What is it and what to do?!

[rorie87]

Not often my fish are ill, so have little knowledge in fixing them.

Here is what i found in my discus tank today - no new fish, no changes, nothing to hurt themselves on. Everything is as normal. Water parameters are fine. What on earth is it? I'll treat with salt, but is there anything else i can do?!

http://www.roriethomson.com/Scar-1.jpg
http://www.roriethomson.com/Scar-2.jpg
http://www.roriethomson.com/Scar-3.jpg

[TURQ64]

Definitely looks to be something fungal jacking with their slime coat, but the photo's aren't clear to me, and there's a lot of red hues around..messes with my cognitive stuff...if it's just fungal looking up close, many things will clear it up..If it looks spotty, or has a sheen when a flashlight is shown on it, possibly velvet..( a protozoa)

[rorie87]

Sorry for the poor photos - shocking given i advertise my photography website too haha. But the one with the damage is hiding and i swear he's doing it on purpose - always behind the other haha.

Anyway, it does look fungal. Not spotty.

So what is the best treatment? Any idea what could have caused it given no fish or plants or anything have been added?

[TURQ64]

If it'sa water mold, extended salt treatments will do, along with any of the old fashioned dye based med's..MG is best, followed by Acriflavin, Brilliant Green, and MB on the tail end..If it's velvet, a different approach somewhat..

[rorie87]

sorry, dye based meds..... what are they and how do i use them?

[pcsb23]

Has the fish been breeding or trying to?

I'd do a salt dip first, see if it strips off the slime coat, then if needed use something like F&MG. Salt dip instructions here http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?70580-How-To-Do-a-Salt-Dip be sure to clean the tank it goes back into very well too.

Dye based meds are the ones Gary (Turq64) listed, i.e. F&MG, Acriflavin, MB etc ...

[rorie87]

Thanks for the replies.

The day i posted this, i did a 50% water change and added salt. The marks have now almost totally gone! No idea what caused it - they are not in the best shape as i'm in a transition while building my fish room, so maybe poor water quality. I still do 50% water changes every week though.

Just out of interest, does melafix (the API products) etc work well with discus? never hear of it mentioned on here for cures

[pcsb23]

Some like the 'fixes, I like the smell, but have found them to be next to useless tbh.

[strawberryblonde]

The main (active) ingredient in Melafix is Cajeput oil. It's properties are a lot like clove oil and/or tee tree oil when it's used medicinally.

People use it as a mild anesthetic for things like toothaches and over the counter toothache and joint pain treatments contain either Cajeput, Eucalytus or Clove oil.

It can also be used to thin mucous secretions and to clear up mild fungal infections that don't require a prescription drug.

Soooooo, for fish applications I suppose they are hoping that a mild solution in the tank will calm the fish, help them shed slime coat and perhaps clear up any fungal infections. I had a brand new bottle that I inherited along with a bucket of fish when I purchased my huge tank from CL last year.

I also had a tank of platy fry who didn't adjust well to being moved to a new tank in order to make room for a tank full of rainbowfish fry. LOL

I ended up using a smidge of the melafix in the platy tank just to see if that might help calm them and cure any possible stress related issues. Can't say that it worked, but can't say that it didn't work either. Along with plenty of clean water and feedings the platy fry went on to live nice healthy little lives (in someone elses home thank goodness because honestly, those things breed like rabbits!!!)

In the end, it wouldn't be my treatment of choice for fish related illnesses, but it DOES make a wonderful sedative! I've used it many times in the past 6 months to knock out my culls. I capfull in 2 cups of water and blam, the fish is sound asleep in less than a minute. Add another capfull, wait 10 minutes and the fish is dead. For the sake of saving my pennies, I tend to use it when I'm culling more than 1 or 2. No point wasting 2 capfulls of that stuff on just 2 little fish.