Need help in diagnose and treatment

[maikynam714]

I have 10 juvenile discus in a 55g bare bottom tank. I do 25% water change everyday. Just a few days ago, 4 fish get sick. They are still eating but just a little. Their fin is clamped and color turned dark. They all have thin whitish layer and some white spot on their skin. Since they get sick, i have done 50% water change everyday. The water condition is good. Temperature is 86oF.
-First, I tried salt bath those 4 fish. No help.
-Second, I tried Maracide as instruction. No help.
-Now, I put some metronidazole as instruction. I still don't see any improvement.
Please help me. It's been a week already.
Do you do what kind of treatment and medicine for this disease?
Every suggestion are appreciated.

[brewmaster15]

Hi ,

How long have you had these fish and have you added anything to the tank (fish, plants etc) recently?

How long have these 10 fish been together? Are the 4 sick ones from one source and the non-sick ones from another?

What you have looks like either parasite or bacterial infection.....

-al

[maikynam714]

Thanks for the reply.
I don't have any plants in the tank. I had the other six healthy fish for more than a month. I just added the four sick fish 2 weeks ago. These four fish came from a different source with other six. I think they came from a very safe source. I came back to the place where i bougth these fish and all the fish in that tank all look healthy and show no sign of any kind of sickness.
Do you know how to cure this disease?

[brewmaster15]

Sometimes when you introduce 2 apparently healthy groups of fish to one another ...one of the groups can break down ..usually this occurs in a few days to 1-2 weeks..

Without a microscopic diagnosis its hard to tell weather this parasitic in nature or bacterial....

I would start with quick Cure.(formalin+malachite green). and treat as if it was a parasite first.... Lots of water changes before doses and dose per the bottles instruction.

There may be a parasitic cause under all this...and the bacterial infection could be secondary...,,if so.. dealing with the parasite can allow the fish to heal..

If the fish get really bad and you've gone thru 3-4 quick cure baths.....I would consider trying a course of furan 2 to deal with any bacterial issues.



hth,
al

[YSS]

Does quick cure address internal parasite issues? I thought quick cure was for ich only. :confused:

[kaceyo]

Quick Cure is for external pathogens only, which is what your fish appear to have. It works on a number of parasites besides Ick.

Kacey

[Harriett]

And Furan 2 works very well for external bacterial infections. I have seen infections this bad turn completely around with the suggestions Kacey is making.

Good luck on this, and lesson learned, huh? QT EACH batch separately in separate systems separate equipment for a minimum of 6-8 weeks. Wash your hands between maintanence for each tank when you have new fish in the house. Then introduce one established discus at the end of your long QT to the new guys to see if either the old guy or the new guys get sick before you throw all the discus together for a possibly poor outcome.
Many of us QT for even longer---I go for close to 3 months and then proceed very slowly and carefully when mixing; I have found gambling with inadequate QT to be expensive and heartbreaking, inspite of how excited and impulsive I would LIKE to be...
Good luck to you,
Harriett

[CARY_GLdiscus]

Hello Sorry to hear!

IMO you need a good antibiotic Or lower the PH to Kill the bacteria IME 99% of all fry loss is due to a gill bacteria infection Not Flukes Yes they may cause some minnor damage to small fry but this is not whats killing them
JMO

hth
Cary Gld