Do discus have seizures? Heart attacks?

[blkrob]

One my fish and seems to be dying before my eyes. None of my other fish are having any problems. It's a spastic quick movement about once a minute. Gonna check parameters. It's one of my favorite alenquers! Only one have a thought?

[Eddie]

One my fish and seems to be dying before my eyes. None of my other fish are having any problems. It's a spastic quick movement about once a minute. Gonna check parameters. It's one of my favorite alenquers! Only one have a thought?

Are you sure its dying? I have a pigeon that convulses from time to time and its a juvie. It gets the shakes like crazy, not dying though.

Eddie

[blkrob]

I'm sure. Thanks for the quick reply Eddie. Just turned black! pulling it from the tank now. I was hoping it was a seizure. Guess it was the big one Elizabeth. Damn, Damn, Damn...

[Eddie]

I'm sure. Thanks for the quick reply Eddie. Just turned black! pulling it from the tank now. I was hoping it was a seizure. Guess it was the big one Elizabeth. Damn, Damn, Damn...

Maybe organ failure :confused:

Eddie

[Islesfan]

I don't think fish have heart attacks in the sense that humans have heart attacks. I don't think other animals have heart attacks like humans where the arteries clog and restrict blood flow. But I bet organ failure or some sort of shock to the system could cause "heart attacks" in animals.

Just my $0.02, nothing scientific to base this on.

[April]

anytime ive had fish freak out , spiral and quiver etc..is when my ph crashes,,high nitrates or somehow my water went bad . usually from sliding too long without a wc. check your ph. ph going down fast will do it. do a wc in case someone else is next. always should b e first line of defense. large wc. usually by the time they are acting like that..too late..but you dont want the next to have the same issues. some get affected while others dont...but they may be acting quiet..of course its usually the favourite fish..

[TURBOFROG]

Funny to see this post on here as I was going to post this same thing.........I have a fish that I thought had a stroke this morning! Now he is trying to siwm around again, but always ends up on his side. He went nuts this morning and was shaking and darting around now is just trying to swim. Not to sure what to do.

[discusjoe27]

black fish, very stressed = worms, you need medical flakes. protozala and the other one. i'm not 100% sure but I'm betting it has a interal illness is the discus(es) pooping out white poop?

[April]

i think he meant the colour changed as he died..they go a funny dark and white splotchy colour when they die . am i correct? hence pulling it from the tank.

[April]

turbofrog..do a wc and try adding salt..but check your ph and nitrates and check for ammonia..or..if you have another tank..plunk him in..but the damage may be done.

[TURBOFROG]

I did do my daily water change and now he seems to be fine tonight! Very happy....it was very strange this morning. It was almost like when I turned on the lights I scared him!

[April]

well yes..thats normal..some people have a night light so it doesnt go from dark to bright in one second. freaks them out. glad they are fine.

[TURBOFROG]

Funny thing is I have a night light. Just dont know what happened. He seems to be fine now though!:)

[erikc]

Sadly, I'm not sure if it is a real heart attack, but this does happen with discus and especially WC varieties. They suddenly go dark and will die very quickly.

This has happened to me on a few occasions but the most memorable time was when I was watching a large shoal of beautifull WC's at an importer. There must have been about 30 of them in one tank. Alll of a sudden one in the middle of the shoal just turns black and floats to the top, dead in 5 seconds.

It happened to me when I had a spawning couple of bristlenoses, their spawning site was to close to the the favorite spot of a cobalt blue. One of the plecos attached itself to my discus. It went dark within seconds and died within a faw minutes.

So heart attack or not this does happen and it is due to intense stress.

[Apistomaster]

If they do it is news to me.
I remember on an old BIDKA thread the discussion involved beef heart causing artherosclerosis and possible heart attacks which I think is highly unlikely.

With regard to newly imported wild Discus there are always going to be few which have been starved too long, have severe parastiic infestations and each time they are transported as they make their way through the distribution chain there is some attrition. Actually seeing one suddenly die was likely a matter of being in the right place at the right time to witness one of the apparently sudden deaths. Such a fish is often dead but it hasn't quite registered in it's brain and you saw it keel over.

[tcyiu]

... Such a fish is often dead but it hasn't quite registered in it's brain and you saw it keel over.

:confused: I knew fish were not high on the intelligence chart, but ...

Tim

[blkrob]

Thanks for all the replies. It was 2 days before my weekly water change. I didn't change the water to the the scheduled day. Probably not the brightest idea but I wanted to see what the other fish were going to do.

All the other fish are fine. When I've had water issues in the past my rummy's started going first. No flashing or issues noticed. But I am a novice. The parameters were good. It's a heavily planted tank w/ ph controller. My co2 tank didn't dump. This has caused an issue in the past, but not this time. I have gold tetra's breeding like crazy. I have a small jungle growing. I need to cut it back again. Nothing in the tank besides that once fish seems to be having issues. (past tense now):(

I'm not sure about how lucky I am but I witnessed the time of death. The fish literally turned black and stopped breathing before my eyes. The fish was fine the day before. I watched it schooling with my other discus. Not hiding in the back, no clamped fins jockeying for food. Well it's in the freezer now. I'll cut it open friday, right before trash man comes. See if I need to treat my other fish.

Hope I die like the fish and just not have it register with my brain til later.:D

Once again thank you all for your input.

Robert