pitting

[ttan02]

Hi everyone, I have a 3 yr old Alenquer in a planted 100 gal, with manzanita wood. About a week ago, I noticed that she was scratched on the left side with a few white spots associated with the scratches. There was also a white spot behind her left eye. There now appears to be a series of pitting (holes) around that eye. I removed her last night and placed her in a hospital tank with 1 tablespoon salt/gal. She is really dark but appetite is normal. Other discus in the tank are unaffected. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[danotaylor]

It would help to see pictures and know your water parameters and wc schedule. It sounds like discus pimples from your description, which are bacterial skin infections that happen as a result of poor water quality. Even though the nitrates might be well controlled the bacterial counts in planted tanks are often a lot higher than non planted & BB tanks. Try doing a series of daily 50-75% water changes with aged water and give your substrate a good vacuum, especially around any rocks, wood or densely planted areas of your tank. If using salt you should use 2-3 tbsp/10 gal.
You should go to the emergency room section and fill out the questionnaire so we have a broader info base to make determinations from.

[ttan02]

Sorry, pictures won't upload. Things are progressing really fast. Came home from work and the "pitting" around the eye had deepened and by early evening the entire eye had begun protruding. At this point I'm pretty sure that it is a bacterial infection and went to the LFS and purchased Furan-2. Hoping to see improvement tomorrow. She's in a 20 gallon hospital tank right now.
You're probably right that it is a water quality problem. I change 20% daily and once a week perform a 50% change with gravel cleaning. I feed pretty heavily. Thanks for your reply.

[BrendanJ23]

I know a couple members have said to email the photos to yourself and then upload those photos, as they are automatically resized. I have tried this and do it myself with success.

[ttan02]

Yeah, I tried that. Still didn't work. Don't know what I'm doing wrong.