Treated w/PP need advice

[smillers]

Hi, I'm new to forum and to discus. I've had angles for 20 yrs and decided to move up to discus. I have 125 gal BB tank. Got 6 2.5 in discus Friday. The discus adjusted to their new home quickly. Yesterday they were swimming around and eating fine. This morning I noticed 2 of them had their tale fins alittle clamped. I didn't notice anything else wrong with them at that time but decided to treat them with PP. I have used this on my angles for years with no negative reactions. I mixed my stock to a concentration of 2 mg/L and measured the correct amount for the tank. 5 minutes into the treatment I saw a bunch of real tiny brown worm looking things floating in the water. 30 minutes into the treatment the "worm" looking things dissapeared. At 1 hr the discus were up at the top of the tank. Not really acting distressed as far as they were not darting or breathing heavy but I felt uncomfortable so I put some hydrogen peroxide in the tank along with active carbon. I then did a 50% water change. The discus are back out swimming around but I noticed on one of them, that he has a bunch of tiny wholes on his face. Is this whole in the head? What should I do next?? My water test are...ammonia 0, nitrite 0nitrate 0, ph 6.8 temp 88. I am going to do another 50% water change tomarrow. Do any of you have any idea what the little brown "worms" might have been?? I have never seen anything like this before and would greatly appreciate some advice. Thanks

[pcsb23]

It is very difficult to say what they were. As to whether your fish has hith disease again I can't be certain. With HITH time is generally on our side so no need to panic and dump meds in. If you can post a pic up of the affected area.

I would watch your bio filter very carefully for the newxt few days, PP will knock it back, also as you are showing 0 nitrates its indicative of an uncycled tank.

[smillers]

The tank was fully cycled usuing the ammonia method. It took 10 wks to cycle the tank and once the nitrate orginally gave a reading about 5 wks ago I put 6 panda cories in the tank. They have all been fine. I continued the water changes for the month until I received my discus. I expected the tank to have some sort of cycle since I added the 6 discus all at one time so I am testing morning and night. I did another 50% water change this evening. All the fish are doing fine except the one with the very small wholes on it's head. They look better today. But I noticed the fish scratching his face on a plastic plant. I have a 30 gal hospital tank with a sponge filter. Should I move him to the hospital tank by himself? There are 2 cories in there to keep the tank in balance. All the discus are eating very well and are very active. I have added salt and have the temp at 88. I'm lost as to where those "worm" looking things came from, what they are and what caused all these problems so fast. Any thoughts and advise you have is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Dying for Discus]

How many holes are there??

I'm asking because most discus have some tiny holes in their heads. Mine all have two tiny pinholes above their "nostril" part on the front of their face. It doesn't mean they are sick or anything. I just looked some stuff up in my discus books and several of them mention these as just features of some discus. You can barely see them and they aren't even the size of a pin hole. They're even smaller.

I mean, are there like...3 or more of these holes?? Or does it look like his scales are lifting up and leaving wounds in place?? Can you post a pic??

[brewmaster15]

Hi and welcome to Simplydiscus!:)


saw a bunch of real tiny brown worm looking things floating in the water. 30 minutes into the treatment the "worm" looking things dissapeared. Discus differ from angels in the amount of slime they generate.. Its likely that those worm-like things was oxidized slimecoat... You may notice the same worm-like things if you do big water change with unaged water...as the gases in it tend to lift off the slime...in this case, they'll be clear-white.

The other possibilities are harmless planaria and stylaria worms that were in the tank and filters.

Hth,
al

[Alight]

The other possibilities are harmless planaria and stylaria worms that were in the tank and filters.
I vote for these guys. They are normally white, but could easily be stained to look brown by the PP. They would come flying our of your filter with the treatment. I've seen this several times with med treatments that affect flat worms.

I'm betting the pin holes are normal, and you only noticed them afterwards 'cause you were looking for something wrong.