possible flukes

[DREW]

I have a 55g with two large discus. Both of them are eating, one better than the other. Color is good in both and the feces are black. Both of them are breathing slightly hard and well flick their head to the side once in awhile and sometimes they will dart and rub against an object in the tank. Its a bare bottom tank with sponge filters and a hob filter. I'm going to treat with epsom salt for two days and the use regular salt for five days. I raised the temp from 85 to 90. I will have to order the meds so I want to prepared if it doesn't work. What should I do?

THanks

Drew

[Carol_Roberts]

If you've had these two big discus for a while and have not added any new fish or plants the first thing I would do is a good tank cleaning. Rinse the filters in used tank water, clean the walls, etc. Next I would do 30% water changes for several days. Add salt @ 1 or 2 tablespoons per 10 gallons and add salt to the change water.

Epsoom salt is for bloat or constipation - not scratching.

Have you checked the ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte levels?

IF you have added new fish or plants they may have brought in a parasite or disease. In that case I would try formalin @ 1 cc or ml per 10 gallons. Do 50% water change 8 hours later. Dose every other day.

[DREW]

Hi Carol,
Thanks for your response. I have had the pair for 6 months with no other fish added. I wanted to make sure that I new what I was doing before buying any more. I do 60% water changes every other day. I had a ph drop about a month ago and the female has been harrassed by the male and she was pretty stressed out so I seperated her. She's not as active as the male. She eats but not as aggressive. I feed black worms so could that have brought something in along with the ph drop weaking her immune system? All other levels seem to be stable except for the ph problem that occured a month ago.

Drew

[Carol_Roberts]

A pH drop can be caused by too high bioload or very soft water. Do you know the GH or KH of your water? How often do you test pH?

What all is in your tank - gravel, plants, other fish?

I still say clean the tank, add salt and try formalin.

[DREW]

I will follow your advice. Does formalin hurt the biological filters and does it hurt the O2 content in the tank. The temp is at 90 so should I drop the temp down a little? Right now its bare bottom 55g with two sponges and a emperor 280 bio wheel. The one melon is over 7" and the female is probably over 5" so the fish load isn't too bad. I use 75% r/o and 25% tap water. I know the tap water hardness is very high. I also have no water softner. I put in a order with randal to get some digital water meters because I don't like the tetra test kits, too broad of a scale.

[Carol_Roberts]

Formalin may impair biological filter, but it will bounce back. Add extra air or lower the water level an inch so water cascades (like a waterfall) back into tank - extra surface agitation adds O2

[Ardan]

Hi,
I would drop the temp to about 86 F. when using formalin. ALso 50% wc 8 hours after dosing.

hth