asifd
New Member
Hi, one of my stendkar discus stopped eating about two weeks ago. Normally, he is a very good eater and very active and alert. Noticed the bigger discus occasionally chasing him so guessed it was just a little scared but upped the temperature in my tank to 32c from 30c to increase metabolism and appetite.
A week later, still not eating and noticed one side of the gills not moving so guessed possibly gil fluke so decided to treat using esha gdex (praziqueantil) as dosed on packet (3 day treatment and water change 5th day) and increased aeration in tank and switched off UV. On the 2nd day of treatment, both gils moving but discus is facing up and very leathargic. On 3rd day of treatment, added one tablespoon of epsom salt / 40 gallon tank dosage. On 5th day (friday gone), carried out 50% water change and vacuumed the gravel and cleaned prefilter, glass and UV back on.
Today, he is still not eating, and swimming facing up and leaning to the right but possibly abit more active than previous days. Cannot see any swellings on body but he looks thinner.
Recently (about a month ago), added 18 neon tetras but one of my other discus attacked one them and over the week, lost 14 tetras. 4 remain now but never saw the ill discus attack or attempt to eat the neon tetras. All other fish have been present in tank for over 6 months.
Tank/Water
4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
180l tank with oase biomaster thermo 850 with 5kg of bio media. 5 discus - one fullsize, 2 medium/large, 2 small. 1 large angelfish, 4 fivebanded bards, 4 neon tetras. Tank established for over a year and discus and other fish (except tetras) in tank for over 6 months.
5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
Over 50% water change weekly with vacuuming gravel. Prefilter cleaned fortnightly.
6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
Tank running for 15 months with gravel substrate only 1cm deep.
7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
Tank filled with tap water - no aging. No ph swing
8. What type/brand water conditioner do you use? Do you add it to the tank or aging barrel? How much do you use?
API water conditioner and 20-25ml dose based on size of tank, not water being changed. Also use API stress zyme - same dosage.
9. Parameters and water source;
- temp _____30c normally, currently 32c
-ph _____7.6 to 7.8
- ammonia reading ____zero
- nitrite reading ____zero
- nitrate reading ____20ppm
What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.
- well water ____
- municipal water ____100%
- RO water ____
10. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
Neon tetra added recently - as mentioned above. Also have pothos plant growing out of tank but this has been in tank for almost 2 months
11. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.
Feed three times a day using sera discus granules and first and last feed also have half a blister of stendkar beef heart
Plan now is to carry out 50% water change every other day - don't know what else to do. Started using API melafix but not expecting that to have much effect. May try adding more epsom salts after next water change tomorrow.
A week later, still not eating and noticed one side of the gills not moving so guessed possibly gil fluke so decided to treat using esha gdex (praziqueantil) as dosed on packet (3 day treatment and water change 5th day) and increased aeration in tank and switched off UV. On the 2nd day of treatment, both gils moving but discus is facing up and very leathargic. On 3rd day of treatment, added one tablespoon of epsom salt / 40 gallon tank dosage. On 5th day (friday gone), carried out 50% water change and vacuumed the gravel and cleaned prefilter, glass and UV back on.
Today, he is still not eating, and swimming facing up and leaning to the right but possibly abit more active than previous days. Cannot see any swellings on body but he looks thinner.
Recently (about a month ago), added 18 neon tetras but one of my other discus attacked one them and over the week, lost 14 tetras. 4 remain now but never saw the ill discus attack or attempt to eat the neon tetras. All other fish have been present in tank for over 6 months.
Tank/Water
4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
180l tank with oase biomaster thermo 850 with 5kg of bio media. 5 discus - one fullsize, 2 medium/large, 2 small. 1 large angelfish, 4 fivebanded bards, 4 neon tetras. Tank established for over a year and discus and other fish (except tetras) in tank for over 6 months.
5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
Over 50% water change weekly with vacuuming gravel. Prefilter cleaned fortnightly.
6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
Tank running for 15 months with gravel substrate only 1cm deep.
7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
Tank filled with tap water - no aging. No ph swing
8. What type/brand water conditioner do you use? Do you add it to the tank or aging barrel? How much do you use?
API water conditioner and 20-25ml dose based on size of tank, not water being changed. Also use API stress zyme - same dosage.
9. Parameters and water source;
- temp _____30c normally, currently 32c
-ph _____7.6 to 7.8
- ammonia reading ____zero
- nitrite reading ____zero
- nitrate reading ____20ppm
What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.
- well water ____
- municipal water ____100%
- RO water ____
10. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
Neon tetra added recently - as mentioned above. Also have pothos plant growing out of tank but this has been in tank for almost 2 months
11. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.
Feed three times a day using sera discus granules and first and last feed also have half a blister of stendkar beef heart
Plan now is to carry out 50% water change every other day - don't know what else to do. Started using API melafix but not expecting that to have much effect. May try adding more epsom salts after next water change tomorrow.
