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FAQs on Discus Disease, Pests 3

Related Articles: Plants + Discus = Wow! by Alesia Benedict, Planted Aquariums: Plants and Discus: What They Need To Thrive  By Alesia Benedict, Discus Divas, Glitz, Glam and Lots of Demands by Alesia Benedict, Juraparoids, Neotropical Cichlids, African Cichlids, Dwarf South American Cichlids, Asian Cichlids, Cichlid Fishes in General

Related FAQs: Discus Disease 1, Discus Disease 2, & Discus 1, Discus 2, Discus Identification, Discus Selection, Discus Compatibility, Discus Behavior, Discus Systems, Discus Feeding, Discus Reproduction, Cichlids of the World, Cichlid Systems, Cichlid Identification, Cichlid Behavior, Cichlid Compatibility, Cichlid Selection, Cichlid Feeding, Cichlid DiseaseCichlid Reproduction,

Discus fin rot 11/11/09
Dear Crew,
<Hello Victor,>
First I must thank you for your helpful site.
<Glad you enjoy.>
However, I am still facing a problem.
<Oh?>
My discus in my 33 gallon tank are currently suffering from fin rot.
<Do review water quality first and foremost, and also think about any sources of physical damage, such as fin nipping, fighting, or careless handling by the fishkeeper. These are almost always the root causes of
Finrot.>
The tank is a 33 gallon with 3 discus, the largest with a diameter of 5 inches, and a Raphael catfish.
<This tank could easily be overstocked, depending on the size of the fish and how much food you're adding.>
It is a planted tank, ph 7, nitrate 40 (it never seems to change even after water changes) and I do 2-3 20% water changes a week.
<I see.>
I also recently added a CO2 thing in October.
<This shouldn't in itself cause Finrot, but rapid changes in pH can be stressful, so check this. Do also remember than biological filtration works best at pH 7.5; as pH drops, biological filtration works less well, and below pH 6, it stops working altogether. So if the pH drops too far below 7, you can easily have spikes of nitrite and ammonia.>
I have tried using Pimafix and nothing has happened.
<Largely useless tea-tree oil remedy. Do use a proper medication, e.g., eSHa 2000, Maracyn, etc.>
Earlier, like September I saw their fins starting to get a bit ragged, but now they are starting to miss chunks of their fins. I am very worried because they never got fin rot, even before in their old overcrowded tank
of 20 gallon. What could be the cause of the loss of their fins?
<See above.>
Thank you, Victor
<Cheers, Neale.>

Metronidazole for breeding pair... Symphysodon   9/16/09
Dear Crew
We have been doing a lot of reading, and are still somewhat confused about the dosage for Metronidazole.
We have a breeding pair of Red Turquoises and have had them for about 3 months now. The male went off his food quite a few weeks ago and had white stringy poo, so we treated him with Octozin by Waterlife. His symptoms improved and we thought he started eating again. We also treated the female with Octozin and then put the pair back together.
<Never found Octozin terribly useful, to be honest.>
In the last couple of weeks however, we have noticed that he is taking in food and then spitting it out again and swimming off rather than eating the smaller pieces of food. We also have not noticed him poo at all. He is dark in colour and hanging at the top of the tank.
<Sounds like Hexamita or similar; do review things like diet, water temperature, and nitrate concentration, all relevant facts where cichlids are concerned.>
We read that the most likely thing to be wrong is flagellates and the best treatment for this is Metronidazole, however we have found many conflicting methods for dosage.
<Optimal dosage is quoted in milligrams per kilogram of fish weight. The fish can then be *fed* the precise amount of medication required for proper effect. Because so few people know how heavy their fish are, fishkeepers tend to go with a milligram per litre dosage instead, e.g., 250 mg per 37.5 litres/10 US gallons (you will find both higher and lower dosages recommended in the literature). But with the best will in the world, this is a rough-and-ready approach. Your vet will have a listed dosage in milligrams per kilogram fish weight, and you'd be best going along with that.>
We live in the UK and have obtained 200mg tablets from our local vet. We have the pair in a 100litre tank, all water parameters are fine and we are raising the temperature to 32 degrees C (as we read that Metronidazole will not work at temperatures lower than this) Currently it is at 30 degrees and the male's colour has already improved, although his stress bars are still visible. Please could you advise us what the optimum course of treatment for Discus would be.
We were also wondering if there was any information regarding whether this drug affects the fertility of fish, in particular Discus, as we recently found out that Acriflavine can cause fish to become sterile.
<Not heard of any such side effects re: Metronidazole, but an infertile fish is certainly better than a dead one, so can't imagine this being an issue as such.>
Thank you for your time, look forward to hearing from you.
Joe and Harriotte.
<Cheers, Neale.>

