Help! Discus has expanded gill.

[Nsfaquatics]

My discus is having an extreme gill flair issue in one gill and I can't figure out why. So I have already done a ton of research on this issue and have heard all of the usual suspects, gill flukes, copepods, ammonia poisoning, etc... I have, over the past several months, treated with prazipro, API general cure, API furan 2, seachem paraguard, and seachem metroplex mixed into a homemade beefheart paste while using seachem focus to ensure proper medicine bondage to the food. Nothing has solved his gill issue. It did seem at one point that he was getting better on the metroplex, but during week 2 of the treatment it went back to looking just as bad as it did from day one. I came downstairs today and his gill was more expanded than I'd ever seen it before. I don't know what to do anymore. A little backstory on this fish; I've had him for about a year and bought him online from a great dealer when he was already 5" in diameter. Upon arrival there was no issues at all with him or any of the other fish I ordered. I put him in a 20 gallon quarantine with one other discus for several weeks while treating him with metro and prazipro. He ate like a beast. He would eat pellets, frozen, freeze dried and anything else he could find. he also Never showed the gill problem. He then after around month 2 stopped eating pellets all together for what seemed to be no reason. I feed a mix of Sera discus pellets and Tetra XL color granules for my dry food. He wouldn't touch either. He however still ate frozen and freeze dried no problem. After the quarantine I moved him and several other discus into a 55 setup. This 55 setup was initially a bare-bottom tank with two 55 hang on the back filters on it and a 40 gallon sponge filter in it as well. In this tank he did fine but still would not eat pellets. after around 2 or 3 months in the big tank I had noticed the gill issue, and that he wasn't able to eat as well (he would always miss his target when feeding.) It seemed like this happened all overnight. He has no eye clouding and has never once pooped white feces, and my ammonia was at 0 along with nitrite and nitrate was around 20 at the time. So since he was becoming so bad at eating and losing weight fast since the other discus easily out-competed him for food, i found that the only way to get him to eat well was with a feeding cone. so flash forward to now and the 55 is now a planted 55 with the same filtration and with the addition of 2 plecos, some snails and 2 kribensis cihlids (all of which were quarantined.) since the problem with the gill hadn't been fixing itself like I'd hoped with regular water changes and a healthy diet, I decided to resort to medicine (i was avoiding dosing with medicines if the gill problem was stress related.) for two months now I hand fed him medicated food and treated my water all to no avail, and now he only seems worse. Can anyone please help me? I love my fish and have come to an end of ideas. he still eats frozen but now spits out freeze dried. He's got a good feeding mentality but its very slow to get the food into his mouth (he either misses the food falling from the cone or has his food stolen because he likes to spit it out all the time and try to eat it again)


just to summarize my tank, feeding, and maintenance

tank size: 55 gallons
filtration: two 55 gallon hang-on filters and one 40 gallon sponge filter
water changes: 30% weekly
feeding: large variety of frozen (mysis, brine, bloodworms, krill, etc...) live black worms, tetra XL granules and sera discus granules, freeze dried black worms. Types of food vary daily and feeding times are once daily (several foods during feeding, usually pellets along with some frozen)
tank is planted.
medicines used: API Furan 2, API General cure, Seachem metroplex (in food), Seachem paraguard.
tank parameters as of 12/19/2019: AM: 0 NITRITE: 0 NITRATE: around 15-20

here are some pictures of him. his right gill is the one with the issue. his left gill is perfectly fine. (sorry if the pictures aren't very good, they hate when i follow them around with the black scary picture box)

126142126143126144126145

[Nsfaquatics]

Sorry current nitrates are around 10. past was 15-20

[LizStreithorst]

If there has been a long standing fluke infestation it can make gill tissue come out as the fish breaths. If that's what it is, it won't get better.

[Mando]

If there has been a long standing fluke infestation it can make gill tissue come out as the fish breaths. If that's what it is, it won't get better.

Liz, would salt soothe this? Perhaps a prazi treatment + salt? or is it too late?

[MikeyO]

Could have a blown Gill from microbubbles, either way it’s not going to heal, I have a discus with a blown gill and nothing worked, it’s been a year, the fish eats and grows just fine

[Mando]

This looks different than a blown gill; blown gills are permanent. This is inflamed and I seen some recover from it. I'd do a salt treatment.

[LizStreithorst]

A salt treatment certainly won't do any harm. I wouldn't throw any more drugs at him.

