Is this normal?

[mawar]

Hello, I wanted to introduce myself before I get started. My name is mawar I'm new to this forum and new to keeping discus. But I've been keeping tropical fish for about 10 years. I "rescued" some discus from a pet store, they weren't looking too good so I thought I would nurse them back to health. After about a month of having they started to look pretty good and I'm getting some growth. But I was wondering is it normal for a discus to eat too much a develop a lump not only in the stomach but it looks like his swim bladder is swollen. He swims perfectly fine and seems normal.

Heres a pic, sorry for the bad quality its from my phone:
http://rinoabear.com/discus/03282010109.jpg
http://rinoabear.com/discus/03282010112.jpg

Also one of the other discus (yellow one) looks to be emaciated. His tail bone looks like its bulging or broken because there is a lump there. He's looked like this ever since I brought him home from the pet store. Should I be worried? Other than those two problems they eat very well and follow the my angelfish all around the tank.

Heres a pic of the yellow one:
http://rinoabear.com/discus/03282010123.jpg
http://rinoabear.com/discus/03282010124.jpg

Heres some videos of them swimming:
Video 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZVPv47KCM0)
Video 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkGFbzKCPfc)
Video 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2pkfUdCem4)

Here are my water parameters

Temp: 84F
Ph: 7.0
Nitrates: 0-5 ppm (somewhere in between)
Nitrites: 0 ppm
Ammonia: 0 ppm
WC: 20% daily

[mawar]

DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE


Problem

1. Please explain the problems with your fish/when and how they started
He always looked a little swollen but it started to get really swollen earlier this week


2. Symptoms
swollen what looks like to be the swim bladder, breathes rapidly (he always has), sometimes hiding after eating but usually out and kicking it


3. What medications/ treatments that you have already tried and results. Include dosages and duration of treatment.
just finished a 21 day prazi treatment for previous gill flukes and overnight with epsom salt 2tsp / 10 gallon


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and age, number and size of fish
125 gallon couple of months old, 9 rummynose, 8 black neon, 7 glow light, 3 cardinal tetras, royal pleco, kribenesis, red tailed shark, angelfish, 4 discus


5. Water change regime/ how long has tank been running/ bare bottom or gravel/ do you age your water?
20%-50% every other day (depending how dirty it looks), sand, water out of the tap w/ prime


6 Parameters and water source;

- temp 86 degrees (turned up from 84)

- ph 7.0

- ammonia reading 0

- nitrite reading 0

- nitrate reading 0-5ppm (somewhere in between)

- well water n

- municipal water: yes w/prime but not aged

7. Any new fish/plants added recently
no

[LizStreithorst]

I don't the lump is of any concen.I have seen it son simefish I've owned before and I just ignored it. Sorry that I can't tell you what it is, though.

The "broken tail" could be a structral abnormality. Nothing you can do about it.

What does concern me is what appears to be a deep pit between the eyes of the lightest colored Marlboro. I couldn't see it well. It could just be some spots of pepper and not a hole.

[mawar]

oh okay! I was just making sure there wasn't something wrong because these are my first discus. In your experience does the bump go away as they grow?

Also the marlboro has a lot or peppering on his face that makes it look like a hole but he is okay. He hasn't grown at all though =( they bully him too much so he doesn't get a lot of food. Maybe I should go back and get a couple of more to even out the aggressiveness.

[LizStreithorst]

I don't think that it's the number you have. I think that he is the weakest one. He doesn't have the appitite of the others in the first place, and when he decides to eat, he's easy to pick on. Have you seen it's poop? Is it black like in the pic of your Turk?

[mawar]

his poops are normal, it's pretty healthy just not growing =( maybe it'll catch up

[prolude006]

Okay I will try to give some ideas here.
one discus will always get picked on so no worries there. The lump is strange looking and not normal but from what possibilities I read it could be a result of an internal deformity with the stomach. when the fish eats it gets a pocket in the stomach where food stays and rots making bacterial gas that swells the other intestinal organs. small amounts of food would be better for this fish to reduce the problem. I would say just feed this tank smaller amounts more often. I still believe that the blood worms would be overeaten so the fish probably swells more because of it. Good luck with the discus and post some updated pics as they get bigger, maybe the problem will correct itself.
The fish all have nice red eyes so they seem healthy they just need more food and time with good water changes to start putting some size on them.
I would worry about a couple tank mates you have in there such as the red tailed shark (will get aggressive and huge) and the kribensis tend to harass angelfish and will get territorial as they age.
Also some of those fish will become snacks for the angelfish as they get bigger. If any fish pair up in that tank I see some issues with fighting.

David

[splokok]

glad i searched and read this thread :argue: i really need to blame myself for overfeeding my discuss with bloodwords :D

Guess it is the real culprits! Bloodworms are really delicious for discus but fatal to their health :angel:

I dumped a lot of bloodworms for my discus to eat in one day and this "lumps" showed up!!! Two of my adult discus showed big lumps on both sides of their body.

Yes, in the body ... same as the pic shown by mawar.And it is bigger than my eyeball :angry:

From now on, No more bloodworms!!! Pure beef-heart appetite for life :)

Question: reiterated :o When will the lumps go away? is it contagious to other discus tankmates?

[gerrard00]

I'm about a month into my discus experience, so please don't take anything I say as definitive. That said, I recommend you read the Most Common Treatments sticky. I had a similar lump in one of my guys and it turned out to be constipation. One day of Eposom Salt treatment and the lump was gone and my buddy was back to eating like a fiend and trying to rule the tank.

YMMV!

[splokok]

thanks gerrard for the tip.
some of my juvies are now skittish and scratching from objects. I guess itch has also invaded my tank :mad:

I'll hit the LFS and buy a 300Watts heater and some epsom salt :)

I'll start treating my 100 gal tank with the community in it:D