help Hexamita problem ?? Discus dis. f'   8/18/09
Hi crew,
<Abhishek>
Firstly thanks a ton for the previous times you guys have helped and the way the site is kept up. Ok have two queries...
1. My discus in a planted tank seem to have got Hexamita (seems) attaching some pics along. The fish have very good appetite and am feeding them freeze dried blood worms, freeze dried Tubifex, NLS spectrum Thera +A , NLS discs formula, NLS spectrum grow.
<None of which have medicinal value for treating Octomita/Hexamita>
Tank size is 48' * 18 * 18'. Water is changed twice weekly 30% with RO water . PH is a 6.8 mainly due to the driftwood.
Ammonia is 0. Filtration is by 2 Eheim 2217 canister filters which house sponge in one and carbon with Zeolite in another. Water temperature is kept at 28 degrees with the help of a Jager 300 watt heater. Lighting consists of
6 compact fluorescents of 30 watts each.
All the rest of the fish that include Angels
<A poor idea to mix these with Symphysodon... see WWM, books re>
and Ramirezi are thriving. the
discus do get ample of food and still are getting paper thin, with black spots or pepper on the body. There is no aggression in the tank so far. It has been up and running for the past 11 months now. Feaces of the smaller discus are a little pale but not white completely. My LFS sent me
Intestinal
Hexamita clear medicine, as he has seen remarkable results with it . You can
check the stuff at http://www.bigfish88.com/ .
<The ingredients are not listed... little is in English...>
Would like to know if I should start giving Metrogyl
<What is this? Metronidazole hopefully>
and Nitrofuranace to the fish.
2. My 2 inch FH has a bloated stomach, is of food and sitting on the bottom of the tank. Prior to this I did see white stringy knotted feaces hanging from him. Just bought this guy 10 days back. H is in a temporary tank of 36'* 18 '* 18' with two Aquael unfiltered 1000. Temp is at 30 degree PH is 7.5 ,ammonia is 0. I have done 50% and then next day 30% water change now added Metrogyl 500mg (IV form) 50 ml and Nitrofuranace to the tank as he is not eating. Have cleaned the filters also. Attaching pics f him also.
Need help.
--
Abhishek Singh Gaur
Adios Amigos.
<... you crashed our mail server, by sending 30 some Megs of images...
100's of Kbytes is all we allow. Follow directions... Read here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/hexoctfwfs.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

Re: help Hexamita problem ??  8/18/09
Hi Bob,
Yes Metrogyl is Metronidazole I have it in IV form of 500mg concentration.
<Ahh, so, I take it you will be injecting this... rather than hoping to administer via ingestion>
The angels were put in on request of my daughter, but they are going to the LFS as planned.
<Ah good>
Sorry about the crash caused will send the pics again.
<No need>
still waiting for a reply to my second query.
<Please see WWM (again) re Octomita... and Metronidazole... can't be just  added to the water... BobF>
 

