Smoke to Fire
02-02-2011, 10:36 AM
I returned yesterday after being gone on a business trip for almost a month to find my wife doing water changes and my oldest discus almost upside down. Apparently she came home to notice that all four discus, who usually beat tail upon site of anybody, stayed put and didnt move. Odd for my fish. So long story short. She tested the water to find Ammonia 1ppm Nitrites 0, Nitrates 20-40 ppm (tester doesnt get close enough to tell which). Water temps are still 82 degrees and the tank has been in place for almost four years now. The water coming from our tap shows Ammonia 0-.25 ppm ( more towards 0 but its gov water) Nitrites 0, Nitrates 5 ppm. Usual for my tank is 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 20 nitrates.
So.. Did a 65 % water change last night and reduced ammonia down to almost nil. Did another 50% water change this morning and ammonia is showing between 0 and .25 ppm. Going to do another one tonight, if it doesnt stabilize.
Now for the fish. Every other fish in the tank doesnt "appear" to have any issues. No redness of the gills, no increased breathing, swimming just fine, and no color changes. However for my oldest Colbat High Fin that isnt the case. Half the time he is mouth down up against the filter (tried turning down the power on it in order to allow him a less stressful environment) or he is sitting at the bottom of the tank almost on his side. His breathing looks labored and the soft tissue at the edges of his gills is "wavy". Not his norm. His color has completely gone to sh#*. He used to be almost a turquoise blue with black bars, now he's almost black on part of his body, with huge white areas showing up. Edges of his fins are also appearing to shrivel.. for lack of a better word.
So I am going to include a few pictures that I took of him up against the filter. Hopefully somebody can assist with determnining the issue and the proper course of action. For now I am assuming that an exposure to high ammonia is the culprit. Sorry if the pictures are rather large. I was in a hurry and had to take them with my phone..
Thanks again for your time and I appreciate the help.
s825.photobucket.com/home/smoketofire/index
Sorry I had to use this method for pics. Apparently I havnt posted enough to include links nor reduced my pictures down from 1 meg in order to upload
So.. Did a 65 % water change last night and reduced ammonia down to almost nil. Did another 50% water change this morning and ammonia is showing between 0 and .25 ppm. Going to do another one tonight, if it doesnt stabilize.
Now for the fish. Every other fish in the tank doesnt "appear" to have any issues. No redness of the gills, no increased breathing, swimming just fine, and no color changes. However for my oldest Colbat High Fin that isnt the case. Half the time he is mouth down up against the filter (tried turning down the power on it in order to allow him a less stressful environment) or he is sitting at the bottom of the tank almost on his side. His breathing looks labored and the soft tissue at the edges of his gills is "wavy". Not his norm. His color has completely gone to sh#*. He used to be almost a turquoise blue with black bars, now he's almost black on part of his body, with huge white areas showing up. Edges of his fins are also appearing to shrivel.. for lack of a better word.
So I am going to include a few pictures that I took of him up against the filter. Hopefully somebody can assist with determnining the issue and the proper course of action. For now I am assuming that an exposure to high ammonia is the culprit. Sorry if the pictures are rather large. I was in a hurry and had to take them with my phone..
Thanks again for your time and I appreciate the help.
s825.photobucket.com/home/smoketofire/index
Sorry I had to use this method for pics. Apparently I havnt posted enough to include links nor reduced my pictures down from 1 meg in order to upload