What am I doing wrong here?

[Alfred]

I'm no expert esp. when it comes to disease.
I have been raising Discus for 3 years now and this is a scenario that happens once in a while and almost always with the same end results, death.
All my juvee tanks are BB 86 F with daily 50% or more WC depending on how crowded the tank is.

Once in awhile I get a fish that looses color, stops eating and hangs out away from the group, this is usually followed by a couple of other fish over a few days or wks.
The cause, water, the water is not clean enough or the tank is over crowded.
OK I know that.
Prevention is the answer for this first.

My question is how you handle it when it happens.
I normally up the WC, turn up the temp to 90 and hope the fish comes around and eats. If after 4 or 5 days or when I can see the fish is not improving or I see a stringy grey poo I pull the fish, put him in 10 or 20 gal hospital tank up the temp to 92 F, up the air and treat with metro powder .45 grams to 20 gal.
I then feed metro flake once a day until I see them eat and then go to twice a day. I continue the metro for 5-7 days doing a 50% wc and re dose daily, if they are eating I stop the water metro treatment at this time and continue the met flake feeding for a week or 2. Very seldom do this fish ever make it this far.
Why is my success rate so poor with treatments?
Is it the wrong treatment.
I had 7 2.5" fish in the hospital tank. Now after 3 days of treatment 1 looks worse, really sluggish hanging out at surface like he needs oxygen.He also looks like he is getting bloated even though he is not eating, this just started yesterday. I lost 2 fish last night. The other 4 are not near the surface. I have 2 air stones plus a hang on filter going.

[Ardan]

How many fish in what size tank?
Is the ph stable for wc's?

Sounds like the fish get stressed from something.
What do you feed?

Also always start with good healthy fish from a reputable breeder.
Ardan

[Mr Wild]

Hello Arden
I dose epsom salt with metro and replace after wc the amount that has been removed. I also dose metro 10mg per litre once a day for 10-12days. We do not have medicated food here so I have never used that, how do you know each fish is getting enough medication through the food? Also I use 1-2teaspoons of epsom per 10gals (40litres approx) and replace each day. These 2 meds together are safe and help each other. I am no expert but I have followed this advice and it has worked well for me. HTH

[seanyuki]

Just curious.....is it wise to do a standard prophylactic treatment every two months.?


Cheers
Francis:)

[Alfred]

These are not cases of constipation. This is parasitic of some sort. Im starting to think the 1 fish showing bloat after not eating is not getting what it needs from the metro alone and may need kanamycin or Maycin 2.
I doubt he makes it through the metro treatment as he looks to be going down hill.

I'm to the point where I almost feel meds are a waste considering my high losses when I start to use them. Once I see a fish going down hill I rarely see it reversed.
This is just my experience, I'm not suggesting they do not work. I'm weighing the cost and effort involved against my success. :(

[Alfred]

Well i turned around and saw that the bloated fish was discolored and on the bottom lifeless. I never can get past seeing that stuff, it sucks.
I'm thinking culling fish that do this in the future *** all my efforts seem fruitless and expensive.:mad:

[Innivus]

The one thing I've found out very recently is when the fish are given a parasite med, the parasite can sometimes die inside the fish, get stuck and create an internal bacterial infection. After I dose with metro or prazi I've had more success giving the fish a few days off and then using internal bacteria medication (maracyn-2 or some anti-bacterial foods).

Oh, and bacteria loves it some warmer water...so sticking it in 90+ deg H2O won't help if this is the case.

HTH, Vinni