have you encountered this?

[adrian's fish]

Hi guys, one of my fish has developed some spots on its sides and i don't know what they are - bacterial or fungus infection. i have 13 discus in my 130 gallon tank all bought from hans 7 months ago. The tank 's been running from may this year and my water parameters are all good ( i'm doing 90% water changes every day). i have to say this is the third time the fish is getting the spots... first 2 times when the spots showed up i moved the fish in a 30 gallon hospital tank and treated with kanamycin and they went away so i moved the fish back in the main tank and after 4 or 5 days the spots came back. in the beginning the spots are small but every day they are spreading and growing. What puzzles me the most is why only that fish gets them and why the spots are coming back after each treatment. i will post some pics. thanks for all your feedback.

[Clawhammer]

I would treat the whole tank with Kanamycin, the infection seems to be present in your main tank. Kanamycin is gentle and will not harm your other fish or biofilter.

Perhaps this fish is stressed more than the others (at bottom of pecking order) or has a genetically weaker immune system, causing the infection to take hold.

[Leland F.]

Those could be a fungal infection, but they look like pleco bites to me. Best to remove the fish to a hospital tank and treat it accordingly until it clears up. If you have a pleco, I'd move it to another non-discus tank, or give it away.

-Leland

[jmf3460]

OP those do not look like pleco bites at all, rather a fungal infection. Probably affecting the weakest fish in your tank. The white/greyish film is what is leading me to believe fungal.

have you tried salt? perhaps daily salt dips for this fish for a week to 10 days could help. couldn't hurt

[warblad79]

Yes, I did encountered that issue and it's nasty. My fish scale just falls off and takes time to heal. I used kanaplex (Kanamycin) for one week. Lot's of water change after that.

[Leland F.]

If there's no pleco biting it, it could also be a Costia flagellate infection. Dieter Untergasser shows similar pictures of infected fish in his book, and recommends salt or malachite green treatments to cure it.

-Leland

[adrian's fish]

thanks guys for your responses , i don't have any plecos in my tank i will move him back in the hospital tank and start to treat him with salt baths and kanamycin. i just don't understand why the infection is coming back after 4or 5 days when i move him back in the main tank . I try not to treat the hole tank because 1 kanamycin gets expensive when you have a 130 gallon tank and 2 none of my other discus display any symptoms .

[warblad79]

thanks guys for your responses , i don't have any plecos in my tank i will move him back in the hospital tank and start to treat him with salt baths and kanamycin. i just don't understand why the infection is coming back after 4or 5 days when i move him back in the main tank . I try not to treat the hole tank because 1 kanamycin gets expensive when you have a 130 gallon tank and 2 none of my other discus display any symptoms .

I would remove all the fish and sanitize the whole tank with PP. if your fish are getting sick all the time and reoccurring issue only indication that you have a lot of nasty stuff in your tank.

[Clawhammer]

I think the infection is coming back because it is present in the tank / other fish. Try picking up bulk kanamycin on Jehmco.

[adrian's fish]

all my other fish are fine is just this one who gets sick it might be his immune system

[Clawhammer]

all my other fish are fine is just this one who gets sick it might be his immune system

He could just be at the bottom of the pecking order. Stress has a big impact of the efficacy of a fish's immune system.

[jmf3460]

I would go the quick cure route as well (malachite green + formalin medication) I do not understand why people keep saying kanamycin, this does not look bacterial to me it looks fungal.

[Clawhammer]

I agree it looks fungal but kanamycin has cleared it up twice. FMG would certainly be less expensive.

[jmf3460]

OP can you get your hands on some antifungal treatment? Are you located in the US? If so can you get your hands on quick cure?? The kind sold now days is made by Mardel. API also has a powder fungal medication known as Fungus Cure, both are broad spectrum and both are generally inexpensive.

[Leland F.]

You can do a 10 min dip with quick cure, but because it contains formalin, dosing it to the tank when the fish has open lessions, could quickly poison the fish from the formalin. Fungal infections tend to kill a fish fairly fast, which made me think it could be secondary infections from pleco bites due to the circular shape, but after looking it up in Untergassers book, I would stick with them being skin flagellates. Salt or malechite green, or a formalin dip is the way to treat skin flagellates.

-Leland

[pitdogg2]

I would go the quick cure route as well (malachite green + formalin medication) I do not understand why people keep saying kanamycin, this does not look bacterial to me it looks fungal.

couldn't agree more as far as I know antibiotics don't do so well with fungus


I agree it looks fungal but kanamycin has cleared it up twice. FMG would certainly be less expensive.

That there say volumes as it has not been cleared up if it keeps coming back time to try something else. Kanamycin can be very hard on kidneys and it is not to be used more than 10 days.

[Clawhammer]

The fish has always been treated in QT and then returned to the tank, getting re-infected. My point is that the disease is still lingering in the tank and the tank should be treated.

[Leland F.]

Skin flagellates are easily fought off by healthy fish, that is why you're not seeing the same problem in the other fish. Weaker fish obviously are easy to infect, having a weaker immune system. Once a fish has been infected by a parasite, virus, bacteria, or fungus, they are more likely to be reinfected again. Move the fish to quarantine and keep it there for 6-8 weeks after treating it. As I mentioned, I would be hesitant to add anything with formalin in it to the tank, as formalin quickly kills fish with open wounds that are exposed to it for long periods. It is effective as a dip though. The only true way to find out what is on he fish is to do a skin scrape, if you have acess to a microscope and know how to use one.

-Leland



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[adrian's fish]

the fish is in the quarantine tank i did 2 salt deeps and added quick cure so i ll keep you posted on the progress . thanks guys for all your help.