tiny grain sized white bugs/parasite

[dinney]

I posted a previous post stating that my discus were not well and floating sideways. Now i notince tiny little white dots that move around on the glass and some tiny dots have tails. The ones with tails float aronund and twitch. My discus are scraping agains objects, clamps fins, lots of mucus but are still eating well. What are these bugs could they just be baby mosquito larva cuz i use 48 hour aged water for water changes. I am really thinking thaey are gill flukes (no gill damage visible). Please help.

[dinney]

Just found some pics of gill fukes online. I am positive they are gill flukes. What is the best way/safest/quickest way to treat the tank.

[Ardan]

Hi,
You only see gill flukes with a microscope.
This could be planaria ...and stylarius (harmless)

I would first do daily wc's of 50%. Keep the tank wiped down and very clean.
Make sure wc water is stable ph, no chlorine or chloramine.

If with a microscope you see flukes, try http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=34834
Gill flukes treatment in that thread.
hth
Ardan

[Graham]

Whatever is crawling around on the glass is not a parasite.............From the discription of the fish behaviour I'd say use a shotgun approach and dose the tank with QuickCure or another formalin/malachite green based med.

Of all the parasite there are only a couple that can be seen with the naked eye

[dinney]

thx for the help guys. I used coppersafe last night and noticed an immediate improvement. The fish dont lay on sideways on the substrate no more. They act normal and their mucus is gettting better. They actually swim again. I noticed that alot of the planarias or parasites are dying. Their are still a few on the glass but way less than before. Im going to keep up the water changes and continue treatment.