Whats wrong with my Discus?

[EMAN12]

I'd say 82 then and watch close to make sure they good... Never had them but i know neons are pretty close and mine started dying when I had the tank at 84 when I first got my discus

Yea my temp is at 82 now. Hopefully nothing happens

 

[Mr. D]

Yeah, good luck with it

 

[EMAN12]

Yeah, good luck with it

Thanks

 

[bs6749]

Your discus is suffering from internal heximita and most likely other protozoan flagellates. I'm guessing that the feces are white/clear and stringy when you happen to notice it. This particular fish is extremely thin and I'm honestly surprised that it is taking food at all (is it possibly "eating" only to spit it back out with you not noticing?). The fish is an adult, which I can tell from the size of the eyes. Adults do perfectly fine at 80-82 degrees...this is where 90% of experienced discus keepers set the temperature of their tanks. 86 is more commonly seen in fry-3.5"+ sized fish. After that, temps are decreased. In the wild discus can live in water up to as much as 94 degrees believe it or not. Your cardinals would most likely be fine for the higher temps for a week or two, however I recommend treating in a smaller QT tank.

For treatment, you should administer metronidazole at a rate of 500mg/10g water. For the metro to be effective however, you must have the temperature of the tank set to 90-92. Dose every day for 7-10 days straight, changing half of the water every other day with warm water to keep the temp at 90-92 degrees. In addition, you will want to get some frozen bloodworms (if the fish is in fact eating) and crush up some metronidazole tablets and mix about one teaspoon of powder/crushed tablets per half pound of thawed food. Let the food absorb the metronidazole, and then feed some of this food exclusively to your fish for two weeks. This is by far the most effective method of treating internal heximita. I am recommending both methods of treatment at the same time.

By looking at the fish and from numerous personal experiences with discus, I would have to say that I believe this fish should be put down as the chances of recovery do not look favorable at all. If the fish is still eating though, then there is always a chance, but don't expect any sort of miracle here as the fish may be too far gone.

 

[EMAN12]

Your discus is suffering from internal heximita and most likely other protozoan flagellates. I'm guessing that the feces are white/clear and stringy when you happen to notice it. This particular fish is extremely thin and I'm honestly surprised that it is taking food at all (is it possibly "eating" only to spit it back out with you not noticing?). The fish is an adult, which I can tell from the size of the eyes. Adults do perfectly fine at 80-82 degrees...this is where 90% of experienced discus keepers set the temperature of their tanks. 86 is more commonly seen in fry-3.5"+ sized fish. After that, temps are decreased. In the wild discus can live in water up to as much as 94 degrees believe it or not. Your cardinals would most likely be fine for the higher temps for a week or two, however I recommend treating in a smaller QT tank.

For treatment, you should administer metronidazole at a rate of 500mg/10g water. For the metro to be effective however, you must have the temperature of the tank set to 90-92. Dose every day for 7-10 days straight, changing half of the water every other day with warm water to keep the temp at 90-92 degrees. In addition, you will want to get some frozen bloodworms (if the fish is in fact eating) and crush up some metronidazole tablets and mix about one teaspoon of powder/crushed tablets per half pound of thawed food. Let the food absorb the metronidazole, and then feed some of this food exclusively to your fish for two weeks. This is by far the most effective method of treating internal heximita. I am recommending both methods of treatment at the same time.

By looking at the fish and from numerous personal experiences with discus, I would have to say that I believe this fish should be put down as the chances of recovery do not look favorable at all. If the fish is still eating though, then there is always a chance, but don't expect any sort of miracle here as the fish may be too far gone.

I've had him for a week already. He was thinner but his belly is getting bigger. He eats blood worms and pellets. I have another discus in there too but hes ok will he get infected too. Also when I feed them they fight for food. I'll post a pic of my other discus.

 

[roydooms]

Maybe I'm going to raise the temp because I have a plant that needs cool water.