Discus Not Growing   7/23/09
Hi, I have a 75-gallon tank with 5 Discus, a Uaru, a Rummynose, and a small assortment of various Cory catfish. The Discus and, especially, the Uaru, are growing nicely; however, one of the two Cobalt Blue Discus I have is as small as he was when I got him and the others about 9 months ago. Even the one that is growing is doing so at a very slow pace, but at least he's growing. The runt, or "little guy," which is what I tend to refer to him as, seems to be eating his fair share of food, which consists primarily of frozen blood worms (mosquito larvae), brine shrimp, and plankton, during every feeding. Also, the water is always crystal clear and kept at a steady 82 degrees, at times, 83 or even 84 on the really hot days of Summer. 30% water changes are done once a week as well. All things considered, in addition to him acting healthy and his colors being so vibrant, I am stumped as to why the "little guy" is not growing. I say, "little guy," but, for all I know, he could very well be a she. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Regards, Gregg
< Three things could be the cause. The first is nutrition. With a varied diet like that, nutrition should not be the problem unless he is being chased away from the food and actually getting less food than the other
fish.. The second is water quality. High nitrogenous wastes interfere with the growth of young fish. High protein diets do produce lots of this waste. The ammonia and nitrites should be zero and the nitrates should be under 20 ppm. <<Much lower. RMF>>  The last is genetics. In the wild small fish are removed from the gene pool by predators. No such predators are usually found in an aquarium. Most commercial discus breeders sell everything they produce with little concern for long term results. I'm afraid you just may have a runt.-Chuck>

Discus with white poop - weighing options – 06/12/09
Hello Crew,
<Hello,>
Not long ago I got two new Stendker Discus from Discus Hans in Baltimore.
They are in an established 75 gallon tank, pH 7.6, temp 82, GH 8 degrees, ammonia=0, nitrite=0, nitrate=10ppm. Tankmates are two other discus, a few tetras, 4 cories, and 2 small Plecos.
<I'm not wild about mixing Corydoras with Discus; with the exception of Corydoras sterbai, most traded Corydoras prefer cooler water than Discus, so one or other species ends up being stressed and has a shorter life than otherwise.>
I noticed a couple days ago that the larger of the two fish (5") became less interested in food and began spitting out the blood worms I have been feeding them. Today I noticed that the fish had a white poop coming out and had little or no interest in eating.
<Well, most fish prefer a variation of food, and will bore of any one thing. So if you're keeping Discus, it's a good idea to cycle bloodworms, brine shrimps, earthworms, daphnia, flake foods and pellets through the
week. Beef heart is an old stand-by, and you can add this to your frozen food collection, though aquarists tend to use this food sparingly rather than the as the staple that it once was. Letting fish starve for 24 hours
does them no harm at all, and often they take foods willingly afterwards that they otherwise ignored.>
I did some research on the discus forums online and of course as is the case with nearly any issue like this, there are as many different diagnoses and cures being suggested as there are people posting. I don't want to
blindly medicate the fish, but from what I read, the problem seems to either be Hexamita or intestinal worms depending on who you ask. My questions are as follows:
<Hexamita infections are quite common among tank-bred cichlids, and some argue they're ubiquitous, and merely switch from being harmless to lethal only if environmental conditions and/or diet shortcomings allow.>
1. I think hex is the more likely scenario. Do you agree, or do you think worms more likely, or do you think it would be better to medicate for both types of parasites.
<I'd go with metronidazole first, since the copious production of pale (mucous-rich) faeces is a classic symptom of Hexamita infection.>
2. If I medicate the entire tank with metronidazole or Praziquantel, will either of these medications affect the biological filtration of the tank?
<Used correctly, the filter should be unharmed; the one treats Protozoans, the other helminths, and neither is strongly anti-bacterial.>
3. I have not had good luck saving any other fish that I have removed to an outside tank and medicated. If I do nothing, do you think there is any chance the fish could recover on its own?
<Cichlids rarely recover from Hexamita infections on their own; it's almost always lethal unless treated early on.>
4. If I medicate the fish in a separate, uncycled tank, would I be able to use Amquel to keep ammonia in check, or would using Amquel adversely affect the potency of the medication?
<Would treat all the fish together on the assumption cross-contamination is likely, even probable.>
Thanks for your help.
Joe
<Cheers, Neale.>

