lemont23
01-23-2022, 10:30 AM
1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
First off I would like to say that these, fish mean the world to me. They are my fathers which unfortunately passed away a few years ago. He for some reason was obsessed with fish even though he jumped straight to discus without much experience, he loved them. I tried my best to keep them healthy. I mean I've read more about discus than I've read about anything else in my life + observing them for countless of hours and the information I've found is incredibly mixed and not that specific. I had problems with them at first when all I heard from fish shop owners was "you only have to change the water once a week" and then they recommend all of the frozen foods and never mention vacuuming any leftover foods etc. which to you might sound obvious but not for complete beginners and so I lost a couple of fish which were rather small and would need much more maintenance, that I know now.
This is also why I'm having trouble now. I bought new fish had them quarantined and used prazi. A couple of months later I've noticed a drastic increase in breathing and scratching of the gills, specifically at night time when all lights are off. I've tried a month treatment of prazi and it seemed to work when it was in the water, but continued anyway until one of my fish gills started looking very bad, sticking out. It seemed that it really messed with it's breathing and it died a couple of months later. To add, this was the most dominant fish in my tank, the most healthy it seemed.
One thing that also happened was that the stopped breeding and fighting, there was 2 pairs in my tank that would always lay eggs now for a while no action that I could see.
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).
Fast breathing, scratching of the gills, discoloration near the gills/belly which wouldn't get better despite pristine water conditions, clamped fins(one fin), transparent "gills?" sticking out, (real gill tissue for the blue diamond), getting spooked more easily.
3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
Praziquantel, I did the whole month treatment. Tried levamisole also after which others seemed better, but my blue diamond died.
Tank/Water
4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
110gal. 5 now. 2 are 3 years, 7inch at least and 6inch. 1 is 1.5 years - 6inch. 2 new ones are 5 inch and less then a year. I've never took them out and measured them but this I think is still really close.
5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
mostly every other day, sometimes everyday 50-80%
6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
3years, it wasn't bare bottom but it is now.
7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
I don't there is barely any change in ph.
8. What type/brand water conditioner do you use? Do you add it to the tank or aging barrel? How much do you use?
none
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 __86f___
- ph __8___
- ammonia reading __0__
- nitrite reading __0__
- nitrate reading __1-5__
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 __+__
- RO water ____
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.
stendker beefheart mix now, sometimes frozen blood worms.
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.
https://imgur.com/a/ADLR3W3 this was before removing the gravel and about the time it all started, they still all look good, but with the transparent stuff sticking out of the gills which is hard to capture since it doesn't look that bad.
I'm also unable to get the other meds for flukes like flubendazole or fenbendazole since it's illegal to sell them here and could not find anyone who would send them here, which is Lithuania, levamisole too.
The options I have in the lfs for worm stuff are
diflubenzuron, benzimidazole (I could hardly find info on these), levamisole (I could get some), or fenbendazole with 2 other meds mixed in used for dogs( can't say what at this moment though.)
First off I would like to say that these, fish mean the world to me. They are my fathers which unfortunately passed away a few years ago. He for some reason was obsessed with fish even though he jumped straight to discus without much experience, he loved them. I tried my best to keep them healthy. I mean I've read more about discus than I've read about anything else in my life + observing them for countless of hours and the information I've found is incredibly mixed and not that specific. I had problems with them at first when all I heard from fish shop owners was "you only have to change the water once a week" and then they recommend all of the frozen foods and never mention vacuuming any leftover foods etc. which to you might sound obvious but not for complete beginners and so I lost a couple of fish which were rather small and would need much more maintenance, that I know now.
This is also why I'm having trouble now. I bought new fish had them quarantined and used prazi. A couple of months later I've noticed a drastic increase in breathing and scratching of the gills, specifically at night time when all lights are off. I've tried a month treatment of prazi and it seemed to work when it was in the water, but continued anyway until one of my fish gills started looking very bad, sticking out. It seemed that it really messed with it's breathing and it died a couple of months later. To add, this was the most dominant fish in my tank, the most healthy it seemed.
One thing that also happened was that the stopped breeding and fighting, there was 2 pairs in my tank that would always lay eggs now for a while no action that I could see.
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).
Fast breathing, scratching of the gills, discoloration near the gills/belly which wouldn't get better despite pristine water conditions, clamped fins(one fin), transparent "gills?" sticking out, (real gill tissue for the blue diamond), getting spooked more easily.
3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
Praziquantel, I did the whole month treatment. Tried levamisole also after which others seemed better, but my blue diamond died.
Tank/Water
4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
110gal. 5 now. 2 are 3 years, 7inch at least and 6inch. 1 is 1.5 years - 6inch. 2 new ones are 5 inch and less then a year. I've never took them out and measured them but this I think is still really close.
5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
mostly every other day, sometimes everyday 50-80%
6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
3years, it wasn't bare bottom but it is now.
7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
I don't there is barely any change in ph.
8. What type/brand water conditioner do you use? Do you add it to the tank or aging barrel? How much do you use?
none
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 __86f___
- ph __8___
- ammonia reading __0__
- nitrite reading __0__
- nitrate reading __1-5__
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 __+__
- RO water ____
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.
stendker beefheart mix now, sometimes frozen blood worms.
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.
https://imgur.com/a/ADLR3W3 this was before removing the gravel and about the time it all started, they still all look good, but with the transparent stuff sticking out of the gills which is hard to capture since it doesn't look that bad.
I'm also unable to get the other meds for flukes like flubendazole or fenbendazole since it's illegal to sell them here and could not find anyone who would send them here, which is Lithuania, levamisole too.
The options I have in the lfs for worm stuff are
diflubenzuron, benzimidazole (I could hardly find info on these), levamisole (I could get some), or fenbendazole with 2 other meds mixed in used for dogs( can't say what at this moment though.)