do my discus have hexamita?

[vikki]

Problem

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 am worried my discus have hexamita. I have noticed over the last couple of days some of my discus have clear stringy poo and are still eating but not as much as normal. I think some of them have gill flukes as well.

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).
Clear stringy poo, loss of appetite. Sometimes turns dark. Breathing fast and sometimes breathing with one gill shut.

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

Blue planet praziquantel tablets, have tried this treatment three times for flukes but doesn't appear to have worked. Dosage is one tablet per 20 litres of water.

Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish. 200 litres. 5 discus about 9 inches


5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often). 50℅ of water twice a week


6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
Aquarium been running about 5 months. River sand as substrate about three cm deep

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing. No


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 _____ 30 degrees

- ph _____ 6.4 (recently added some coral to buffer pH, used to have pH of 6)

- ammonia reading ____0

- nitrite reading ____0

- nitrate reading ____20

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.

I use tap water

- well water ____

- municipal water ____

- RO water ____


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently. No


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.

If it is hexamita would metronizadole be the best thing to treat and if so how much? I live in Australia so metronizadole can be difficult to obtain, I spoke to my vet who are nice enough to get me some if need be but said they wouldn't know how much to dose. I just bought some tetra parasite guard off eBay today which has metronizadole and praziquantel as well but didn't want to treat them with it if its not the right medicine.

Thankyou

[vikki]

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/18/dyputysa.jpg

Here is a picture of my discus with the clear stringy poo.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[John_Nicholson]

A couple of things...First all fish have hex in their guts. It is only a problem when they are stressed of sick with something else. Second since way less then 1% of all discus get to be 9 inches I highly doubt yours are that size. The normal discus that people claim to be 9 to 10 inches is really about 6 inches. To properly diagnose your discus you will need to get a microscope or find someone with one that can do a slide and look to see what you really have going on. The safest thing to do is to start changing lots more water. It will always have a positive affect on the fish. More discus are killed with the improper use of meds than anything else. Your symptoms do point to some sort of hex type problem but I almost never diagnose something without more proof.

Good luck.

-john

[timmy82]

The picture is hard to tell, As John said up the water changes to daily. The river sand you got what was the source? I would invest a QT tank bare bottom and get them right in their. I also use epson salt on a regular basis gives them a good flush out.

[dirtyplants]

WC more often, by 30 degrees I hope you mean C. and not F. 20 nitrates is high for me it seems to be at a level which can cause problems. If your water quality is bad then bacteria can proliferate. Not enough WC and parasites multiply. Where are you getting your water from, and is your pH constant?

[vikki]

Thanks for the help

No my discus are definitely not 9 inches, meant to say cm! And yes the temperature is 30 degree celsius.

Timmy82 - The substrate I got from my local aquarium shop.

Dirtyplants - my aquarium water is straight from the tap with prime. I have had problems in the past with my ph dropping due to no kh, but since adding coral to buffer the water that problem seems to be sorting itself out. I was worried someone would say my nitrates are to high...I have recently added matrix in the hope that will help with nitrates. With my work schedule I find it hard to change water every day but am on annual leave so will give it a go and try adding salt?.

As far as the gill flukes go...I have tried treatment with praziquantel with no luck. What else could I try?

If I start doing daily water changes and add salt but still are seeing clear stringy poo, should I start medicating?

[pcsb23]

Don't add salt, there is no need and it won't help with anything. I wouldn't lose too much sleep over nates @ 20ppm (most hobby test kits are so inaccurate that it could be anything!). 30C is the top end for long term keeping ime, I aim for 28C.

Prazi, if used correctly, will deal with flukes if that is what the problem is. For now I'd see how they go with increased water changes and add no meds.

[dirtyplants]

If water from tap does not have high nitrate in it then if you do wc more often the nitrates will go down, and I have found that when nitrates get around 20 on those tests then fish begin to stress. Stress can kick up Hex symptoms fairly quickly. Fish become shy, hide and stop eating or become picky eaters. Not saying that is the culprit here but stressing WC.

[vikki]

Ok thanks for the advice :) so how much would you recommend I start changing daily?

[John_Nicholson]

Depending on the bioload on the tank I change between 50 and 80% a day.

-john

[dirtyplants]

I would do John's recommendations with the water change, at least until you can see if the fish is responding to the water.

[OC Discus]

You could up your wc to 80% without adding a lot more time. Maybe 3x a week for a couple of weeks, then back to 2x but 80%

[OC Discus]

I didn't read John's post. Absolutely 50-80% daily would be best.

[humjav]

thermotherapy .... raises the temperature to 32


good luck:)

[John_Nicholson]

Absolutely no need to keep discus that hot.

-john


thermotherapy .... raises the temperature to 32


good luck:)

[rickztahone]

Depending on the bioload on the tank I change between 50 and 80% a day.

-john


thermotherapy .... raises the temperature to 32


good luck:)

Listen to a pro....or listen to a new member.....hmmmm...tough one.

I will go with Johns advice here.

Good luck.