Help me (Symphysodon; mystery deaths) 6/6/09
Hello dear Neale,
<Hello again,>
How are you? I hope you will be fine there. Neale I have 4 discus in my tank of 90 gallon.
<Should be kept in groups of six or more; in smaller groups, Discus tend to be bullies, until just one mated pair is left, and the others are so battered they have to be removed.>
Neale I am used to feed them twice a day and they finish all of them in 2 to 3 minutes. Neale today my small discus died and I observed it from last 2 days it was showing in balance in its movement while swimming.
<I need more information that this. What's the water chemistry? What's the water quality? To recap, Discus need 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, less than 20 mg/l nitrate, less than 10 degrees dH hardness, and a steady pH somewhere between 6 and 7.5.>
I think it died due to swim bladder disease or due to the constipation problem?
<Neither is likely. Discus aren't especially prone to constipation, and on the usual diet of good quality flake foods plus frozen (or live) invertebrates should do very well. "Swim Bladder Disease" is a catch-all name given by some hobbyists to a range of different things. Almost always, when fish die from what people think is "Swim Bladder Disease", they actually died because of something else. For example, water quality problems, inadequate diet, etc. In the case of Discus, you can add to this pH stress when people try to keep them in soft water without using a buffer, and starvation, when Discus are forced to compete with more active fish. Discus are sensitive to certain parasites carried by Angelfish, and if the two species are mixed, Discus may sicken and die. Not always, but sometimes. So how the Discus are kept prior to you purchasing them matters as well.>
I don’t know Neale what happened wrong? Water condition is perfect. Please tell me that what is swim bladder and constipation problem and how can we cure our fish? What is the cause of these two diseases? How can we prevent them? I am very much depressed why is these disease are so common in fish? Please help me, waiting for your reply.
Thank you,
Ali Zaheer
<Much written about Symphysodon, here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/discusfish.htm
Good luck, Neale.>

Discus... stress beh., hlth., incomp. with angels    12/12/08
Good afternoon,
I am hoping you can help me out with a discus problem.
Currently I have a 330 litre tank with a ph of 6.4 and temp at 28C as well as quite a few fishes,
20 Rummy nose
4 bristle nose
4 angel fish (paired, very territorial)
10 Zebra Danios
1 blue diamond discus
4 red melon discus
(Is this too many for the tank?)
<Sounds great. But Angels can be quite waspish, so I'd watch how the Discus behave. It's pretty common for Angels to bully Discus. There's also a risk of transmitting diseases that Angels don't seem too bothered by, but can cause real problems for Discus.>
The red melons were added 6 days ago. On the 1st day they got "head butted" by the blue diamond a fair bit, I read up on a site and dismissed it as a greeting of some sort.
<Well, Discus are hierarchical, but if you upped the group to six, I'd fully expect them to settle right down.>
Now the 4 red melons are slowly showing black patches on their face. There is one that is particularly bad, his upper and lower fin has a dark shade around the edges while his back fin has gone from clear to black. I've read your previous posts about unhappy discus turning black, in my case it is only to their head and fins their body is still bright red.
<Could well be stress; Discus when stressed typically show a series of dark vertical bars on the flanks. I'd carefully observe the interactions within the Discus group, as well as between the Discus and Angels. But as ever with Discus, do a quick check of water quality and especially water chemistry. In soft water tanks pH can drop rapidly, and as pH drops, biological filtration becomes less efficient, basically stopping altogether at around 6.0. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Discus  12/14/08
Thank you Neale, for the prompt reply,
I will move the Angels out in the next couple of day and put in 2 more red melons.
Will let you know how it goes.
Regards,
Leon
<Sounds like you have a good plan there. Let me know if things still don't work out. Good luck! Neale.>

