Discus Help Please

[Terry]

Hi everyone.
got a question would be greatful for your help.
A customer of mine has a Discus, size is about 3", The fins are fine and the eyes are clear but he has gone very dark and he has a white line which looks flakey along his body. He is not gasping and he is still eating well.
Any ideas.

[BrianNY]

Hi Terry,

Did the customer actually bring the fish in for you to see or tell you about it? What is the strain of the discus? What are its' tankmates? What is your customer feeding? What size tank? What's the temperature? Most important, how often is the glass wiped down, the filter cleaned and the water changed?

Problems like this are generally caused by poor quality water and a less than perfect environment. Juvenile discus are much more susceptible to any stressful conditions in their environment than adults. The fact that the discus is breathing normally and eating well is of course a good thing. The white flaking line might be that something is causing the fish to lose its slime coat.

I'd suggest daily 50% water changes if your customer isn't doing that already. That be all it takes to bring the discus bac to peak condition.

HTH

[BrianNY]

Hmmm. I omitted the obvious. Are you sure the discus hasn't merely scraped itself on a sharp object in the tank? That's very common because if the fish had been startled it would rush into anything in the tank.

[Terry]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the quick reply, I have just spoken to the customer on the phone and he informed me that the companions in the tank are cardinals, rummynose and some cory's. He also has two pairs of rams.
He says that he does a water change weekly and that his water is fine, but would not let me do a water test for him. I would think that it is probably down to water quality and he does'nt know what type of discus he has. Is answer was " It has blue on him "
Good start for a saturday morning.
He tells me that he has a spare aquarium so i have told him to put it in there, and he has some Esha hexamita and i told him to use that.

Thanks again.

[BrianNY]

If the fish is eating well it doesn't have Hex Terry. Changing water only once a week will kill that poor fish and you should let your customer know that.

BTW, I'm not famaliar with Esha hexamita as a med. All of the meds for hex that I know of are only effective at very high temps for discus. I mean like 92F. A better option would be Aquarium salt as the problem appears to be only external at this point. That will at least irritate the skin and force the production of its' slime coat.

[Voodoo Chilli]

His tank water is "fine"?!

The fact that he wouldn't allow you to test the water is a pretty blatant "smoking gun". A dark discus is a stressed discus, and I doubt it's being stressed by it's tankmates. The obvious reason is poor water quality.

I hope you're able to get through to this guy, Terry.

Another vote for poor water quality. If only one WC per week with a juvie, it's safe to assume the tanks not getting wiped down or the filter cleaned often enough as well.

With a statement like "my water is fine" without allowing a test, as well as, it sounds like theres only one lonely 'ol Discus in this tank. Perhaps this person should'nt be keep these fish. Just my opinion.

Sounds like QT is the best option. At this point, I'm not sure if this person having a spare tank for QT is a good or bad thing on such a sensitive fish 8O

[TankGirl]

I will die a happy woman if I never again hear "My/your water is fine"