Diseased Discus

[damo]

I have a 180 litre tank with a Juwel filter system which is 6 months old. I have a number of small fish (neons ect ) that appear happy and healthy. However, I also have 5 Discus, two of which appear unhappy. I have a turquose discus who has always been the dominant fish, he eats well and generaly looks particularly healthy. However he did not seem keen to feed last night and his dorsal fin is now folded down against his back. He, along with some of my smaller fish were at the top of the water ealier today appearing to gasp for breath. I immediately performed a 20% water change, none of the fish are now at the top of the water but Discus still do not appear well. My small fish only number 12 and I have 1 large Plec (introduced at the weekend) so I am sure my tank/filter system should adequately cope with the levels of fish. I have checked the water for nitrate both before and after and neither test displayed any trace. I did have a problem with whitespot about 6 weeks ago but this appears to have gone and it never really affected the discus. Should I be treating the tank or increasing the temp, please help?

 

[Tolak]

Hey damo, welcome! A few more details on your aquarium, such as your temp, ph, hardness, and results of ammo, and nitrite tests would be helpful.

I've had a few angels that had similar symtoms, as well as a friend with discus that behaved that way. My fish, as well as his, refused to eat, showed the folded down dorsal fin you described, as well as hiding towards the back of the tank. Talked to a breeder friend, he said it was a parasite called heximita. I've been sucessfully treating them with metronidazole, which is sold in fish stores as hex-a- mit.

There is a good article on this at http/ukdiscus.com/spironucleus.htm

I treat them with 300 mg per day, with daily water changes of 50%. Sprinkling some on brine shrimp once they start to eat really gets the medication working, and they are usually better within a week after they begin to eat.

HTH!

Tolak

 

[damo]

Thanks for the advice, further detail regarding my setup:
PH 6.5-7
Nitrite 0.1
Ammonia 0
Water Temp 80 F

One other thing (verified by my wife as I thought I was seeing things!!) the discus worst affected appears to periodically 'tremble' for a second or so. In these situations, is it best to keep the light on/off increase the temperature?

Thanks

 

[Tolak]

With my hospital tank (10 gallon) I keep the temp at 84F for the angels, and leave the hood light off. Heard that less light reduces stress, so I figure it can't hurt.

If you could pick up a smaller tank to use as a hospital tank, it will help keep any diseases from spreading, save money on meds, make water changes easier, as well as being useful as a quarintine tank.

What kind of plec did you pick up? My friend with the discus gave me a plec, his discus got sick, and soon after one of my angels got the same thing. My wife read your post and said "See, see, it's the plec!" She thinks this plec is some sort of horrible disease carrier now, even though I treated it with the metro along with the first sick angel.

Tolak

 

[elgecko]

Your discus will be happier if the temp was 83 to 84 F.

If they still do not eat, it could be heximita.
I'm not sure if your other fish would like it, but along with raising your temp I'd try some salt at 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons.
Change 20% or more of your water at least twice a week.

Here's a forum just on discus, they have a section on Disease diagnosis and treatment.
http/www.simplydiscus.com/forum/

 

[damo]

Hi Tolak, thanks for the information. One of my Discus if definately showing some of the stymptoms referred to in the article. I am therefore going to set up a hospital tank and treet with hex-a-mit. Can you (or anyone reading this) please help me a bit more by answering the following:

I have 5 discus - do I need to treat/remove all of them?
If so, how big should my hospital tank be?
Does my hospital tank need filtration or will air and heat be sufficient?
I also have 2 Angel fish who don't appear sick at all but should I treat/remove them also
Do I need to do anything to my main tank (eg a heavy water change?) before re-introducing the Discus?

Thanks for the help.