Discus with I believe with HLLE (yep!)  11/05/08
Hi I have a 75 gal tank with 8 Discus four are the size of the picture I am sending and the remaining being silver dollar in size. Filtration is a Penguin BioWheel 350 filtered with Bio ceramic filter balls and filter cartridges w/activated carbon, second one is a whisper filter 60 gal that I use filter cartridges with. 1 airstone. Gravel1-1 1/2" deep. Artificial silk plants. Feeding is as follows: San Fran Bay Frozen Spirulina Brine shrimp, San Fran Bay frozen beef heart, Beef heart flakes, Hikari bio encapsulated w/vitamins bloodworms, Hikari microwafers, frozen plankton, omega one color flakes, omega one vitamin flakes, Tetra cichlid sticks. I dose the water with VitaChem once a week and add to frozen food. I vary the food giving flakes and frozen everyday and feed 4-5 times a day. Water parameters today are: AMM- 0, Nitrite- 0.3, PH- 7.5, temp- 85 degrees. Water changes are done once a week at 75% change with Kordon NovAqua Plus. I want to make sure this is HLLE I noticed Sunday clear matter floating around like poop but totally transparent note all fish have normal poo.  This was discovered on fish yesterday added salt and this morning it is worse can you let me if I am correct in HLLE and I've read the threads metro is what I should use. The first picture is yesterday, next two are today.
<Greetings. This does indeed look very much like Head-and-Lateral-Line-Erosion, or HLLE. This disease is "caused" by one of two things, possibly working in combination, though the precise details are obscure. The Hexamita parasite is at least partially involved, and while normally associated with problems with the digestive tract (commonly observed as white, stringy feces due the excess mucous production) the parasites somehow can spread to the surface of the fish under certain situations. Once that happens they cause the sensory pits on the head and flanks to become infected and ultimately the pits decay, causing the tell-tale wounds we call Hole-in-the-Head (HITH) or HLLE, depending on where the wounds are seen. It is possible Hexamita is latent in many fish,
and only under specific situations does it become a problem, and both diet and water quality seem to be extremely probable triggering factors. With cichlids, any nitrate level about 20 mg/l seems to lead to a, elevated risk of HLLE/HITH. Every cichlid I have ever seen with the disease was in an overcrowded tank or one with infrequent water changes, and this is based partly on observations of my own mistakes! Bob Fenner has also written convincingly about the appearance of HLLE/HITH in marine fish as being closely related to lack of vitamins. Herbivorous fish are particularly prone to receiving inadequate diets, and cichlids are overwhelmingly at least partially herbivorous in the wild. Even fish-eating cichlids will be consuming herbivorous fish, and in that way consuming the plant material in the guts of their prey. Tinned peas, Spirulina flake and cooked spinach are usually taken by even the most carnivorous cichlids. So while the immediate treatment is Metronidazole, long term you need to review water quality and diet, and see if there's anything there you can improve. Cheers, Neale.>


Sick discus- Discus Not Eating 06/15/08
I have an 8 month old discus that was very healthy last week no it is not eating and is pooping clear I read it could be internal parasites but what can cure it ? Please don't say metro because I've been reading that it don't really solve the problem? Please I don't him to die
Thanks
< Check the water quality of the tank. Ammonia and nitrites should be zero and the nitrates should be under 20 ppm for domesticated discus and under 10 ppm for wild discus. The water temp should be around 80 to 82 F. If these look OK then do a 50-30% water change and vacuum the gravel. Clean the filter too. Now that the environmental factors have been addressed we can look at some of the others. In the wild discus actually eat algae and very small aquatic invertebrates. Sometimes commercial foods are too rich for their long intestinal tracks. These foods may cause a blockage. Now the bacteria in the gut start to break down the food instead of the fish's body absorbing it. As the bacteria grow and multiply it extends the gut of the fish and stresses the rest of the body. Not too many medications can be absorbed into the fish's body. If too much time goes by then no medication will work because the infection has gotten too large. The bacteria or other parasites grow faster than the medication can kill it. Other factors include organics in the water. Many medications are absorbed by the activated carbon in the filter or by the mulm found in the gravel. When not treated effectively the bacteria and other parasites can build up a resistance to any medication and will make it totally ineffective. Metronidazole is a reasonable treatment. It needs to be done early and often. You may have already waited too long for any treatment to work at this time. If you want to believe the other source that Metronidazole doesn't work, then I have heard that Clout or a triple dose of Furanace has worked on occasion.-Chuck>

