Discus breathing heavy with gills out

[kay796]

So I bought a breeding pair of discus yesterday morning. Transported them home about 20min drive but the seller didnt have any bags and was not used of handling fish. He put them in a bucket with water and we got them home in a fully cleaned tank with a fully cycled filter. Today the female is breathing heavily and they still havent eaten. I was wondering if this is stress related? The male also has a bump near the tail. Its the first time any discus I bought breath this heavy. I have pics of the 2 also, The male is looking towards the left and female looking towards the right. I want to add also that its a sponge filter in the tank and they dont sit at the top of the tank so ive ruled out a lack of oxygen.

[LizStreithorst]

Were they doing this when they were in the previous owner's tank? If what you're calling a bump on his nose is the hollow place that makes that area not smooth like it should be, it's just a conformation fault. It's no big deal unless you're into that kind of thing.

It would really be helpful if you could fill out this form in the disease section. http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?38545-Disease-Questionnaire-please-complete

[kay796]

Problem

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started

morning. Transported them home about 20min drive but the seller didnt have any bags and was not used of handling fish. He put them in a bucket with water and we got them home in a fully cleaned tank with a fully cycled filter. Today the female is breathing heavily and they still havent eaten.

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 breathing heavy.

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

1tbs salt per 1 gallon


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.

100L, 1half years

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).

90% every day

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

Bare bottom high tank. Fully cycled filter.

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
No

8. What type/brand water conditioner do you use? Do you add it to the tank or aging barrel? How much do you use?

Prime and to the tank.

9. 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 _30____

- ph _6.8____

- ammonia reading __0__

- nitrite reading __0__

- nitrate reading _25___
Test stripes may be inaccurate

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 _0___

- municipal water __0__

- RO water __0__


10. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
No

11. 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.

Beef heart and discus gran. Twice a day

12. 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.

Pics posted below

[kay796]

Not that we noticed. The lump is on hid tail not his nose.

[LizStreithorst]

I don't see a bump on a tail. Sorry.

Have you checked your water for a pH swing after aging in a bucket overnight? If not, please do. If so how much is the swing? Please test your other water parameters with a drop test. The API test is the best. The results are important. What is the source of your water? 30 C is a bit high. I would lower it to 28 or 29.

How long had the previous owner had the fish? Had they been eating for him? Was the bump on the tail then? Did you see the gill problem when the fish was there? If the gill tissue is coming out because the gill plate is flared it's a conformation fault. It looks flared in one of your pics. See if the fish are still breathing heavily when the heat is lowered. If it is, the problem is parasitic.

Neither of them appear to really be in trouble so you have time to do all the things I've asked and answer all the questions I've asked.

[kay796]

She also is now just breathing from 1 gill. The other gill moves a small bit but not much. I didn't notice that till she turned towards me

[bluelagoon]

Do you notice any micro bubbles after a large WC?

[kay796]

I didn't notice any lump or issues with the gills when moving them. I don't know how long they had them for when we bought them. She seems to switch from using 1 gill to both. Still breathing very heavy. I don't age water it all comes out of the tap and treated with prime or safe. It's not possible to age or use RO water here unfortunately. I've 20 other discus at 30c all with no problems. The heaters are set to 30c but between 3 thermometers the true temp would be 29c. They were eating for the previous owners.

[kay796]

As for micro bubbles I'm using buckets of water and pouring into the tank but none are present when I do

[LizStreithorst]

Forgive me Kayleigh but I won't keep trying to help you if you don't give me the answer to the questions I asked about pH swing and water parameters with an API test kit and let me know your water source. I believe that you were asked the same questions in another thread.

[kay796]

There is no ph swing because as stated water comes from the tap treated with prime or safe and into the tank. As stated it's not aged. Water parameters are listed above on the questionnaire

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Kayleigh, for now lets add between 3 to 5 tablespoons of salt for each 10 gallons to the tank and see if that helps to settle the fish. Even thru the sponge is cycled the fish could have caused the tank to be going thru a mini-cycle. Teststrips are not too accurate.
Pat

[cooper666]

There is no ph swing because as stated water comes from the tap treated with prime or safe and into the tank. As stated it's not aged. Water parameters are listed above on the questionnaire

This is a dangerous assumption to make. Prime does not degas your water. Degassing, stripping C02 is what changes the pH when ageing water. As Liz said, get a bucket of water from the tap and test the pH. Aerate overnight and test again. Your water might be full of CO2.

[bluelagoon]

Tap water yes, but what is your water source? Where does the water come from? Well, municipality, ect..There's already a high nitrate in your water if the readings are correct with that much WC daily.