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Latro
04-03-2011, 10:25 AM
Problem

1. Please explain the problems with your fish/when and how they started

I noticed a "scratching" behavior in one of my discus yesterday, where he'd line himself up alongside a plant and then dart forward to rub it against his side. Today (I was paying attention to him today to try and see this behavior again) I'm noticing that he's favoring one gill pretty heavily over the other one. I've seen the scratching once today as well. His forehead was slightly sunken when I got him, and has improved and worsened as I've had him; at the moment I'd say it's probably a little worse, since his appetite isn't as good as it has been.

2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/ white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds)
Scratching behavior (evidently this is called flashing?) and favoring one gill. Possibly some loss of appetite, but not to the point that he simply doesn't eat.

3. What medications/ treatments that you have already tried and results. Include dosages and duration of treatment.
None.

Tank/Water

4. Tank size and age, number and size of fish
This tank is about a week and a half old. 36 gallons, 3 small discus, 4 cories, lightly planted. Has had 2 other discus in it. The three that are in it now came as 4, one died pretty quickly (though this one was quite stressed on arrival, even), another was put in a week ago and died in a few days.


5. Water change regime/ how long has tank been running/ bare bottom or gravel/ do you age your water?
I've been fighting low but nonzero ammonia levels lately (0.25 ppm or so after a spike to 1 ppm a little before the most recent death), so I've been doing 40-50% a day for a few days. Tank has been running for a bit under 2 months now, 4 week fishless cycle followed by 2 weeks with just the cories in it. It's gravel, I do not age my water. I had been using RO but was encouraged to shift to my tap; at this point it is probably a mix.


6 Parameters and water source;

temp 81-83 in general

pH is around 7.1 or so; it had been around 6.8 or so before starting to use tap.

Ammonia reading--didn't take another, but yesterday before my wc it was about 0.25 ppm. Going to do another wc today.

Nitrite reading--again 0 as of a day or two ago.

Nitrate reading--5 ppm as of a day or two ago.

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r57/blindbravado/100_0038.jpg

Latro
04-03-2011, 01:30 PM
Update: some feeding with beefheart (haven't used it before, I'm a bit amazed at how much they like it), along with being pushed around a little by one of his tankmates, has gotten him using the other gill more and the first gill less (about the same now, actually). Perhaps the gill issue was a symptom of not eating well, rather than the other way around?

Ardan
04-03-2011, 06:01 PM
For now I would keep up the wc's, use prime to neutralize ammonia. I wouldn't use meds unless it gets really bad. I think this tank is a bit small , but if maintenance is high then they may settle in. It may be a mini cycle caused by addition of new fish. Or could be mixing of fish has caused stress.
I would have temp 84F.
Wipe inside of tank often.
I don't really like gravel with juvies, but have raised some decent discus in the past with gravel.

hth
Ardan

Eddie
04-03-2011, 08:16 PM
For now I would keep up the wc's, use prime to neutralize ammonia. I wouldn't use meds unless it gets really bad. I think this tank is a bit small , but if maintenance is high then they may settle in. It may be a mini cycle caused by addition of new fish. Or could be mixing of fish has caused stress.
I would have temp 84F.
Wipe inside of tank often.
I don't really like gravel with juvies, but have raised some decent discus in the past with gravel.

hth
Ardan

Ditto on Ardan's post.

Also, the fish don't seem to be of very good quality, signature for rapid die offs.

Latro
04-03-2011, 10:00 PM
They aren't good quality based on what? I don't understand what follows your last comma. Note, by the way, that the second death was from a different supplier than the first; the first supplier was also the supplier of the three that are still here. The first death was something of a fluke (pun not intended), in that the fish arrived (shipped) in really bad shape. I should really have just culled him immediately, in retrospect. Given the ammonia spike I was going through at the time, the second one was probably my fault.

Ammonia has gotten down to zero, by the way, and he's using both gills still. Seems to be in good shape now, I hope.

Eddie
04-03-2011, 11:15 PM
They aren't good quality based on what? I don't understand what follows your last comma. Note, by the way, that the second death was from a different supplier than the first; the first supplier was also the supplier of the three that are still here. The first death was something of a fluke (pun not intended), in that the fish arrived (shipped) in really bad shape. I should really have just culled him immediately, in retrospect. Given the ammonia spike I was going through at the time, the second one was probably my fault.

Ammonia has gotten down to zero, by the way, and he's using both gills still. Seems to be in good shape now, I hope.


Based on the fact that they died so rapidly.