[Mando]

Op, you can do salt at 1tbs/10g it should help.

[Nsfaquatics]

thank you everyone for your advice!

[Nsfaquatics]

If there has been a long standing fluke infestation it can make gill tissue come out as the fish breaths. If that's what it is, it won't get better.

Hmm, that’s discouraging. It’s a shame there’s no sure-fire way to cure this issue. Thank you for your reply!

[Nsfaquatics]

Could have a blown Gill from microbubbles, either way it’s not going to heal, I have a discus with a blown gill and nothing worked, it’s been a year, the fish eats and grows just fine

I’m glad to hear that your fish is still okay even with the issue. I’ll have to do some research on micro bubbles. Thanks for your help!

[Nsfaquatics]

This looks different than a blown gill; blown gills are permanent. This is inflamed and I seen some recover from it. I'd do a salt treatment.
I’ll try doing regular salt doses and see if it helps. Thanks!

[Nsfaquatics]

Op, you can do salt at 1tbs/10g it should help.

Thank you! I always keep salt handy so I’ve started treatment right away

[Megalodon]

See a vet. It could be a bacterial infection which will likely need prescription antibiotics.

[bluelagoon]

What would salt do? I see something that looks deformed. Or late stage trauma. To me it's like dumping salt on a broken finger. They don't look inflammed. Nice red or pink gills is what you want.

[Mando]

I don’t see anything deformed or gill material sticking out. I think my phone is playing tricks on me. I only see some slight red on the gill plate and the plate opening a bit wider than normal.

[bluelagoon]

Gill just looks tranluscent to me. I see many discus and especially angles like that, especialy lighter colored ones. I can't see the deformity in the pic. It might be something that you haven't noticed before. I had a discus once with a clipped gill plate and didn't notice it til I had him for a while.

[Nsfaquatics]

See a vet. It could be a bacterial infection which will likely need prescription antibiotics.
I unfortunately have no fish vets in my area. Believe me I’ve looked. But I’ll look into the bacterial side of things. Thanks!

[Nsfaquatics]

What would salt do? I see something that looks deformed. Or late stage trauma. To me it's like dumping salt on a broken finger. They don't look inflammed. Nice red or pink gills is what you want.
What trauma do you think could’ve caused it? When I transfer my fish I don’t use nets, I actually use a 1 gallon plastic bag and let the fish swim in, allowing the fish to be free swimming throughout the whole process and not stuck in a net. Other than the transfer from quarantine, I can’t think of any other traumatic events. Thank you for your reply!

[Nsfaquatics]

I don’t see anything deformed or gill material sticking out. I think my phone is playing tricks on me. I only see some slight red on the gill plate and the plate opening a bit wider than normal.
I wish I could get a better picture. The Gill Plate is open pretty wide, and the gills themselves seem a little messed up. Almost like they aren’t layered evenly like a gill normally is. Also there’s a fine clear membrane that seems to act like a seal for the gill that is messed up on this side but not on the other.

[Nsfaquatics]

Gill just looks tranluscent to me. I see many discus and especially angles like that, especialy lighter colored ones. I can't see the deformity in the pic. It might be something that you haven't noticed before. I had a discus once with a clipped gill plate and didn't notice it til I had him for a while.
I might try to get a better picture of it so it’s easier to see. I’m most concerned about how wide the gill is stuck open.

[bluelagoon]

What trauma do you think could’ve caused it? When I transfer my fish I don’t use nets, I actually use a 1 gallon plastic bag and let the fish swim in, allowing the fish to be free swimming throughout the whole process and not stuck in a net. Other than the transfer from quarantine, I can’t think of any other traumatic events. Thank you for your reply!

Trauma was not inflicted by you. Trauma can be caused by a number of things, like gill flukes for example, which were mentioned. But may or may not be the case. Signs a gill fluke infection you will see fish shaking their head and a slight swim backward movement.

[bluelagoon]

Does it look like a malformed piece of skin flap at the edge of the gill? Sorta acts like a heart valve would act, while breathing.

ps..Usually they will rest on gill and only use one at times, when gill flukes are present.

[bachbeo]

I had a guy with the same symptoms as you, when I accepted he didn't eat for a long time, I kept him alone in a 50 liter tank, I fed Artemia alive, he started eating. and went to the toilet, but for 4 weeks there was no physical recovery, very thin, enlarged and moving slowly. We hope to have your comments. Would like to thank.