Nervous discus??

[hoangben]

Is it normal for juvenile discus to shake and ocaasionally dash outta control from time to time? should i be concern?

Also the slime coat is shedding a little more then normal..

Any suggestions....

[frenchie100]

Shedding any slime coat is not normal, neither is shkaing followed by dashing. Thereis defintely an irritation there.

First rule out water issues, after that I would think you are probably dealing with an external parasite.

What are your water parameters: ammonia, nitrite, pH, KH?
Do you age your water?

It would be really helpful if you could copy/paste the disease questionnaire and fill it out.

Julie :)

[hoangben]

water parameter are ideal.. temp is 84*. Discus are eating normal, but they seem very nervous?!?!

I've notice some cloudy spots on there fins... is this a beginning of a bacteria infection?

Someone please help!!!!!!!!

[seanyuki]

How big is the tank and how many discus?.....any other commutiny fish besides discus.?....more info about the tank is useful.....bare bottom or planted tank etc etc....have you tested the water or added a water conditioner b4 refilling the water.

[hoangben]

I have a 100 gallon tank. sand substrate from caribsea ( moonlight white sand)
no plants.

10 discus 3-4 inches
2 clown loaches 2 inch
2 synodontis catfish 2 inch
10 fiddler crabs (great cleaner)
5 rummy nose tetras

I add prime straight to tap water for water changes.... 50% w/c twice a week.

[Eddie]

Hard to say for sure at this point.

You say your water parameters are ideal.....what are they exactly?

Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
PH

And what is your PH in the tank and what is your PH directly from the tap? If there is a significant difference in the PH, this is irritating the fish.

Eddie

[Chad Hughes]

Something else to add to Eddie's questions....

How long has this been going on?

What is your water source? (well or city water)

What do you use for water conditioner?

A basic run down of your water conditioning and change out routines would be helpful. Definately sounds like a water issue.

Best wishes!

[frenchie100]

Eddie's and Chad's questions are key.

Along the same lines, have you ever tested the stability of your pH? Do you get tiny bubbles on all the surfaces after you do a WC?
Pretty much the same thing Eddie is trying to figure out :D.

Julie :)

[hoangben]

Ok.....

I add city water at about 7-7.5 ph, straight to tank, ph is same and stable in tank.
I use prime.
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20

recently added caribsea moonlight sand as a substrate, this type should not affect ph.

I do see tiny bubbles on surfice of glass when i do w/c, but I think this is common....

I just upgraded my pump from my sump to a 900 gph, but at 4 feet up, it is outputting about 500-550 gph, could this be stressing the discus?? Too much current maybe??

Filtration..
20 gallon overflow/sump with bioballs and some filter media pads

[Chad Hughes]

Ok.....

I add city water at about 7-7.5 ph, straight to tank, ph is same and stable in tank.
I use prime.
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20

recently added caribsea moonlight sand as a substrate, this type should not affect ph.

I do see tiny bubbles on surfice of glass when i do w/c, but I think this is common....

I just upgraded my pump from my sump to a 900 gph, but at 4 feet up, it is outputting about 500-550 gph, could this be stressing the discus?? Too much current maybe??

Filtration..
20 gallon overflow/sump with bioballs and some filter media pads

You say the Ph is the same and stable in the tank after the water change. How long after the water change do you test your Ph again? 24 hours is typically necessary.

How large are your water changes? Any "air bubbles" on the glass is not a good thing a typically indicative of too much CO2 in the water. Aging your water may help.

Best wishes!

[Eddie]

Also, you said 7-7.5....where that is a very large difference. Which is it? There is not a general 7 or 7.5. You should be measuring in .2 increments. 7-7.2-7.4-7.6. If your PH is 7.5 and you drop the PH to 7 in an instant, that is really gonna bother the fish, hence the slimecoat. Now aside from the this, the stress of this constant bouncing of the PH, will make your fish easy targets for aquatic invaders, such as parasites. Fix your water..............and the rest in my signature. ;)

Eddie

[frenchie100]

Ok.....

I add city water at about 7-7.5 ph, straight to tank, ph is same and stable in tank.
I use prime.
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20

recently added caribsea moonlight sand as a substrate, this type should not affect ph.

