanche]

I'm unsure if the rummynose tetras can handle the high treatment temps, but being a scaleless fish, be careful with what meds you use on them for treatment.It was pointed out to me that I misspoke on this part.

It should have stated:
I'm unsure if the rummynose tetras can handle the high treatment temps, but being as sensitive as a scaleless fish, be careful with what meds you use on them for treatment

[OC Discus]

Quick cure recommends 1/2 dose for all tetra species. IME that is enough to cure what is seen in the pictures here in 3 days.


It was pointed out to me that I misspoke on this part.

It should have stated:
I'm unsure if the rummynose tetras can handle the high treatment temps, but being as sensitive as a scaleless fish, be careful with what meds you use on them for treatment

[rasbora]

I added a second thermometer to be sure what kind of temps I was working with.

I removed the rummies to a seperate aquarium and treated them for 3 days. They are eating and seem ok, but we will see.

In the 75 G I lowered the temp, but have maintained it at 86. I treated for 3 days, and one discus still had some cysts, so I did a 40% WC and treated for a 4th day. Today they all seem to be doing well with no signs of ich. The 2 BN plecs seem to have done ok through the treatment, as they remained with the discus the whole time.

I will probably re introduce the rummies in a month or so if they seem to be healthy.

Thanks again for the help. I will post if anything changes.

[OC Discus]

Glad it is working out.