need advice

[KARINA]

Hello!

Spooky fish! I run to this problem for the first time the fish seems fine eats a lot and the color is fine. they have been always like that since i can remember i didn't do anything about it because otherwise they were fine . But about a week ago one of the fish the turks turn darker gets spooky from time to time for no reason and goes crazy around the tank after when he is done completly light doesn't breath and stands still for a while then the color comes back darker resume the breathing but i found is heavier then normal still eats but it's not as acctive. I decided since their poops are normal maybe is an external parasite however, i don't see anything attached to the fish so i just does formalyn and 1 tbs per 10 gal to see what happenes today is the 6 th day i have been doing that every other day with 50% water change after 8 hr. It did get better for a while the color seem to be back but then again it worsen i don't know what to do anymore :-[....please advice what could it be, what am i dealing here with? ??? the turk is about 4 inch in size it's the only one in the tank that acts like that the water parameters are fine .

[Paulio]

Can you give a little more info on your water parms? Have you ever checked for high nitrates in your tap if you are using tap?

Paul

[KARINA]

hey Paulio! no nitrates in my tap water i aged my water for 48hr with the heat and air stone in it i also add priame water conditioner before i make the change. anything else you think it might be going on? ???

[Rob]

I had a similar problem, except my PB didn't stop breathing.

I had an ac300 and a sponge filter running and the temp around 83. I added a bubble strip to increase oxygen in the water, because the sponge filter wasn't enough.

What are your water parms?

[keith_cny]

Karina,

Is your water city water or well water?

[KARINA]

Rob!
I have 2 x 500 AC running in my 90 gal tank and the temp at 86. i use tetra water test kits and as far as i can trust the resoluts the water parms shows ph 6, ammonia 0 ppm, nitrates 0 ppm , 35.8 ppm KH, 35.8 ppm GH i just hope in case of these two last ones i read the indicator right.

Keith_cny

I am not sure what 's your question means but i do live in NY so i guess it is a city water , is that the answer you were looking for?

thank you guys for helping me to figure this thing out! :-* do you think i should go and have my water tested? if yes do you know any places here in NY that i can have it done? or do you think any LFS might do that for me? i will try that ....do you really think is the water problem here?

[Rob]

Your water parms are great, I wouldn't worry about them.

I keep my discus between 82-84 degrees.
I just started breeding Discus, I have bred African and South American cichlids for years.
The first thing I noticed when working with the Discus is the Temps needed 82+ affect how much oxygen is absorbed into the water, especially with high surface agitation (such as you have with 2 ac500's).
Your problem could be from lack of dissolved oxygen in the water. In which case lower your temp to 82 (very slowly-over 24-48 hours) and/or add a long bubble strip 12"+ to your tank.

However, your problem could also be from gill flukes too.

[KARINA]

Rob if it was the problem with oxygen dissolving in the water wouldn't they gasp for the air on the top? i never fill out the tank all the way to the top i create a little cascades. the fish is about 5 months old in this case the flukes shouldn't make the fish do things like that and if it's the flukes i tried formalyn for 6 times every other day 3 drops per 10 gallons 50 % water chande after 8 hr it seems like the fish was doing worse so i stoped i only see results after dosing salt i did higher the dosage to 3 tbs per 10 gallons i will try that for a week i will be very happy if it helpes however, i would love to find out what's wrong ...

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Karina:
We get a post similiar to yours every couple of months. I have never found a good response that works every time. Some say high nitrAtes, some say stray electrical current, some say shadows, whirling disease, etc. etc.

Some discus are never cured of this - they finally kill themselves or the owner does it for them.

[KARINA]

:'(

[KARINA]

yes i did read them i just hope they have a chance to over come this problem and as far as for me i was hoping it might be something else with mine discus, i am trying to be optymistic here ::)

[ricorn]

Hi all, sounds like my recently departed scribble, died about 3 hours ago. It was about 4 inches long, freaked out somtimes and ran amock in the tank. 150 gal planted. bubble wand in tank running for a couple of years, oxygen shouldnt have been a problem. gill flukes? I noticed 1 powdered blue scratching a gill today on a plant ......... maybe should look into it.
scribble seemed ok last night, noon today swimmimg sideways, sinking etc. both sides scraped up. put into confined area for its protection. Dead couple hours later. Bummin!

[KARINA]

after applaying a little more of salt 3 tbs per 10 gall i haven't seen the poor discus chasing ghosts around the tank anymore ( it looks like it's gotten better) what could it be then if the salt is helping? i hope that's a good sign however, the color on the fish is kinda pale and the eyes where used to be bright red are orange is it coz of the salt hope fully after the curation will return to it's normal colors ;)

[Ardan]

Hi,
I see your "nitrates are 0"
What about "nitrites"? Salt helps them cope with that.

The formalin you used may have impaired the biofilter for the nitrites??

hth

[KARINA]

hey Ardan no it didn't i did check for that the nitrites are at 0ppm ???