I do see tiny bubbles on surfice of glass when i do w/c, but I think this is common....

I just upgraded my pump from my sump to a 900 gph, but at 4 feet up, it is outputting about 500-550 gph, could this be stressing the discus?? Too much current maybe??

Filtration..
20 gallon overflow/sump with bioballs and some filter media pads

As previously mentioned those little bubbles that form are an indication that you have dissolved co2 in your water. When the Co2 goes back to its gaseous state, it creates bubbles EVERYWHERE, inlcuding the fish's gills and skin, and can cause them to shed some slimecoat to try to get rid of the irritation.

The co2 also artificially lowers your pH, but when it returns to its gaseous state it makes you pH rise. I have the same problem and mine goes from 7.9 straight out of the tap, to 8.6-8.8 after being aged for 24hrs with an airstone.

Aging your water is your best here ;).

Julie

[hoangben]

HELP!!!, I tested the water last night and to my surprise,

Ammonia @ .25
Nitrite @ .50
Nitrate @ 20
PH @ 7.4 - 7.6

I have the drop tester, so its pretty accurate. This is very strange.

Could it be that when I cleaned the filter media I may have washed most of the good bacteria in it??? What do I do now???

[akumastew]

HELP!!!, I tested the water last night and to my surprise,

Ammonia @ .25
Nitrite @ .50
Nitrate @ 20
PH @ 7.4 - 7.6

I have the drop tester, so its pretty accurate. This is very strange.

Could it be that when I cleaned the filter media I may have washed most of the good bacteria in it??? What do I do now???

I believe you can add Amqule plus or Prime to limit the immediate danger from ammonia and Nitrite.

It sounds as though you did some damage to your bacteria.

Did you use faucet water to clean your filter media, if so that can kill off bacteria.

- Stew

[hoangben]

I did a 90% water changed and double dosed it with prime, and I add half a bottle of Nite-out, nitrifying bacteria last night....

anything else I should do at this point... ???

[akumastew]

I did a 90% water changed and double dosed it with prime, and I add half a bottle of Nite-out, nitrifying bacteria last night....

anything else I should do at this point... ???

You might want to do a few extra water tests, to see if you get a spike in Ammonia/Nitrite, so that you can respond quickly to it.

You should also make sure you use one of the test kits that Prime doesn't cause a false positive for Ammonia.

Accoridng to nite-out info page on DrsF&S, it takes a couple of days to start working. I would recommend low feeding for those days, until you are sure it has kicked in.

[hoangben]

Thank you everyone for responding, hope everything will be fine... I will be cutting back to feeding once a day until filter is back to normal..

How long will it take for it to return to normal??

[akumastew]

Thank you everyone for responding, hope everything will be fine... I will be cutting back to feeding once a day until filter is back to normal..

How long will it take for it to return to normal??

It would depend on a couple of things

how much of your bacteria died off.

Whether the nite-out really works. There is a lot of debate on whether bottled bacteria actually works.

I think as long as you test your water reguarly and you are no seeing spikes in Ammonia and nitrite...and you see forming of Nitrate, then you know the bacteria has take up some of the load.

Sorry I couldnt be more precise.

[hoangben]

Ok, now i really need help.....

I've notice some of my discus have long stringy white poop now, maybe about 3 of them... what do i do?

My water test looks like there is still a trace of ammonia in it, the test seems to be between 0 - .25 on the color chart... even after a 90% water change.. or maybe it is just my eyes...

How do I deal with this poop, what will happen if I dont treat it?

[hoangben]

Have any heard of a product called "Parasite Clear Tank Buddies" from petsmart.
It contains praziquntel, metronidazole, and acriflavine...

I am thinking of using this product on my fish tank with some sick fishes.
Fishes have white stringy poo,
Darker than usual,
dashing abruptly and flashing,
rubbing

Please any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated..

