Troy McClure
04-11-2007, 04:45 PM
Problem
1. Please explain the problems with your fish/when and how they started
One of the discus is a "runt." No matter what, he (I'm assuming is a male) will just not gain any size. This is the one I'm most concerned about as the others still eat, are aggressive, some spawning has taken place (but they ate the eggs, which seems like a sensible thing to me.) Some other things that concern me is they are very skittish. They get spooked and dart when I make quick movements around the tank, lights come, etc. They even spook themselves.
2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/ white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds)
Runt is very reluctant to eat. Ignores the Omega One flakes, sometimes goes after the beefheart, seems to like the Hikari bloodworms the best. Even though he's very thin and is most interested in bloodworms, he will only take a bloodworm or two. It used to be quite tenacious over the bloodworms. He'd get in there with the big boys, grab the cube and swim off with it. It was funny to watch, but now he hides a lot and seems lethargic. He seems to look down a lot, but it don't think it's headstanding (though if I saw a picture of real headstanding, I could better diagnose it.) I haven't been able to see the feces, though I just did a 50% WC a few minutes ago I'll check in about an hour.
3. What medications/ treatments that you have already tried and results. Include dosages and duration of treatment.
None, but this was my main focus with the post. I'd like to try the complete parasite package offered by Rock Mountain Discus because I'm fairly certain the smaller one has parasites. I'm not sure what else could explain it. The others don't seem to bully him much but he won't eat like they do. Any advice here is appreciated as it seems like the more I read, the more questions I have!
Tank/Water
4. Tank size and age, number and size of fish
20 long, 1.5yr old, 6 lake tefe green, five are ~3", runt is ~2".
5. Water change regime/ how long has tank been running/ bare bottom or gravel/ do you age your water?
BB, 50% once a day or every other day, straight tap with good dechlor, Purigen in filter. The tank they will be moved into is a planted 50gal Oceanic with plain black gravel. Black skirt tetras as dither fish.
6 Parameters and water source;
- temp 86*F
- ph _____
- ammonia reading __na__
- nitrite reading __na__
- nitrate reading ____
- well water __no__
- municipal water __yes__
7. Any new fish/plants added recently
No
-------------------------------------------------------
For the tank size...I know this is cramped but I bought them when they were only 1-1.5" big. I am cycling a new 50gal for them right now so they will have a much bigger home in a week or two. I would like to treat them in the 20gal (less meds needed to reach required concentrations) and then move them to the 50gal immediately after. I should also note that I originally started off with 10 juvies. One jumped and two stopped eating and eventually died despite isolating them. They became extremely emmaciated and the folks and the LFS weren't much help and didn't mention anything about possible parasites. This is why I'm so concerned about the current runt, though he has hung in there much better than the ones that evetually died.
Another question I had was that they often don't have much coloration. Could the white surface directly under the BB tank be causing them enough stress to wash out their colors?
{edit}
The ones that stopped eating and eventually died looked almost exactly like the one on this page http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/disease_medications/internal/emaciated_discus.shtml
1. Please explain the problems with your fish/when and how they started
One of the discus is a "runt." No matter what, he (I'm assuming is a male) will just not gain any size. This is the one I'm most concerned about as the others still eat, are aggressive, some spawning has taken place (but they ate the eggs, which seems like a sensible thing to me.) Some other things that concern me is they are very skittish. They get spooked and dart when I make quick movements around the tank, lights come, etc. They even spook themselves.
2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/ white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds)
Runt is very reluctant to eat. Ignores the Omega One flakes, sometimes goes after the beefheart, seems to like the Hikari bloodworms the best. Even though he's very thin and is most interested in bloodworms, he will only take a bloodworm or two. It used to be quite tenacious over the bloodworms. He'd get in there with the big boys, grab the cube and swim off with it. It was funny to watch, but now he hides a lot and seems lethargic. He seems to look down a lot, but it don't think it's headstanding (though if I saw a picture of real headstanding, I could better diagnose it.) I haven't been able to see the feces, though I just did a 50% WC a few minutes ago I'll check in about an hour.
3. What medications/ treatments that you have already tried and results. Include dosages and duration of treatment.
None, but this was my main focus with the post. I'd like to try the complete parasite package offered by Rock Mountain Discus because I'm fairly certain the smaller one has parasites. I'm not sure what else could explain it. The others don't seem to bully him much but he won't eat like they do. Any advice here is appreciated as it seems like the more I read, the more questions I have!
Tank/Water
4. Tank size and age, number and size of fish
20 long, 1.5yr old, 6 lake tefe green, five are ~3", runt is ~2".
5. Water change regime/ how long has tank been running/ bare bottom or gravel/ do you age your water?
BB, 50% once a day or every other day, straight tap with good dechlor, Purigen in filter. The tank they will be moved into is a planted 50gal Oceanic with plain black gravel. Black skirt tetras as dither fish.
6 Parameters and water source;
- temp 86*F
- ph _____
- ammonia reading __na__
- nitrite reading __na__
- nitrate reading ____
- well water __no__
- municipal water __yes__
7. Any new fish/plants added recently
No
-------------------------------------------------------
For the tank size...I know this is cramped but I bought them when they were only 1-1.5" big. I am cycling a new 50gal for them right now so they will have a much bigger home in a week or two. I would like to treat them in the 20gal (less meds needed to reach required concentrations) and then move them to the 50gal immediately after. I should also note that I originally started off with 10 juvies. One jumped and two stopped eating and eventually died despite isolating them. They became extremely emmaciated and the folks and the LFS weren't much help and didn't mention anything about possible parasites. This is why I'm so concerned about the current runt, though he has hung in there much better than the ones that evetually died.
Another question I had was that they often don't have much coloration. Could the white surface directly under the BB tank be causing them enough stress to wash out their colors?
{edit}
The ones that stopped eating and eventually died looked almost exactly like the one on this page http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/disease_medications/internal/emaciated_discus.shtml