razor head, sick and dying :( , need help please

[maxpain]

Problem

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

I received this fish along with 5 discus from a friend. They were all healthy and eating. I noticed that the poop coming out of this one fish was white, segmented, clear and hollow. It took me a week to set up a hospital tank and it's been in there for almost 3 weeks now. It's not eating, but still swimming. It is very emaciated.


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)

Not eating, white poop, emaciated


3. What medications/ treatments that you have already tried and results. Include dosages and duration of treatment.

10 tbsp salt, 5ml artemiss. 10 days
10 tbsp salt, 500mg Metro 3 tablets first day, 2 tablets the next 5 days.

Tank/Water

4. Tank size and age, number and size of fish

29 gallon. fish is 5-6 inches

5. Water change regime/ how long has tank been running/ bare bottom or gravel/ do you age your water?

%75 WC every day. bare bottom. i do not age my water but i dechlorinate it.

6 Parameters and water source;

- temp _____89

- ph _____ 7

- ammonia reading ____0

- nitrite reading ____0

- nitrate reading ____Between 0 and 5.0

- well water ____N

- municipal water ____Y

7. Any new fish/plants added recently

My display tank was it's new environment a month ago. nothing in hospital tank except for a heater and sponge filter


Additional Info:

I've been reading the threads and with all the information on here, I still can't figure out which direction to take now. I know i have 5 more days of metro treatment to do. I'm at a lost. He does not look good at all, just withering away.

[WMD]

the fish is pretty thin it will die soon, i've never seen that kind of poop before

[jimg]

I would cull it. too far gone. most likely worms. I would finish treating whatever was in with it with the metro then deworm them. many ways, you can get vermisol from david rose.

[flyman767]

I've seen worse make a full recovery; however, the odds are not promising.

I would try epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) as a laxative. It will help constipated, bloated fish pass feces (poop). You use 1 or 2 teaspoons for each 10 gallons of tank water. Disolve the epsom salt in a cup of water and pour into tank. It should work in 2 to 4 hours. You can redose after 4 hours, but if it hasn't worked in 24 hours, it probably won't.

Continue the metro for 5-7 days(400mg) with a temp of 90-92 degrees. If still not better after the metro..I would follow up with a deworming.

Good luck!

..Ray

[Skip]

wow.. that little guy will just keep wasting away :(

[maxpain]

ok, i will treat it with metro for 5 more days and use epsom salt instead of the aquarium salt.

[jimg]

ok, i will treat it with metro for 5 more days and use epsom salt instead of the aquarium salt.

If you want to try to save it I would add anti bio with metro along with a little salt for 10 days.
I wouldn't use epsom salt. many do, I'm not saying they are wrong but I just don't care for that treatment.
We are careful to acclimate and keep our healthy discus in stable water keeping ph and gh very close with minimal changes so why would we take a sick suffering discus and immediately raise the gh and ph quite a bit in a matter of minutes and expect it to not bother them? This is strictly just my opinion. I would try it again adding it very slowly over days if I had a bloated fish dying anyway. But it has never worked for me.

[maxpain]

hey jim. i understand your point of view. i will do some research on anti bio? thanks

[jimg]

hey jim. i understand your point of view. i will do some research on anti bio? thanks

I use oxytetracycline 1/2 tsp with 1 tbls salt per 20 keep ph near 7

[decula]

Parinox from:
http://www.nationalfishpharm.com/products4.html#Parinox

has helped me once.

[maxpain]

thank you everyone for your opinions, suggestions and help. i am sad to say that the fish has passed. i have learned a lot from this experience. dam it was such a nice looking fish. :(

[jimg]

sorry to hear that Chea. I would still treat whoever it was in with

[flyman767]

Sorry to hear..it's always a tough call: do I treat or not? You never want to throw antibiotics too soon and if you wait too long..the percentages of a full recovery drop significantly.

I have learned over time when something doesn't seem right you need to pay due diligence to how they interact with one another and if their appetite begins to diminish. This is usually the warning shot over the bow...watch carefully and be prepared to take further action.

..Ray

[maxpain]

Thanks Jim. I am still treating one more. He is still not eating but looks better.
Thanks ray, I think I caught this one early. I will save him.
I have some Meds on hand now but still need to get more. Just in case.
It's nuts that in a tank full of juvies, one or two will get sick but the others are perfectly normal, even with 75% WC every single day.
I will now always keep an extra sponge filter in an established tank, spare tank and heater.
This hobby is consuming most of my free time and money. Still love it though.