Discus in dire need

[rdub]

I have large pair of discus. Removed young from the tank a few days ago. Female must have injured herself while I was removing the young. That is all I can think of. She was fine up to that point. In the last couple of days she is "swimming" on her side. Trying to swim upright but goes back to the side. This was quite sudden. Any suggestions as to cause or treatment?

[nc0gnet0]

Well, if the symptoms are a result of injury, not much you can do other than keep the water pristine and the fish comfortable and your fingers crossed. I would go this route and monitor.

If there is a chance this is the result of illness, it "might" be a swim bladder issue, but what you describe doesn't seem to make me believe that is the case. If it were a swim bladder issue, your best chance at treatment would be kanamycin in a qt tank, personally I wouldn't bother with any other anti-biotic other than kanamycin.

[nc0gnet0]

I would like to add, that I myself lost a nice male albino pearl diamond the other day under very similar circumstances. The male (and female mate) had just successfully tended to a batch of eggs and had achieved attachment of a small batch of fry. All looked well until I noticed the male was a bit "off" and next thing I know he was laying on the bottom of the tank near death. Female looked fine, as did the fry that she was tending too.

It's very possible that due to the fact the male was an albino, I did not see the symptoms early enough (although even if we would have been capable of being dark, I still would have attributed this to the fact he was with fry, same for the loss of appetite, not uncommon for this to occur under the circumstances).

I did some thinking about the past history of this fish. He had been bred and raised multiple batches of fry throughout the years, and I had purchased him at 6 1/2" nearly 5 years ago. This would have him at approximately 6 years old, maybe a tad more. I have no concrete evidence, but I do believe albino's have shorter lifespans than there non-albino brethren.

I guess what I am trying to say here, sometimes, despite our best efforts, fish just die.

-Rick