Will the rest get it??

[Giniel]

Hi, I have been trying to heal a discus(which died this morning) for some time now. I have treated with metro for 5 days,let them rest for 2 weeks and did a prazi treatment,He was still showing signs of whitish ,yellow feces so I did another treatment of metro but he died 4 days into it. He was looking a lot better but still had the wierd feces. Will the others in the tank come down with whatever it was that killed him?? The fish that died was eating but not much.All the others seem fine for now. Any suggestions will help
Debbie

[discusrama]

Hi!

Sorry about the discus.

Are you still continuing with the medication???
Are the other fishes showing any symptoms like the one that died??
Have u done any water changes after removing the dead one?

From my experience i would suggest:-
Do a 30% water change.
Stop medication.
Increase aeration.

Hope this works.

[Jeff in NC]

I have a fish i tried treating with metro it did not work fish got worse.I stopped treatment 2 years ago still has white feces but lives fine and is the bully of the tank.Sometimes I just let nature work it out.Meds can be harder on fish than the problem you are trying to cure.And its cheaper and more easy on other fish if it dies to get a new one.Just my opinion.

[Howie_W]

Hi Debbie,


Sorry to hear about your fish. :(

When treating with Metronidazole I have had best results with a full two week treatment...especially in more serious cases. The medication works best when dosages are administered every 8 hours, combined with use of a super clean quarantine tank.

I would simply keep an eye on your other fish and make sure they are eating and processing their food properly. I agree with Jeff, medicating unnecessarily can do more harm than good.


Howie

[ShinShin]

Yellow feces may indicate a possible nematode infestation of the gut. Do you have access to a microscope?

[Tiptoptank]

I have been down that road. I think the truth is in the fish itself. I have one fish that has lived through just about everything that could be thrown at it.

I picked up 6 fish once and all but this one lived and it really has lived through everthing. I put it through a formalin treatment which killed 2 of the fish and then a prazi treatment which killed 2 more, and when I did a metro treatment it killed that last one besides him. I throught the fish was doomed so pretty much gave up on him. I through him in my planted tank and hoped for the best . I even redesigned my planted tank with him inside! ( made the water look like mud). I still have him to this day. I love this fish and honestly don't think I could kill him. I resently metro'ed him again only to find out that the fish was actually sky blue. I always thought he was a dark fish with dark blue fins. I guess he had hex this whole time too.

All I am saying is there are alot of weaker fish out there, (ALOT) the trick is to find the stronger ones and just bare though loseing the weaker fish. I think the hobby would be better off with stronger fish anyways. I hope down the line to breed this fish and multiply this stronge gene. Here is a pic of my though guy. Hmmmmm.. my image hosting place is down. >8(. I will get pic up soon.

[Carol_Roberts]

If the rest of the fish appear health, swimming in mid tank, fins erect and eating I would not worry.

[Barb Newell]

Hi Deb, I agree, keep an eye on their poop. Sometimes yellow poop can be a sign of capillaria. If you see any other fish start with it, try piperazine.

Barb

[Giniel]

Thank you all...I have done about a 1/3 water change ,they are in a 75 gallon BB. They all seem fine except one of them. He looks fine but stays in a corner of the tank(the whole corner)almost the end of the tank. Sometimes his color changes ,but I'm not doing any more meds. These other fish have no problems and NO worms could have lived through the treatments these last 6 or 7 weeks. So if they die then they unfortunatly die..I have around 100 green turqoiuse fry about 3 weeks old to replace them with. LOL
Not that I like losing them , these fish had a hard beginning when I got them at about 1" to 2" long they had really bad fungus,some are really stunted ,but the one that died was huge in comparison to the others.

I am going to slowly lower the temp back down to around 84 to 85 it is at 90 today.
Thank you for the responses
Debbie

[Giniel]

oh forgot
Shin shin I do not have a very good microscope and wouldn't have a clue what to look for . I have lost a few fish this same way but it almost 2 to 4 months in between the deaths.This fish was eating a little bit and would even come to the front of the tank except for the day before he died.
Debbie

[ShinShin]

You really don't need a very good microscope for alot of examinations we do to diagnose intestinal problems by looking at fecal samples. Worms are rather large creatures in the world of microorganisms. If you have even a basic scope, purchase a book like Discus Health, which has alot of basic pathogens in it besides alot of good info.