Discus Gill Fungus?

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ThievingSix

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Aug 4, 2014
Messages
19
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Hey guys,

Much appreciated if anyone could tell me what this stuff is. The pictures aren't the best but i would describe it as hundreds of white stiff thread-like growths. Together it collectively looks like a white cloud? But its not mixed together, each strand is straight and well differentiated from the rest. It's growing out of the right gill of this fish and there are 2 smaller tufts on the left side on the body but not in the gill. It seems to have popped out of nowhere, the fish had nothing 2 days ago and now has a huge what appears to be fungal growth?

I've dosed the tank with pimafix at the recommended dosage already(1st day). Is this the right treatment, what should i do?
 
What are your water readings, tank size, other fish, length of cycling, water change routine?

Did you make sure to remove the activated carbon during pimafix treatment?
 
However, just by your description it sounds like gill flukes. It's a parasitic infection and pretty common from poor water quality. Pimafix is not the right treatment and may be doing more harm then good. Start with a 50% WC ASAP and fill in the answers in the link. It will help us get to the bottom of this and get your fish back on track.


Sent from my iPhone that doesn't like me. Or you.
 
Well the fish already died. But here's the parameters are below. On closer inspection it seems the fungus isn't actually inside the gill itself, but rather only on the outside, i'll try and take some post-mortem pictures to further clarify. I actually purchased the discus around a month ago, and it looked a bit dubious at the shop but i went against my better judgement and bought it anyway.

Tank - 240L(64 gal) w/ Fluval 406 + Juwel Bioflow (default one that comes with the Juwel RIO 240). The tank is around 9-10 months old, 0 ammonia/nitrite, temp at 28*C, pH is 7.2, 0 copper, 2 ppm phosphate, nitrate around 40ppm + added pressurised CO2. I do a 30-50% water change weekly.

Current inhabitants include 3x mystery snails, 6 or so juvenile kribensis, 10 harlequin rasboras, 4x boesemani Rainbows, 3x bristlenose(1 albino, rest regular) and 15 or so cardinal tetras and 2x Discus. The tank is planted with live plants. I don't use carbon at all.
 
An update here's the post-mortem pictures. If anyone is interested, i've also included a 100x microscope picture of the growth and a worm.

The growth ended up being 2cm x 1cm or so and was actually on the gill flap and not within the gills itself. However the tissue below the growth and a large portion of the gill flap had been eaten away. I also found 6 or so small 0.5mm in length red worms in protruding from the anus and in the stomach. There also appeared to be a similar growth on the left side of the fish however more towards the tail fin, with some some fungal like growth near the bottom of the left gill flap.


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Sorry to hear. Expensive fish to lose. Without running the numbers that tank seems to be pretty overstocked to me. I would run that thru AqAdvisor to find out for sure. 40 nitrates is extremely high for Discus which is another thing leading me to believe that poor water quality was a factor. Quite possibly not enough gravel vacuuming also. It will create a lot of stress on the fish as well as being the only Discus in a tank. I would suggest a lot more research on them if you intend to keep them in the future. They're not impossible to keep, just very delicate and demanding fish that require pristine water conditions.


Sent from my iPhone that doesn't like me. Or you.
 
Anchor worms? Might be a good idea to treat the tank with an anti-parasite/dewormer like praprizopro.
 
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