Fin nipping in all discus tank – 04/1/08
Hi guys. It has been a while since I sought your sage advice, but I am back again with a new issue. First, I want to thank you for all of the extremely useful advice that you have given me in the past!
<Cool.>
I have a 55-gallon discus only tank that is home to 8 discus ranging in size from 3-6 inches or so. All of them have done well together from the beginning and we are starting our 3rd year now. Obviously, some of them eat a lot more than others-the size difference between the largest and smallest fish is staggering. And although they do chase each other around and have face-offs every day, there have been no injuries, and all of them have eaten well (some better than others!), and stayed healthy and active...until now.
<Oh?>
I recently noticed one of the medium-size discus hanging out in the corner by himself instead of with the rest of the group, but didn't think much of it at the time. Not long after that, I noticed some very obvious fin-nipping damage on the back edges of his dorsal and anal fins. I then realized that it had been a few days since I had seen him joining the community meals along with everyone else. That was about a week ago and I still have not see him eat. On top of that, the exterior cover to his gills looks kind of frayed, his color has become pale, and he is breathing faster than the other fish.
<Discus are of course territorial once mature and in the mood for breeding. So it may well be you have one mated pair that are driving off the other fish. But if it is just the one fish showing signs of ill health, consider other factors, e.g., Finrot rather than nipping. Do a water quality test. Look over the fish for signs of eroded lateral line, hollow stomach, red patches on the body or fins, etc. Different symptoms will help pin down different diseases.>
I have read that damaged fins will grow back, so although I found the damage to his fins very disturbing (especially after two years of harmony in the tank), I didn't immediately panic but maybe I should have. I thought perhaps that they were not getting enough food, so I increased the amount of food per feeding, but stayed on the same schedule. (morning and evening). After all, I have never seen my discus stop eating when they could still graze around and find any more morsels of food.
Okay, so more food is going into the tank and mealtime lasts a little longer, but the guy with the fin damage still doesn't eat. All of the others eat ravenously, then graze until the food is all gone. They look really healthy and vibrant-like they could jump out of the tank and arm wrestle me! I see no obvious evidence of disease on any of the other fish.
<Hmm... I'd tend to suspect this fish is otherwise ill rather than nipped. Check water, but also check the fish itself for signs of Hexamita or whatever.>
I am afraid that I have waited too long now. There has been no improvement in the past week and I am afraid I am going to lose him now. Any advice will be gratefully accepted.
<Would use an antibacterial/antibiotic medication now on the assumption that at least a secondary infection is likely. Quarantining the sick fish and observing carefully would be sensible.>
Nothing changed before this happened-no new fish or decorations. Water changes 30-35% weekly as usual. What could have caused this?
<Difficult to say without seeing the fish or knowing anything about the environment.>
Thank you for reading my post and for any advice you can offer.
<Cheers, Neale.>

