White spots on tail fin

[Lionheart]

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 out of 7 discus has 4 large and 8 small white, raised fuzzy spots on his tail fin. Noticed just today. Nothing unusual. He is the lowest on the hierarchy and pretty much chased a lot by the top fish. He spends a lot of time in the corner. Purchased the fish in Dec. None of the other fish show any spots. No other changes in behavior (eating 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).
4 large and 8 small white, raised fuzzy spots on tail fin


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
None


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
55 gallon
7 discus all around 6-7 months
Haven't measured any of the fish so hard to say exact size, when purchased ranged between 3.5"-4.25", all have grown since purchase


5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
50% WC every other day, 75% WC once a week
Wipe down glass once a week
Squeeze out prefilters in tank water every other day
Clean out filters (2x AC70) once a month


6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
Running for 4 months.
Bare bottom
No other decorations. Only things in tank are heater, filter and thermometer probe.


7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
Yes, age water for 24-48hrs. 1ph swing over 24 hrs. Aged water is heated to same temp as tank (83.5)


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 83.5

- ph 7.4

- ammonia reading 0

- nitrite reading 0

- nitrate reading 5

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 100% (treated with Prime)

- RO water ____


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
None

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.
Beefheart 1x day
FDBW 1-2x day
Biogold 2-3x week (only a few fish eat them)


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.

122670

[Lionheart]

Actually, on closer inspection, nearly all the others have 1-4 very small spots on their tail fins as well.

[Phil4Discus]

I'm no expert and when first clicking on this thread I was assuming it was going to be small white specks that I saw on the tail fins of some of my juvies as they were growing that was actually just a normal thing. The picture you provided isn't the most clear, but if multiple fish are having multiple white spots on their fins and body, I'd assume it was ich. Typically when I have encountered ich in my tanks, I steadily increase the temperature to 86F. I also treat with ich-x as instructed on the bottle for about 5-7 days. This is only what I do and I have found success doing so, but I've never had ich on my discus, just on tetras, corydoras, and live bearers. In my opinion, I am assuming it's ich, but I'll defer to the experts on the board though.

[Pices]

Bump

[fljones3]

I am no expert but I would think water first. I would slightly cut back the amount of feeding to see if that helps. I also might try using Paraguard to see if that might assist. Hopefully the experts will weigh in.

[brewmaster15]

I have to see a better picture. That looks alot like a viral outbreak or lymphocystis, Can you post some better pics? Or email them to at brewmaster15@comcast.net thanks
al

[Lionheart]

122709


Sorry, I can't seem to get a better pic up here. The breeder is saying it is fungus. I believe I have caused it by overfeeding the amount at each feeding and not doing enough WCs. Per his instructions, I dosed one round of Kordon's rapid cure, will do 100% WC for the next few days until my order of potassium permanganate arrives on Saturday. Then, one dose of that. I also throughly cleaned out the AC70's and tubing. After the Kordon, I am seeing some behavioral changes in the affected fish. He's not as dark, is not showing his bars all the time and seems to be less timid/not hiding in corner. He is a red leopard. His color ranges from white to deep blue and his bars range from not visible to pretty darn dark. Those colors and bars change on/off in a matter of seconds. Is that typical? None of the other discus change color/bars so suddenly or dramatically.

[oracle2015]

Have you had any success treating your discus? I have some angelfish with spots on their fins that look exactly like the ones you have pictured. All seem to have good appetites and are active but it does seem to be spreading slowly. At a loss how to treat, any help would be appreciated.

[Lionheart]

I dosed one round of Kordon's rapid cure followed immediately with a 100% WC. That seemed to have stopped it from spreading. On the most affected fish, it seems to be getting better each day as I do 100% WC every day and have only been feeding a small amount once per day. I just dosed the tank with 3ppm of potassium permanganate and will do a 100% WC when that finishes in 4-5 hours. I will let you know if that clears it up.

122819

[Lionheart]

So, I could not wait the full 4-5 hours as the fish looked stressed, so I drained it at about 3.5. The spots have not cleared on the most affected fish, but I dont see any more spots on the others. I have been doing daily 100% WC so it is hard to say what is benefiting them the most. I think I am going to wait it out and just keep up with the WC to see if the final spots on the affected fish's tail disappear. They are much smaller then when I started this.

I will say that he is a changed fish. Whiter, swims around more, comes up to the glass at feeding time, and the top fish does not pick on him at all anymore. I have not seen much chasing from them at all.

[Pices]

Hi Lionheart. Glad fish are improving and I think with your stocking levels (7 discus in a 55 gal at 4.5 to 5”) may have to do large wc’s daily to keep them healthy. You are meticulous in keeping everything else clean which is great. I think you’ll continue to see improvement with your chosen plan.
Once you get them a bigger pool you should be able to ease up a little.
I did daily large wc’s for a year on mine to get them big round and healthy. I had 10 discus roughly the same size as yours in a 75 gal. They grew up and went in a 125 gal. I’m tweaking my filtration system now as I had similar spots on my
adults and I change 80 gal on 125 every other day and they are grown!
I’ve bumped up my biological and mechanical filtration, but until I’m sure all is well, I have to be the filtration system.
Good luck and your doing a great job on these:o
Patty

[oracle2015]

Thank you for the update on how your treatment is working out. The LFS didn't carry the Rapid Cure but ordered it along with a product that's supposed to be potassium permanganate so I haven't tried any treatment so far. I gave my angels a really good looking over and it's odd (to me anyways) that all the spots are on the bony rays of the tail and pectoral fins, no spots whatsoever on the body.

[Lionheart]

Just following up.

I did another of dose of PP for almost 7 hours, and was doing 100% wc everyday for weeks. some of the spots went away, some did not, and a couple news one have appeared. I think all I managed to do was stress these fish out. So, I am going to cut back and just see how they do. They don't seem to be bother by them.

[14Discus]

I’m no Discus expert, but imo, this does not resemble Ich. First, you made no mention of white specks on body and even stated that no spots exist on the body. If Ich was present, you’d see specks on body as well. Bc of the fuzziness of spots you described and pictured, I’d be inclined to suspect fungal or bacterial issues. While a Paraguard is ok to use.....it’s my preferred Ich chem w raised temps.......I’d be inclined to go for a dose (4 day treatment) or two of Furan-2. Others may disagree, but that’s what I’d be doing w my Discus having the same issues as described and pictured. Keep us posted.