Please help my fish

[Smooth]

I really hope some one can help me!


I have a few fish that aren't doing so well right now.

1 of them is totally black, and has HITH pretty bad. I don't know how to stop this, but I've heard I should treat for Hex? If this true should I start dosing for hex?

the other fish is not active, and hasn't eaten for a few weeks now. He always has what looks like a clear/white tube hanging from his anus. What does this mean? I have 12 discus from a reputable breeder, and half of them are doing great, the others just chill in the back, don't come up for food etc.

HELP!

I could provide some bad quality pictues if you want. I can't seem to get a good one of the white feces, but here is one of the red turk that is all black with HITH

[john480]

this might help carol posted this
Intestinal Flagellates:
Symptoms: Your discus may quit eating or spit out it's food. White, stringy, muscus-like feces will hang like a thread from the anus. He may be dark in color and stay in the back of the tank away from the other discus.
Treat with Metronidazole sold in pet stores as Hex-A-Mit or Metrozol. Can be purchased online from several sources. 400 - 500 mg per 10 gallons of water. Tank temperature 92 degrees +. Dose each day after a 50% water change for 3 to 5 days. Use 92 degree water for water changes. Feed sparingly of favorite foods. Keep water temperature elevated for a week after treatment ends. It may take a week or so for the discus to regain it's appetite. In severe cases of long standing you may need to dose every 8 hours for three days. May dose all fish in tank or remove affected fish to hospital tank. Should not hurt your biofilter.

[Smooth]

All I could find around here, was a product that contains copper and some other med as well as the metro. I have seen some online in a pure form that I could purchase to be here in a few days. It is 5g for like 10 bucks. I'm thinking this is more potent than in the tablets but I can't be sure.

Cand you shed some light on this?

[Carol_Roberts]

Before you start medicating lets see if there is an enviormental problem first.

What size tank?
Bare bottom or gravel?
What type of filter?
How often do you do water changes?
How long have you had these discus? ( that looks like a pigeon by the way)
Did they ever eat?
How many are dark?
Does one discus hog all the food?

[Barb Newell]

Hi, you should try to get some metro as soon as possible. Start to raise the temp in your tank to 92.

Can you give us more info... tank size, temp, how many fish, water change regime.

Barb

[Smooth]

Here are my tanks specs:


What size tank? 105-110gal (5ftx24x18)

temp usually 86-88, I started raising it last night, was just below 90 this morning.

What type of filter? i have one emporer 400, and 3 large sponge filters. I do have a used fluval 403 that I have never used.

How often do you do water changes? I usually do about 3 water changes a week, of about 25%( but I have done two in the last two days, and plan on doing one tonight)

Bare bottom or gravel? Bare bottom

How long have you had these discus? ( that looks like a pigeon by the way)
I have had them since mid august. I will look for a pic when he was nice and healthy, and he looks like a RT to me, he has stress bars, so I'm thinking this means RT.

Did they ever eat? Some of them eat, some of them do not. This black guy was eating until about a week or two ago, the other RT hasn't eaten for longer than that, but this morning actually came up to the tank and seemed to be interested in some food.


How many are dark? One for sure, maybe one other blue snake that looks great at times, and not so good at other times.

Does one discus hog all the food? It's more like two discus hogging the food, but there is enough floating around to be eaten. The largest discus only ever chases my really nice PB, and the PB just finds more food. They aren't being scared off of the food.

How many fish? I currently have 12 fish, the largest is probably 5-6, the smallest is probably around 3.5.

Let me know what I can do please. I'm pretty encouraged by the little improvement I saw in the RT today, could it just be that I did WCs in each of the last two days?

Ryan

[Carol_Roberts]

Yes, many times water changes alone will make a difference. Continue doing daily water changes. Replace salt lost to water changes. A clean enviornment allows the immune system to fully do it's job. ;D

[Smooth]

Sounds good.

What about the heat? Should I leave it at 88 or bump it up for a bit. And how much salt should I be adding? I added 5 tbsp to 25 gal of fresh water last night, does that sound about right? The tank previously had as little as 3-5 tbsp for the whole tank up until last night when I put some extra in.

And is the 30 gal storage tank I have enough. I did see a 50 gal container at Home Depot that will fit where I currently have my storage, should I be switching to more water?

[Carol_Roberts]

88 is fine for now.
5 tblsp salt per 25 gallons is good.
I would buy the 50 gallon container to age water for your size tank.