If you're going to have discus and plants in your tank, it should be a "discus tank with plants" and not "planted tank with discus". How big is your tank? You should have a minimum of 5(for me it's 6) for them to feel safe and comfortable. Less is stressful for the fish and they'll become susceptible to diseases.

Same thing happened to my discus. Cloudy eyes, slime on their bodies. I used tetracycline to treat them in a QT. If you'll use that, just follow the instructions. I would treat the other discus as well. It worked for me. I'd separate the discus in it's own Hospital tank because you need to treat your cardinals as well and you can't mix medications. They gave you a great advice on using metronidazole.

 

[EMAN12]

It's a 60gal tank but I'm going to upgrade in a month to a 100gal. I guess I'm going to have to take the discus out

 

[EMAN12]

This is my tank

 

[bs6749]

The second discus is a pigeon blood discus and it appears thin as well. Pigeon blood-based discus lack the ability to darken when stressed (sometimes they actually lighten in color when stressed), so it may or may not be sick. My best guess is that it is sick and would treat it as such. It's just as expensive to treat one fish as it is two, so treat both of them, in a separate 29g tank, or at a minimum a 20H. You will have to treat in another tank since the main is planted and the plants most likely won't appreciate the 90-92 degrees that will be required. I completely agree that discus should be kept in groups of no less than 5, with more being better as tank space allows.

In all honesty and without trying to sound like a prick, for what it is going to cost to treat these fish, buy a QT tank, heater, sponge filter, etc. (that you will need eventually anyway) I'd think about cutting my losses and putting these fish down and buying healthy stock and starting over. I can set you up with several different people depending on where you are located. I would read up on discus though and then make a decision based on whether or not you think you will be able to put in the time required to keep them. They aren't very demanding when they are larger juveniles and adults, but smaller ones do require more attention and work. If you want to go ahead and treat these fish, that might gain you some experience in dealing with sick discus, which could be beneficial down the road.

 

[EMAN12]

Since temp went up to 82 the discus looks way better

 

[EMAN12]

 

[bs6749]

Raising the temperature won't do anything unless you treat the problem with metronidazole. You can tell yourself that it looks better but I am 100% sure this this fish will die a very slow death from starvation over the next few months if you don't act now while both fish are still capable of eating. Once they stop eating, the best thing to do is put them down as the success rate for treatment sharply decreases. Another tank IS necessary unless you want to sacrifice your plants. You will lose something from this. Either the plants if you decide to treat in the main tank, or the fish if you decide to do nothing. You will lose money if you decide to treat in a QT tank, but everyone needs a QT tank anyway so it's not much of a "loss".

 

[bs6749]

What you have appears to be a blue diamond discus. This is what the color of a healthy fish looks like:

http://www.rockymountaindiscus.com/images/3.jpg

There is NO SUCH THING AS A BLACK DISCUS, and what your fish looks like is nearly black. It is SEVERELY stressed right now. This same fish can be just as dark tomorrow as it was in the first picture even though it appears to have improved.

 

[EMAN12]

Is he getting better?

 

[EMAN12]

 

[bs6749]

It looks like the color of the fish is better, but I've had blue diamonds get dark like that and then lighten up before they died. I originally thought you had a blue diamond but now I'm not so sure. It almost looks like a throwback of a blue diamond and maybe a cobalt or something. The reason I say this is because of the appearance of vertical bars on the fish, which blue diamonds shouldn't have. However, my point remains that a fish that is dark can lighten up before it dies. Is it schooling with the others and eating normally? Let's hope that your fish IS improving.

 

[EMAN12]

He has been eating a lot lately I feed him spectrum thread + A and he eats it twice a day and he also eats frozen blood worms so I feed him 3 times a day

 

[EMAN12]

I only have 2 discus but they both fight each other

 

[bs6749]

That is why it is recommended to have at least 5-6 of them together. Feed them as much as they will eat without overfeeding and fatten them up. They are on the thin side.

 

[EMAN12]

Yes that's what I'm gonna do but when I set up my 100gal.