I know I've been pretty quiet on the board for awhile but there's been a lot going on in my tanks.
2 weeks ago I went down to Atlanta to attend the Southern Discus Workshop. It was an awesome event and some of the best known people in the discus community were there. Many of these are among the most respected breeders and importers in the country. On last day (as is typical), an auction was held to help offset some of the costs of the show. I was elated to board the flight home toting some 70 lbs of water and 7 beautiful juvenile discus. I couldn't resist knowing I getting fish from some of the very best stock.
Arrived home at 10:30 PM and placed my new fish in QT. This tank is in another room seperate from my other discus tanks. After 3 days of discus bliss I saw the first signs of trouble. Clamped fins, a dark color and not eating. This was 5 of the 7 discus.
I began to burn the phone lines calling others who bought fish at the show. I learned that most of the fish from Alanta had already died and to make matters worse this unknown disease was spreading to other tanks and rapidly. Many of these people were in a panic and began medicating out of frustration. I was hearing horror stories of people losing more than half of their entire discus.
Since I didn't know what I was facing I started treating with just salt and 50% water changes. I resisted the temptation to start treating with copper as some had suggested, or antibiotics as others had. I wasn't sure if this was the kill or the cure.
This past weekend my other tanks came down with the symptoms. Only these fish were hit even harder. It was gut wrenching to look in these tanks and see my prize fish lying on their sides, black and unable to move.
I came to learn that there were suspitions about a certain donator and the health of his fish. It turns out he had sold fish prior to the show, and what I and the others were experiencing, had already happened to others.
I was one of the few people to have any fish left from the show. In fact, I hadn't lost any. I was advised to send some of these fish (alive) to the aquatics lab and Mississippi State Univ for necropsy. The discus world needs to know what's going and if there's a cure. I sent the fish Monday.
In talking to the fish pathologist there, I've these fish were very sick with flukes and hex but nothing that would be fatal so quickly. They are culturing to isolate bacteria, the prime suspect.
Fortunately I haven't lost a single discus and the Atlanta fish appear to be recovering. I suspect one or more fish of being a carrier, a typhoid Mary. And all these discus being in such close proximity had no resistance to the disease. Some fish survived, others didn't. People throwing the wrong medication at stressed and ill fish hastened the deaths (IMO).
I'll keep you posted on the outcome.
2 weeks ago I went down to Atlanta to attend the Southern Discus Workshop. It was an awesome event and some of the best known people in the discus community were there. Many of these are among the most respected breeders and importers in the country. On last day (as is typical), an auction was held to help offset some of the costs of the show. I was elated to board the flight home toting some 70 lbs of water and 7 beautiful juvenile discus. I couldn't resist knowing I getting fish from some of the very best stock.
Arrived home at 10:30 PM and placed my new fish in QT. This tank is in another room seperate from my other discus tanks. After 3 days of discus bliss I saw the first signs of trouble. Clamped fins, a dark color and not eating. This was 5 of the 7 discus.
I began to burn the phone lines calling others who bought fish at the show. I learned that most of the fish from Alanta had already died and to make matters worse this unknown disease was spreading to other tanks and rapidly. Many of these people were in a panic and began medicating out of frustration. I was hearing horror stories of people losing more than half of their entire discus.
Since I didn't know what I was facing I started treating with just salt and 50% water changes. I resisted the temptation to start treating with copper as some had suggested, or antibiotics as others had. I wasn't sure if this was the kill or the cure.
This past weekend my other tanks came down with the symptoms. Only these fish were hit even harder. It was gut wrenching to look in these tanks and see my prize fish lying on their sides, black and unable to move.
I came to learn that there were suspitions about a certain donator and the health of his fish. It turns out he had sold fish prior to the show, and what I and the others were experiencing, had already happened to others.
I was one of the few people to have any fish left from the show. In fact, I hadn't lost any. I was advised to send some of these fish (alive) to the aquatics lab and Mississippi State Univ for necropsy. The discus world needs to know what's going and if there's a cure. I sent the fish Monday.
In talking to the fish pathologist there, I've these fish were very sick with flukes and hex but nothing that would be fatal so quickly. They are culturing to isolate bacteria, the prime suspect.
Fortunately I haven't lost a single discus and the Atlanta fish appear to be recovering. I suspect one or more fish of being a carrier, a typhoid Mary. And all these discus being in such close proximity had no resistance to the disease. Some fish survived, others didn't. People throwing the wrong medication at stressed and ill fish hastened the deaths (IMO).
I'll keep you posted on the outcome.
