Brown wild acting out again

[falcon]

One of the browns that was acting out maybe 3 weeks ago, went at it again today. He would just charge like crazy, hiting the sides of the tank. From the last time, I got some suggestions that it might be flukes or worms but it went away and he started eating really nice. Now today this again

Last time I thought maybe it was blood worms, so I reduced to 2 feeding per week. Also, I have increased the pH to 7-7.2. Today, I saw the pH at 6.9 which is a bit unusual as it shouldn't drop below 7. It is a planted community tank, 120g.

I will be doing a water change tomorrow, so there is nothing that I did that would've been different.

Here are two pics, the first from 4 days ago when he was still fine, and the second today. You can see a scrape on his side. I will test the water later on tonight. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[falcon]

Here is the second pic...

[falcon]

As for the bloodworms, I've read somewhere that they might make discus/fish feel uneasy/sick due to bacteria, especially live worms -not sure if it's true. When he was on the rampage last time, I have tried three things. I have increased the pH by 0.2pH swings(I do CO2 injection managed by a controller), I have stopped using little bit of vinegar to lower the pH in the holding tank, and I have reduced the number of times that I feed bloodworms. I think one of these might've improved the situation. But, I am not sure what the problem is this time - why it came back. Even, when I have turned the first set of lights off, before all the lights go off, he went at it again. All the other fish rush to the other side when he's at it. The last time when the brown was settling down, one of the red turqs went into the fit himself a couple of times and died 3-4 days after. I suspect from the banging on the glass as he hit himself pretty hard. The symptoms were: isolation, hidding in the corner at the back, not eating. This is a community tank and none of the fish exhibit any symptoms.

Related/unrelated, but I thought I'll add it here. Another brown has been isolated for a couple of weeks now. Symptoms: not eating, keeping to himself, lost color, turned darker. He used to be the same color as the big one above. With him, he's got a buldge in his tummy - worms/flukes? Not sure...Probably unrelated...I haven't really treated him with anything. So far, I have been a bit hesitant to use any drugs. Maybe due to the fact that it complicates things for treatment - planted tank or maybe I like the natural way. But, I am willing to try different things. Please give me some suggestions as to possible course of action. I will post latest water parameters later on today.

[April]

the last pic looks like hes wasting away..id try metro or flubendazole. Jason at superior discus. has a great med that worked for mine..i believe mine had capillaria which is commom for wilds. its H-5 and easy to use. cured one of mine well.
Jason also has lots of experience with wilds and cleaning them up.
I would have a hospital tank or bare bottom tank to treat and doing daily wcs . they may need a rest from the planted tank. best first line of treatment for discus is large daily wcs and bare bottom tank . get them eating well and light again . you also may need to get the heat up to get them eating which is easier in a small bb tank.
and yes..do not use vinegar to lower your ph. your ph is most likely best just being stable .

[falcon]

What's the bump on his tummy though? Is it worms, flukes or something else? Or could he just have some sort of blockage?

I have a 30g hospital tank that I can move him into tomorrow or tuesday and medicate. I would like to narrow down the treatment as I don't want to try too many meds as I believe less is better.

What about the first discus and him freaking out?

Thank you for you help.

Falcon

[daveycrockett]

maybe constipation,try epsom salt 1tbs/gal

[daveycrockett]

actually the bulge looks a little high up so I'm not sure if that can still be constipation

[falcon]

Well, I have transfered the two discus to a q. tank and am slowly raising temp until I get to 90 and adding salt. Will see what happens after that. I was tempted to transfer some of the other smaller discus for the treatment as well and then keep them there for a while so that I can feed them better and more often - but they hit in the plants and I scrapped the idea.

Here are my water parameter from the 120g planted before wc:
pH 7.2 / Amonia 0 / Nitrite 0 / kH 5 / gH 8 / Nitrate 8 / Phosphate 2 / Iron 0
Doesn't seem like anything was out of wack. Nothing to explain the big one darting like that.

Any suggestions?

[April]

THAT BUMP IS NOT bloating..its way too high up for that. ive had fish with bloat or a blockage and its very low. could be his organs..and the rest is getting small..so it shows up.
the parameters seem fine.. althought discus are happiest with nitrates less than 5. and..higher nitrates will make them skittish and freaky. so if you can do wcs to keep your nitrates below 5 maybe he will stop that.
if their at 8 even with plants..then. maybe you need more wcs or a bit less food so less to go through the ammonia /nitrite/ nitrate process.
i think those two fish have different problems. but...salt and clean water and heat is a good start.

[falcon]

Thank you April and Daveycrockett for you help. Bad news though. The big one died this morning after I have transfered him to a q. tank along with the smaller one. I have put them into a tank with 1tbsp of salt per 10g and slowly raised the temp to 88F. I heard the big one darting few times last night. This morning I found him dead. Not sure if the move and treatment killed him or whatever that was bothering him killed him. When I was in the process of water change, the big one was on top of the plants and when I went to scoop him up I thought he would put up fight, but he just let me scoop him much without much movement. The other one is still alive.

I liked the big one the most. It is so depressing right now. Before going with discus, I have read that they are called ‘the king of the aquarium’, but all I had so far is grief. I feel that I have put all my efforts and money into them and I didn’t get to enjoy their beauty. I went with a planted tank as this is my personal preference, look wise. Now looking back, I think I am starting to regret going back into fish keeping. All the money and effort wasted. Will see how the other discus fair over time (I have 7 left), but will probably stay away from discus altogether and add angels as main display fish. Time will only tell.

For all of you that tried to help me, I extend to you all my thanks. But overall, I am disappointed with the number of responses that I got. I saw that a lot of people browsed the topic, but not too many replied. That’s why we have these forums so that people can assist others through their own experience, but unfortunately in some cases it does not work as people don’t want to get involved or maybe they think that certain topic has been covered so many times.

Oh well, I should stop soaking and move on…

Thanks again.