possible gill flukes

[merk175]

my fish are only opening 1 gill plate. the other side stays shut. They seem to be eating ok although the feces is stringy. I'm new to discus and struggling. How do I know if it is gill flukes? thanks

[poconogal]

my fish are only opening 1 gill plate. the other side stays shut. They seem to be eating ok although the feces is stringy. I'm new to discus and struggling. How do I know if it is gill flukes? thanks
Hi. Opening only 1 gill can be a sign of gill flukes. Stringy feces, especially white, can be a sign of internal parasites. Is your tank fully cycled? I've used Prazi Pro by Hikari for gill flukes, on Discus breathing with only one gill. Worked very well, is gentle and doesn't affect bio filter. I've also been told about Jungle's Parasite Clear, which can be used to treat internal and external parasites. Jungle says it won't harm bio filter, and there's no need to raise tank temp either.

[pcsb23]

my fish are only opening 1 gill plate. the other side stays shut. They seem to be eating ok although the feces is stringy. I'm new to discus and struggling. How do I know if it is gill flukes? thanks

The only sure way t to take a scrape and examine it under a microscope. Most people don't have this option though.

Are they flicking or rubbing against items in the tanK?

Also it helps us to help you if you can post the basic water parasm, like temp, ammonia, nitrite nitrate and ph, as well as size and w/c routine.

[merk175]

thanks for the reply. water parameters are as follow:
58 gallon tank. 4 juve marlboro reds (2 about 2.5 inches, 2 about 1 inch). temp 85, fully cycled tank, o ammonia, o nitrites, nitrates about 5-10ppm. daily wc about 10 %. they don't seem to be scraping against anything. I had 6 fish and unfortunately lost 2 about 3 weeks ago. tried treating first with metronidazol (sp). fish are eating but not as well as they had been. I was only feeding them beefheart mix for the first month or two. Then I fed them frozen bio pure (Hikari) blood worms which may have started the downhill spiral but I'm not certain. This has been going on about a month now.

[Cosmo]

Merck,

Before you treat with any additional meds, I'd recommend you try and increase your daily WCs to at least 30% for awhile and increase the temp to 88.

What about filtration? Do you clean your filters regularly? Your water params doen't sound bad, but it may very well be they only need a little extra temp and fresher water, especially at that age they are very sensitive to water conditions.

Hikari bloodworms shouldn't be a problem, but you might stay off the beefheart until they come around. Whatever you feed, make sure you remove anything uneaten every day.

You didn't mention if the tank was BB, so if you have gravel I'd also recommend vacuuming the gravel daily while doing your WCs. You'd be surprised (and disgusted) at how much detritus can collect unseen in a gravel bed.

Jim

[merk175]

my tank is bare bottom. I have a sponge filter and a biowheel power filter. I will try bigger WC. Would insufficient WC lead to stingy feces? Another thing I've noticed is the fish are very sensitive to light. If the tank light is on, they hide. turn the light off, they swim around the tank. They seem overly shy. Is this normal?