Dark patches on sides of Discus?

[troutmaster]

I just noticed several dark patches about 2 to 3 mm in diameter. Water parameters are ok. My ph is always at 8. I have added new fish to the tank but they have been quarentined for a month. Has anyone heard of these symptoms before? Other discus in tank are O.K. Behaviour seems same as always. Patches are on the body of blue turquios under pectral fin. Any help would be appritiated. Been through hell with these fish. Ready to give up on @#$$@#$ DISCUS!

[candyl70]

Trout,

Do you see any other symptoms on the fish other than the dark patches?
Not eating, hiding, white poo, etc? Try to give as much info as you possibly can so that you can get the best help possible.

Can you by any chance get a picture?

Hang in there, I know it gets really frustrating at times, but you'll get past it.
Just try to see it as a learning curve.

Candy

[pcsb23]

Hey troutmaster, how about a bit more info, ph you say is at 8, whats ammonia, nitrite and nitrate doing? what temp are you running at, barebottom or substrate/planted, w/c routine.

Are the dark patches in or on the fish?? ie if you look head on do they stick out at all. If I had to guess at this stage I'd say probably fish lice. Prazi will sort this. But please note this is guess work at the moment, so please post more info and if you can put a good pic up it may help bundles.

Paul.

[troutmaster]

My water temp is 88F. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, nitrate 5ppm. Substrate is sand with some plants. Water changes 2x a week. I do not have access to digital camera but I had a close look at these spolches of brown and they appear to be under the scales of the fish. They are only on one side of the fish and none of the other fish in the tank seem to have any such markings. It almost appears to be a stain.Behavior seems same as always, so what ever is going on does not appear to be bothering the fish. That is about all the info I can come up with. What a drag I had them all looking great after dealing with HITH disease. One thing is for sure is that when these fish are gone I will be going back to africans.

[pcsb23]

Ok, for the time being keep doing what you are at the moment. Watch the brown splotches, if they chnge position other than fade, then they are definitely some sort of parasite or fluke.
Paul.

[goheel]

pics would be helpful

[troutmaster]

I have bben watching these patches very carfully and so far they have not moved. My other fish have none of thses patches. I do have parazi on hand. I will watch closely. I am also trying to treat, I hate say, to a mild outbreak of spiro. Can I use parazipro and metro laced food at the same time? I hate to say this but I am really at the point of flushing everything and going back to Africans. These discus have taken the enjoyment out of the hobby for me. I have learned alot and have made my share of stupid mistakes. But I have become to paranoid about these fish getting sick and am at the point now if they live great if they die. Never again. Thanks for your help.

[pcsb23]

Troutmaster, I understand the frustrations and won't try and change your mind, except about flushing them!!! Treat for spiro first, sonds like you know what you need to do with the meds. I wouldn't mix them, although one is an anti biotic the other is a parasite cure, I'm not sure if there would be any contra reactions between them. Make sure water is good and up the temp during treatment, add an airstone if they show any sign of O2 depletion.

For the time being ignore the patches, get the spiro treated. If the patches don't get worse and aren't on the move there may be nothing to worry about.
Paul.

[Ardan]

For the time being ignore the patches, get the spiro treated. If the patches don't get worse and aren't on the move there may be nothing to worry about.
agree, since spots aren't changing.
I don't know what the patches are either. A pic would be possibly very useful.

SOmetimes high heat will not only help the spironucleus, but kill many parasites if that's what the spots are.
hth
Ardan

[troutmaster]

Well the good news is the brown spots are fading. The spiro is not full blown and fish are eating well. I have been feeding metro laced food. I think I will raise temp. I am at 88F right now best I can do is about 90F. I also ripped out all my Java fern which for some reason was not growing anymore and just collecting tank waste. Ever since I raised the temp in the tank for discus they just turned into a algea/poop mess. I won't flush the fish as long as they are alive but I am not afraid to admit when I am beat. This is starting to get a little rediculus for me. I know bare bottom tank would probably make a world of differance but having a tank with nothing in it is a cage not a tank. Well thats my opinion anyways. I even purchased an R/O unit today but not for the fish, for the family. Water bill would be out of control with a 5 to 1 waste water setup. Thanks for your help. I'll see how things go.

