Urgent HELP PLEASE!!!

[novice breeder]

hi guys,
need help urgently!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

on monday last i noticed that my discus 2 inches size were acting strangely. they were hiding behind the sponge filter and if came out started to dart around very quickly in a skittish manner running into everything. what is this symptom???:confused: :confused: :confused: i did a water change and from an earlier experience with some others a few years ago i recall using binox- external parasites guard so i added a dosage to the water. they were doing well untill today i noticed that one had turned dark ,stopped eating, fins outstretched and is either resting on its side on the bottom of tank or if moving is swimming in a circle sideways like it is chasing its tail. can anyone help me to identify the cause and how to treat it??? should i remove it or treat the tank without the risk of causing further damage?? the others in the tank are ok eating and seem healthy. any suggestions????

[hexed]

are they bloated at all?

[novice breeder]

no they are not bloated..

[hexed]

what are your water perimeters?

[novice breeder]

all parameters are good. no changes.

[hexed]

can you tell me what they r?

[Carol_Roberts]

Are you sure water is free of ammonia and nitrite with nitrate 5 or so? Has your city added anything or changed anthing with water (gone to chloramine from chlorine or worked on water mains near you)? Have you added new stock or plants? If water problem easy to correct. Some discus start darting and whirling, crashing into side of tank until exhausted. I don't know what causes it or how to cure it.

[lhforbes12]

Novice,
Both Frank (Hexed) and Carol are asking you these questions because your discus are showing classic symptoms of Nitrogen problems (Ammonia and, Nitrite being the worst two, nitrate in high amounts being almost as bad). It sounds as though you have a water problem. Knowing the exact amount (ppm) of these toxins will allow them to help you.

Larry

[LuckyYou]

When you changed the water, were there bubbles on the glass?

Unfortunatly, I experienced this exact thing once and most of my fish died.

I lost them 15 years ago when I did a large water change without properly heating, airating and "aging" the water for 3 days like I normally did. I found out later talking with Richard Feiller that it was super saturated gasses in the tap water that caused the "bends" in the fish. Seems the local water agency switched from well water to california aqueduct water in the late spring. This meant that the water was out in the atmosphere absorbing air and thus was fully saturated. Then when they process this and pump it into their delivery system, this saturated cold water, when it is heated up will kill your fish if you introduce them into it before airing out some of the gasses.

The fish's blood becomes highly saturated with O2 and nitrogen and when it travels from the bottom to the top of the tank, the pressure change causes bubbles to form in it's blood. Same thing that happens to humans when they screw up and surface too fast after a long deep dive. These bubbles travel through it's circulatory system and end up in the brain, gills, and other places that become fatal. I sat there and watched helplessly as my discus spun in circles and darted around and slammed into the sides of the tanks. Almost all of them died within a few hours. Some took about a day. Some lived.. mainly the smaller ones... but were never "right" after that. The verification that this is what happened came after I looked at some of them up close and I could see air bubbles under their skin in places. Poor fellas. :(

I learned a few things from that very painful experience:


Never "assume" your tap water will always come out the same all the time.

Always heat your water to be fairly close to your tank water before you introduce it and airate or otherwise circulate it while doing so to promote gas exchange with the atmosphere.

If you see bubbles form on the sides of your reservior, DO NOT USE IT until you have airated it for a while to establish equilibrium with the atmosphere.

If you see bubbles already all over the insides of your fish tank, it is probably too late.


It was the most heartbreaking thing I ever experienced in my discus adventure. After raising these little guys for all that time, and to lose them so suddenly like that just devastated me. All in all I ended up losing over 100 discus. These were fish that I traveled all over to hand pick from breeders and some I paid good money for to have shipped to me from Jack Wattley himself.

[novice breeder]

hi,
sorry for the late reply trying to save some that have died . the water i use ,i change frequently so ammonia won't be a problem .i changed all the tank with the same water and all the other tanks seem fine and no problem except the one in question. i dont feed beef heart and feed only color bit and flakes and bloodworms. no new stock were added and it is a bb tankand no plants. these fishes were under quarantine for about 2 months and are still in the qt tank . no introduction of any other fishes were allowed in tank even during the qt period as well no water were added from any existing tanks. STILL PUZZLED!!!!!!!!!:confused: :confused: no bubbles on glass either.

[Kindredspirit]

Soooooooo .......bear with me if you have stated this ~ do you add water conditioner when you do wc? Like Prime or something equal? And to know if "it won't be a problem" in re to ammonia ~ did you actually test it? I do apologize if you have stated this prior ~


Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_4_10.gif

[novice breeder]

hi, these are my test results.
# pH:6.8
# Temperature: 83 degrees F
# Ammonia: 0.0 ppm
# Nitrite: 0.05 ppm


i was wondering if noise could cause them to act this way as my dad was building a cabinet approx three feet away? any suggestions.

[Kindredspirit]

I do not think you shld have any NitrItes but I am not sure ~ and your temp seems a little cool to me ~ I keep my tanks around 84-86ish ~ They do feel vibrations pretty well ~ cld that be the case while working on the cabinet ....are they reacting to moments of hammering and whatnot?

Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/29/29_2_15.gif

[novice breeder]

it is very possible they could feel the vibrations of hammering and also they were facing in that direction.