[Eddie]

Hey there, sorry to hear about your fishes. Parasite Clear can help, is it the best choice, not IMO. If its all you can get, then thats what you will have to use. Since you mentioned that there are other symptoms, there may be an underlying cause to the white poo. If your fish are being attacked by external parasites, then internal issues can get a hold of the fish due to the stress. Prazi is very limited in its effectiveness against parasites. From the symptoms, I would first take care of externals and then follow up with a metro treatment. Good external parasite treatments are one of the following:

Potassium Permanganate
Formalin & Malachite Green (Quick Cure)
Formalin (alone)

Try to get metronidazole by itself. You can order it from 4fishstuff.com or Jehmco.

Before using any of the above chemotherapeutic agents, please advise which you are going to use and preparations will need to be made for the safety of your fish. It is very easy to kill your fish when improperly using chemicals. The instructions are limited on what you really need to know.

Also, if your water is stressing the fish, this can cause many of the symptoms you are seeing. What are you using as a water conditioner? Disregard, you are using Prime which will give you false ammonia readings. The fish are fine, even at .25. Is there a big difference in the water when you perform your water changes, like the PH?

Eddie

[hoangben]

Thanks Eddie, yes I am using prime...

I found metro and prazi at the LFS. What should I treat first and at what dosage? Can I treat both at the same time?

Oh, and this is in a 100 gallon show tank with sand and some plants. I would rather treat it in its existing tank then to move them.

Their appetite is rapidly decreasing..., this morning I saw more white stringy poo still hanging from the discus.

[Eddie]

Thanks Eddie, yes I am using prime...

I found metro and prazi at the LFS. What should I treat first and at what dosage? Can I treat both at the same time?

Oh, and this is in a 100 gallon show tank with sand and some plants. I would rather treat it in its existing tank then to move them.

Their appetite is rapidly decreasing..., this morning I saw more white stringy poo still hanging from the discus.

Firstly, dont treat them in the 100. Thats WAY too much meds wasted. Also, never treat in a substrate bottom tank unless you are hitting the main tank for external parasite, in which case you must.

Second, are the fish eating at all? White stringy poo is indicative of several different issues. How are the fish in terms of stress? Are there tanmates in the tank that are bullying the discus?

Eddie

[hoangben]

I have 10 discus 3 to 4.5 inhes
2 clown loaches 2 inches
2 synodontis 2 inches
10 fiddler crabs small
10 rams 1 inch
and a bunch of tetras...

the discus were always the first to eat..

should I drain half the tank out and leave the sponge running then treat it??

I need to treat it in this tank (my only tank).

Thanks....

[Eddie]

I have 10 discus 3 to 4.5 inhes
2 clown loaches 2 inches
2 synodontis 2 inches
10 fiddler crabs small
10 rams 1 inch
and a bunch of tetras...

the discus were always the first to eat..

should I drain half the tank out and leave the sponge running then treat it??

I need to treat it in this tank (my only tank).

Thanks....

Yeah, not advised. But if you have to, then you have to but not wise exposing all the fish to treatment if only the discus are affected. You may as well use Parasite Clear then.

Eddie

[hoangben]

Has anyone here ever use metronidazole from "Microbe-lift". The recommended dosage on the bottle seems very high, please advise on this.
100g treats 100 gallon.

I've made my first dosage last night following the bottles direction. This morning I still saw white poop hanging from some of the discus... Is that normal? when should the white poop stop??

[hoangben]

Ok, just did my second treatment last night of metro and prazi last night, this time, I'd move them to a 36 gallon tank along with my sponge filters..

I still notice white poopage on several discus this morning... how long does it take for the white poop to go away.

Will be on my third treatment tonight.

Please, any comments or suggestions would be appreciated!!!

[hoangben]

Ok, just did my second treatment last night of metro and prazi last night, this time, I'd move them to a 36 gallon tank along with my sponge filters..

I still notice white poopage on several discus this morning... how long does it take for the white poop to go away.

Will be on my third treatment tonight.

Please, any comments or suggestions would be appreciated!!!

ANYONE??!!

[Eddie]

Ok, just did my second treatment last night of metro and prazi last night, this time, I'd move them to a 36 gallon tank along with my sponge filters..

I still notice white poopage on several discus this morning... how long does it take for the white poop to go away.

Will be on my third treatment tonight.

Please, any comments or suggestions would be appreciated!!!

ANYONE??!!

Don't worry about it, finish the treatment. Then get them on a nutritious diet and let nature take its course.

Eddie