[Greg Richardson]

TM.
I know bare bottom tank would probably make a world of differance but having a tank with nothing in it is a cage not a tank. Well thats my opinion anyways.

Before u give up go BB and watch what happens.

Then when u come into the room ask yourself honestly do u look at the tank or the fish?

My wife never wanted BB either until I said let's just try it.

If the fish aren't beautiful enough to catch your eye and make u forget all about plants etc then we got crap for fish.

Now we have 5 tanks in house all BB.

Try it before u quit.

U have nothing to lose but your preconceived perspective.

If it still doesn't work for u fine, but imo you will be amazed at the colors and health of your fish once u go BB and step up the wc's that you'll be glad u went the distance.

[troutmaster]

Hi Greg: Well the more I think about it the more I like the idea of vibrant looking fish. I still would have to put some drift would pieces in. I like some rock but that could be dangerous with no substrate to support rock. The other thing is finding the time to do it. I'll keep it in mind and try and figure out a way to at least hove some rock work or I guess I could put in some more mopani bog wood. I have to admit my tank is already looking cleaner just by remove the bushy crap trap Java ferns I had. I hated to do it because they once were doing so well. Thanks for the encouragement. The only reason I bothered with discus is becuase I have always wanted them ever since I was a kid.

[chago09]

ya I have the same thing on my 3 inch blue diamond. It just looks like a spot of a darker blue. All the other fish are healthy and I've never had any problems in my tank before. The tank is a planted tank and ph is 7.0, ammonia 0 nitrite 0 and nitrate 10. Temp is 85 and wc is every second day about 30%. the fish is fine and acts normal. eats, swims, schools, even fights with others. the tank has 4 red turqouise and one blue diamond. also 10 neon's which are all fine. 3 cories and 1 otto in a 70 gallon tall. i feed hikari frozen bloodworms and flake brine shrimp. it doesn't seem to be bothering the fish and I look at my fish all the time and i just noticed it today for first time. any ideas would be good???

[AmberC]

Troutmaster.. I posted a pic in the thread strange patches/fin rot does it look anything like that?

[chago09]

in my case it looks something like your blue diamond. yours has some dark patches around it's head while my blue diamond has one on each side of it's body and a couple on the fins. They don't look like there sticking out but they also don't look like they are caving in. I was thinking maybe some kind of parasite. Should I just use Melafix in my whole tank just incase others get it later. I can dose the tank for about 4 or 5 days and see if it clears???? I want to make sure i don't use any meds that will hurt my cories, neons or discus. I shouldnt raise temp to 90 right because it will kill all my other residents????

[troutmaster]

Hi Chogo09: Well as far as my fishes brown spots go their gone. Not sure what the heck they were. I did not really do much. I did feed fish Metro dosed food for a while,(I noticed white Pooh) but I really think sometimes peaple can over react. Do as much homework as you can before you make any decisions on treatments. I have to admit these fish make me peranoid. Also reading these web sites about all the dam things that can go wrong does not help either. Sounds like your learning like me when it comes to these fish. I can tell you from my expeirence with Discus so far, is that the source of fish can make all the differance in the world. I have been out of the T.O area for a few year now so I can't tell you were the best place to get advice or fish is. You probably have a pretty good idea if you have been at this for a while. I can't say thier is a great place to buy Discus in Calgary. One place tries to get fish ready for sale, but their are no gauranties. I have found Salt and high temps have been curing my fish of the common Discus problems. I have had to cull 2 of the10 fish I have purchased since I started with discus about 4 months ago. Thats some of the things I have learned so far.