Please help!

[jRaidz]

I have 5 discus with angels and german rams in 125 gallon tank
One discus was acting funny hiding,not eating,floating around tank,sometimes swimming with 1 fin which is not normal because it is the most active discus in the tank..few days later a 2nd discus is doing the samething and i woke up this morning and the 1st one is dead..i took water samples and my 2nd discus who was barly hanging on to my local fish expert and he ran water tests and EVERYTHING is good,nothing at all is wrong with my water..he said the alkalinity is a little bit low but not to where it would cause this,so he said could be a parasite or disease so he gave me melafix and he seen small holes on the forehead of the discus which he said was normal for big discus but not juveniles but none of my other discus have it including the first one that died..i got home and see a 3rd discus starting....i feel like they all of my discus are gonna drop like flies..


i do water changes every 2 days.. temp is around 80-83..they arnt being bullied..and since i have them all my discus always rubbed there sides of their body against random things..i dont know whats going on and i dont know what to do...i put so much time,effort and money in trying to get this tank to thrive..and its crumbling..PLEASE HELP!

[Ryan925]

You should post this in the disease section and provide as much info as possible.

How long have you had the fish. What size. Where from. How much water is being changed. Water params. Etc etc

[jRaidz]

You should post this in the disease section and provide as much info as possible.

How long have you had the fish. What size. Where from. How much water is being changed. Water params. Etc etc

about a month,3 as big as a silver doller and 2 twice there size..10-25% water change..0 ammonia,nitrate,nitrite,..ph is around 6

[jRaidz]

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?
One discus was acting funny hiding,not eating,floating around tank,sometimes swimming with 1 fin which is not normal because it is the most active discus in the tank..few days later a 2nd discus is doing the samething and i woke up this morning and the 1st one is dead..i took water samples and my 2nd discus who was barly hanging on to my local fish expert and he ran water tests and EVERYTHING is good,nothing at all is wrong with my water..he said the alkalinity is a little bit low but not to where it would cause this,so he said could be a parasite or disease so he gave me melafix and he seen small holes on the forehead of the discus which he said was normal for big discus but not juveniles but none of my other discus have it including the first one that died..i got home and see a 3rd discus starting


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).

Not eating,clamped fins,darting,hiding.

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



Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
125 gallon 5 discus,5 angels,2 german rams 2 shrimp.

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
10%-25% every 2 days

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
about 2 months,barebottom

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
ph flux between 6.6 - 7.0

8. Parameters and water source;
Ammonia 0ppm,nitrite oppm,nitrate 0ppm
tap water used with prime

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 80-83

- ph

- ammonia reading ____

- nitrite reading ____

- nitrate reading ____

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.

- well water ____

- municipal water ____

- RO water ____


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
1 albino angel a week ago.

10. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.
twice a day,frozen blood worms


11. 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.

[jmf3460]

first off melafix is snake oil (no real medication and doesn't help anything) its just adding unnecessary chemicals into your tank. my question to you is about your tank. you say 125 is that planted, bare bottom or what. for adult fish in a bare bottom tank, 25% every other day is not too bad. but for juvenile fish 10%-25% is unacceptable. are your fish juveniles in a planted tank?

[jRaidz]

It's not planted it's bare bottom..the 3 that are giving out or already did are juveniles..the 2 bigger ones seem to be just fine..and when I do water changes every 2 days it's 20% at least..if I see more waste I'll do every day but not to 20% that's when I do about 10-15

[Phillydubs]

You just added one angel to the tank a week ago? No qt?

You said the local guy tested water ? What were the results? Normal to him and normal for discus maybe two diff things

Sounds like your random one angel add got you here and brought in something.

[Phillydubs]

Your water changes are off and really need to be larger and more often.

Your tank size is not ideal for juvies given the wc schedule.

You may want to start over w a group of bigger adults

[Filip]

Hi OP .
With your very limited info about your tank and discus I can only guess its a water quality related issue . Small baby discus have very weak immune systems and require a lot more Water change % than what you currently perform.

Here is a good read from Al- the owner of this forum, about posting help for a sick discus.Its a good and informative read IMO :

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?128838-Odds-are-stacked-against-you-getting-effective-help-with-your-Fish-Problems


Good luck JRaidz.

[jmf3460]

JRaidz I have merged your two threads and moved it to the emergency room section of the forum. This will make it less confusing for people to find your thread and give help

[jRaidz]

well from what I seen on my 3 dead discus they have black spots..my last 2 alive discus are all white with a bit of orange then out of no where they developed black spots...and doin some reaearch I guess it's called "Discus Plague or Black Disease" anyone heard of this?

[LizStreithorst]

I seriously doubt that you have Discus Plague. I am one of the few unlucky ones who has had experienced Discus Plague. It does not present in that manner. It does not kill fast. Do as Phil said. Change a lot more water Start again with larger fish. Older fish can handle mistakes that younger ones cannot.

[jRaidz]

Then can u tell me where all this black is coming from?

[LizStreithorst]

I have no idea where the black spots came from unless your fish were Pigeon Bloods. Sick and stressed Discus turn dark but they turn dark all over, they don't have black spots unless they're Pigeons. Pepper comes out on Pigeons when they are sick or stressed because it's the only thing they have on them that can turn dark.

[jRaidz]

My 2 discus seem to be doing fine they are swimming around the tank,eating..i did a 50% water change yesterday and a 30% today

[LizStreithorst]

Good for you. Keep it up!