Ick, FW... Discus incl.  -03/27/08
Hello,
I have discus and cardinal tetra in a 44 gallon tank. The tetras have the ich white spots. As soon as I noticed them I raised the tank temperature to 82-84 removed the carbon filter and treated with Rid-Ich.
After several days and treatments the ich was still on them. I then did a 50% water change and began treating with super ich treatment. The discus appeared to be stressed so after two days put filter back in and did water change. Cardinals still have white spots but not noticeable on Discus.
What can I use to get rid of the Ich and not harm or stress the discus?
Any assistance you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Susan
<Hi Susan. There's really no magic to Ick medications, and when they don't work, it's either because the disease was misidentified (e.g., it's Velvet, not Ick) or else the medication was used improperly (e.g., wrong concentration, without removing carbon, etc.). So check these things; it's easy to make mistakes. Next up, I'd recommend trying alternate brands of medication. I've found some medications much less effective than others in some instances. I'm not a huge fan of raising the temperature when using copper/formalin medications IF the Ick problem is being dealt with early on. The standard operating temperature for Discus is around 28C/82F, and that should be ample warmth to speed the Ick life cycle to under a week. Raising the temperature makes more sense with coldwater/subtropical fish where the life cycle takes longer. Because Ick damages the gill membranes, the combo of high temperature (= low oxygen) coupled with the Ick damage can lead to breathing problems for the fish. In any case, removing carbon shouldn't be causing distress to your fish. If you have so much organic material being dumped into the aquarium that the water turns nasty within a few days, you have bigger problems than Ick! Seriously, carbon plays no particularly useful role in freshwater aquaria so I wouldn't bother with it. Do always check that "modules" in filters don't have hidden carbon sachets. Carbon exists in the hobby primarily as a way for manufacturers to extract cash from consumers, and they love to build in carbon (costs pennies) into filters to force inexperienced consumers to buy new carbon modules every month. Almost every time I've experienced or been told about Ick medication not working, it's been because there was carbon somewhere in the system. Cheers, Neale.>

Sick Discus questions ???  3/12/08
Hello, My Grandson & I have a sick Blue Cobalt Discus. We noticed him hiding in a hollow resin log the other day, and he's also stopped eating. He's lost some of his color, and his eye's have gone from red to jet-black. Today, we noticed two small lesions just above the mouth, look almost like two nostrils (hole in the head ?); His eyes are beginning to bug out a bit as well. The other Discus in the tank seem to be in great health, so we decided to put the little guy in the hospital tank. I have the temp in the hospital tank turned up to approx. 88 F. with good aeration and a dose of "General Cure" in the water. He is also exhibiting symptoms of internal parasites, white trailing fecal matter. The fish in question is young, barely 2" in length, that's being generous. Can you please tell me if I should be treating him/her with anything additionally ? Thanks in advance for your time, Dan & Gabe.
<Does sound like Hole-in-the-Head. Do read here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwhllefaqs.htm
Usually treated with Metronidazole in the food, though there are some off the shelf medications as well, e.g., eSHa Hexamita 'Discus Disease'. Regardless, this is difficult to cure in very small fish, and you must certainly treat promptly to have any chance of success. Do also remember HITH is triggered by environmental issues even if a parasite is the problem. Water quality, particularly nitrates, are a common triggering factor with cichlids. Cheers, Neale.>

