Behavior????

[Jen]

Hello,
I'm new to Discus and i have a few questions about their behavior:
(mine are all juveniles, one is only a month old)

1. What does it mean when they shake their heads from side to side? I had a case of fluke awhile back and i hoping it had not returned..They sometimes flash on the plants, but not too often

2. What do vibrating fins mean? I two kribensis in the tank, and i know that is a courtship dance thingy between them, but what does it mean when my discus do it......They are not old enough to court.

3. How do i stop a bully? I have a snakeskin that wont stop bullying my Pearl Dragon

Any Idea's would be most appreciated :)

[Scribbles]

1. Shaking heads could be due to an irritation. I won't hazard a guess as to whether or not it's flukes because I'm not experienced in fish disease.

2. Vibrating fins can be due to an irritation or it's also part of discus body language. In adults it can be part of breeding behavior and in juvies it can mean back off.

3. Discus are bullies by nature. How many discus do you have and what size is your tank? If you have a group of 5-6 or more they will sort it out. They are like kids on a playground. If you only have 2-4 then one may get singled out and get stressed.

Chris

[David Rose]

What did you use to treat for flukes when you had them last? What steps did you follow?

[Jen]

I have 5 six month olds and 1 one month old.....They seemed to relax a little bit, I am hoping they will sort it out by the time the little one gets a little bigger...I treated the tank with Parasite guard (Jungle) and it killed my biological filter.....So after a couple of weeks i treated with Prazipro

[bs6749]

What size tank are they in and how often are you doing water changes? What are your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels in the tank? I'm guessing that there is something in the water bothering them and you are seeing flashing. Do large water changes and that should help quite a bit. The larger and the more frequent the better off they will be.

[Jen]

I have a 54g bowfront corner tank......I do a 40-50% WC every other day
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate between 0-10ppm
PH 7.5

[David Rose]

Flukes can be pretty stubborn as you will see from other threads on Simply. It's possible they're back or it could be a different irritant. Some folks on SD have reported better long term success with AP Anti-fluke Life Bearer.

Are you on city water and using a dechlorinating product of some kind?

[moik]

I always thought parasite guard did not effect the bio... never used it though..Do not like the fizz tablet part of it...

[Jen]

I have city water and i use Nutrafin Aqua +plus.......i definitely have flukes again....by baby is only breathing out of one gill atm....im going to treat again with prazipro (it is all i have on hand for now).....You are right, fluke's are most persistent little buggers :(

[Jen]

I also went out today and bought an aquarium mop for the walls inside , and a pre-filter sponge to put on my intake pipe.....the water looks great, but they definitely have fluke......as for the Parasite guard, it says it wont kill your biological filter, but mine crashed, and i have read on here about others that had the same problem

[Jen]

WHOA!!! I just dosed my tank with PraziPro, and about 1/2 hour later all my fish started breathing heavy with one gill closed, then they all expelled a bunch of yucky white stuff from their gills!!!! Is this normal? What i mean to say , is this a good sign that the medication is working?

[David Rose]

A good sign...I would follow up with a large water change tonight, a partial redose per instructions and if you haven't already, add salt (1tbls/10g) to help them with their breathing and healing.

[Jen]

Wonderful!!!! Thank you for your response....I will do a large water change asap and put in a partial treatment with salt then ....... I will post tomorrow how they are doing

[Jen]

Thank You David for your suggestion ......... They seem to be doing much better today....their color has lightened and they have stopped breathing heavily and flashing .......They are always pigs so i saw no difference in their appetite, except that im trying to switch them off of live blackworms.....I will still feed them live food, but i would like them to start excepting other things as well

[Jhhnn]

This thread lays out several fluke treatment successes-

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=76946

Fluke eradication requires persistence on your part, re-treating even after you think they're gone...

[David Rose]

Hi Jen,

I've found that if discus are ill or have parasites they tend to stick to their favorites like live food; especially, black worms. Now that they are on the mend, it will get easier for them to accept other foods.

I have two new discus that I'm introducing new foods given they are used to live black worms or frozen blood worms only. It's week two and they have started to accept flake food when I feed it in the morning.

Best of luck,
David

[Jen]

Thank You David and Jhhnn......I sure hope they dont come back, but if they do, i will have a better plan of action this time....This forum is so wonderful , and i have learned so much already....
As far as getting my discus to eat flake, im on day 2 now, and they pick at it, but that's about it......but im sure persistence will pay off :)
Thanks again,
Jen