Beginner, please help. Rate my fishes and microscope movies. Thanks!

[subek]

Hello, I'm new on this board and new to Discus.

I started with Discus fishes in December last year, bought a few that I found on local classifieds and then another few and another, now I have in total 20 fishes. The last of them were bought two weeks ago (those big orange). Problem is that I think that they are not in best shape, some of them don't have appetite, some looks gloomy.
Yeah I know that I made many mistakes from the beginning but that's why I'm looking for help.

I'm feeding them with Stendker beef heart mix and Tropical flakes, minimum three times a day.

My water parameters are:
No3 0-5
No2 0
GH <3
KH 0-3
pH 6,8-7,2
Temp 25-26 celsius

Here are some pics and short movie:

https://i.imgur.com/iQH35f7.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/rLxyFGd.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NPwnSMn.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Ai0STqB.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/l5INKob.jpg


https://youtu.be/JYtCupA1Fgg


And here a movies with bacteria that I found in dirt from my sump:

https://youtu.be/wmCEWsfTsp0

https://youtu.be/7OlDsq9dbYY

And here are microscope movies of one of the looking sick fishes fin:

https://youtu.be/7BV30UGnuwE

https://youtu.be/jYKHB6GFXzk

So what more should I check? What should I do? What do you think about my fishes?

[Filip]

Hi and welcome aboard Subek .
Nice tank you got there , how big is it ?
Your soft and acidic tap water is perfect for raising and even breeding discus . Are those Warsaw tap parameters?
You have made a mistake introducing and mixing discus on multiple occasions without even quarantining them . Maybe the problems with your last 2 discus that you experiencing right now are due to cross contamination .
Other and most important thing to consider for discus health is the water quality . Your deep and coarse sand bed is notorious for trapping dirt and compromising the water quality .Its dark colour also make your discus look darker and your pigeon blood discus peppered . I would consider Changing to 1 cm Pool filter sand if I were you.

How often and how much you change water , or siphon the sand bed ?
What kind of filtration and flow do you have ?
You got baby discus with weak immune systems that are very intolerant of anything but perfect water quality . So you'll have to work real hard on that first .

Rule out the water quality issues (if any) and if after 2-3weeks your discus still won't eat than you can put them in a quarantine tank and start with elevated temperature treatment or consider some other sort of treatments .

Cheers and good luck .

[subek]

Hello, tank have 1100 liters plus about 300 liters sump. I live in Wielkopolska district in small village, we and few other villages around have our own water source.

I'm considering to change the subsoil in the tank for the sand but I have some fears because I'm running the tank for eight years now without any restart so it is very stable and I don't want ruin something.

I'm exchanging water minimum once a week about 20-30%. In sump I have sponges, ceramics, bioballs etc. Water flow is 6k liters per hour. Water parameters seems to not to be the problem, tank is stable No3 was always barely visible (keeping plants in this tank is impossible).

Thanks :)

Edit. Later today I'll try to do gill biopsy and check it in microscope, I'll upload a movie here.

[Filip]

You can gradually replace your Eco substrate siphoning out a small part with every water change . You can siphon out 1/5 of its total mass during the WCs and have it all safely taken out in a course of a month .

If only 2 discus are affected and noneating and all the rest eat and looks fine than maybe you should try a separate treatment on those 2 in a Barebottom Quarantine tank . There you can start with more frequent waterchanges and elevating your temperature to enchance their appetite.

[subek]

Here is what I found in gill:

https://youtu.be/pxGjeAMdpYo

And here is the poo:

https://youtu.be/FzmA8TTHY9M

[Filip]

Here is what I found in gill:

https://youtu.be/pxGjeAMdpYo

And here is the poo:

https://youtu.be/FzmA8TTHY9M

First one looks like a gill fluke and the second one as Spironucleus Vortens protozoan commonly known as Hexamita or Flagellates .
Both of them can be present in small numbers in any healthy discus fish . They pose a thread only if their numbers overwhealms the fish immune system .
Youll have to search and google for minimal number of parasites on a certain microscopic area before you diagnose an infestation .

[subek]

OK, thank you very much, I found more of this gill flukes in very small section of the gill so I think that I should do something with this.

[Filip]

OK, thank you very much, I found more of this gill flukes in very small section of the gill so I think that I should do something with this.

Find a specific info of pathogen numbers on a specific area before you start treating .
Its good thing that you have invested in a microscope but do your research before you draw your final conclusions and decide treatment .

[subek]

OK I'll do that, thank you once again.

Cheers!