Discus plague   3/5/08
Dear sirs,
I am a discus keeper from Macedonia. I have been keeping discus fish for many years very successfully. Recently, I made a huge mistake in keeping discus. I have a 450l tank with all equipment needed. I kept my fish at 86F, performed regular water changes and everything was perfect.
<Very good.>
A week ago I went to a local pet store seeing a new discus imported fish from Asia. I could not resist the fish colour and I bought two new fish for my tank. I owned six semi-adult discus in my tank which were a good size of 15cm in diameter. I made a disastrous mistake of introducing the new fish in my tank without putting the new ones in quarantine first.
<Uh-oh...!>
I had a severe outbreak of Discus Plague in my tank. All my fish get sick with symptoms of darkening of their colour, hiding in the corner of the tank with clamped fins and finally swimming in disoriented way.
<Could be 'Discus Plague' but do remember: many other diseases cause the same symptoms. A lot of people blame Discus Plague, but unless you are a microbiologist or a vet, actually confirming that Discus Plague is to blame is impossible. So you must be broad minded. Check water chemistry and water quality. Think about other disease-causing organisms that could be to blame, such as Hexamita. Toxic chemicals can also cause similar problems; for example paint fumes. Also check the behaviour of other fish in the tank. Loricariid catfish such as Plecs for example will sometimes decide to suck on the mucous on the side of the Discus. Needless to say this causes intense stress, and a stressed Discus is not a healthy Discus! So be sensible and look at the big picture rather than *assuming* it is Discus Plague.>
The new two fish were not so inflicted so I returned them to the store. After few days of fighting with the virus I decided to stop my fish from misery. Now I only have my albino and long fin albino bristlenose Plecos in my tank and I am continuing to perform massive water changes to clean the tank from the reminders of the virus. My Plecos did not get ill as they are not inflicted with the discus diseases. Can Plecos carry the disease?
<Unlikely; but I wouldn't keep Plecs with Discus anyway for the reason mentioned above.>
I am planning to reintroduce a new discus fish in my tank as the tank is without any discus now. How long would last to be safe to put new fish in the tank?
<I would tend to remove all the fish if possible, and run a course of anti-protozoan medications and then a course of anti-bacteria medications. While doing this, remember to keep adding occasional pinches of fish food so the filter bacteria have something to "eat".>
Should I medicate the tank with something before introducing new group of fish?
<I would, yes.>
Thank you in advance for your answer.
Yours
Igor!
<Hope this helps, Neale.>

Re: DISCUS AND AMMONIA SPIKE AFTERMATH... induced Discus prob.s, hypochondria... reading  2/1/08
Hi , thanks for your response
<... where is the prev. corr.?>
to my ammonia issue I bought the AmQuel + and that has resolved the ammonia( chloramine in my tap water at H20 changes), can I use this everyday at water changes the bottle says to wait 24 hours between applications and since I need to do wc everyday is it ok.
<Can be used daily, continuously if necessary>
Second question is I noticed that one of my discus has two small white spots on his caudal fin, treated with combo formalin and malachite green per directions for three days (whole tank)
<!? VERY toxic... I would NOT place formalin in a biological system>
with wc of 20% each day, also the carbon was removed.
<Likely all your biological filtration/nitrifiers have been wiped out>
However on the second day of treatment I noticed that the fish looked like they had Finrot and on two of them they appeared to have swollen abdomens, as well as red around the nose area.
<Effects of formalin poisoning and nitrogenous waste exposure...>
I did a 65% wc and replaced the carbon. My nitrites spiked to 0.3mg/l and the ph was at 7.8 which is normally 7.6. I should mention that the tank was setup in late Sept. and was cycled properly (AQUACLEAR 110) but I live in an area where we are experiencing more
frequent power outages and I am not always at home so the time the filter is down is not always noted. I have a 75 gal, with two filters a BioWheel 330 and a AquaClear 110 the latter was the original and it was the one that I turned off (fear of media had become anaerobic) after an outage of 4 hours in late Dec.
<Likely so>
which meant the BioWheel was only cycled for about 3 weeks and on its own. I Have since put some filter media in from a well established tank on Tues. of this week can't find BioSpira even on the Marineland site says error when click to buy. Could this and the combo of the ammonia (that is in tap water) spike caused this problem in my tank with my fish.
<Yes>
Could it be a bacterial infection.
<Is this a question?>
This is all the symptoms that my fish are displaying dark colored, clamped fins, as of today they don't look swollen in the abdomen, Finrot looks a little better gave 1 treatment of parasite clear tank buddies by jungle active ingred. ( Praziquantel, Diflubenzuron, Metronidazole and acriflavine)
<... for?>
and redness around their nose area. What to do next I haven't done anymore Rx only added salt
<? On Symphysodon? A poor idea>
and have kept lights off and feeding sparingly they haven't seemed to have lost their appetite at all. Thanks in advance.
<Uhh, I'd stop pouring in medications (you're killing these animals with same) and invest your money and time in educating yourself... There are quite a few good Discus books about, and some useful information on the Net re the genus. Ours: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/discusfish.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

 






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