Discus white fungus(?) on body and cloudy eyes.

[roydooms]

I got home today and noticed that 2 of my discus have some white slime-like on some parts of it's body. Most are close to the fins. What can I do to treat this? Meds? I have inverts and I'm not sure which ones to use. Can a daily PWC fix this and salt? Thanks in advance.

[HUKIT]

Most likely excess slime coat, sort of their way of peeling of a coat that's on fire. I would start with water changes, proceed with salt baths slit the PWC has no effect, them move onto the final treatment if needed with meds.

[roydooms]

Originally Posted by HUKIT

Most likely excess slime coat, sort of their way of peeling of a coat that's on fire. I would start with water changes, proceed with salt baths slit the PWC has no effect, them move onto the final treatment if needed with meds.

Thanks for the response.

How do you do salt baths? In a separate tank? Can I just add salt in the main tank? I have rummynose, cardinal tetras, ABP, corydoras and a gourami. It's too hard to catch them because of all the plants.

[roydooms]

Originally Posted by HUKIT

Most likely excess slime coat, sort of their way of peeling of a coat that's on fire. I would start with water changes, proceed with salt baths slit the PWC has no effect, them move onto the final treatment if needed with meds.

What does "slit the PWC" mean? Is that a typo?

[HUKIT]

Originally Posted by roydooms

What does "slit the PWC" mean? Is that a typo?

It's late and my sleeping pill is kicking in, for a salt bath use between 2 and 5 tablespoons per gallon of water and bath for 20 mins or if the fish rolls before the 20 mins net it out and replace it back in the tank. The higher copncentration of salt may cause the fish to roll sooner. Do not do this in the dislplay tank, use a 5g bucket or a smaller tank to start. This will help with parasites, gill flutes and others.

[roydooms]

Originally Posted by HUKIT

It's late and my sleeping pill is kicking in, for a salt bath use between 2 and 5 tablespoons per gallon of water and bath for 20 mins or if the fish rolls before the 20 mins net it out and replace it back in the tank. The higher copncentration of salt may cause the fish to roll sooner. Do not do this in the dislplay tank, use a 5g bucket or a smaller tank to start. This will help with parasites, gill flutes and others.

Should I do this with all the fish or just the ones infected?

[HUKIT]

It won't hurt any of the fish, although I would start with the ones showing symptoms.

[roydooms]

I'm about to do a PWC. I have 4 discus with the same symptom. Is this something serious? The 2 turned dark(stress) but still eating well.

[HUKIT]

Hard to tell yet, something is irritating their skin.

[roydooms]

I just gave the discus a salt bath. Slime is gone but still looking stressed. Joe many times do I have to do that? I had to remove the big DW to be able to catch them easily. It was hard. Lol

[HUKIT]

Originally Posted by roydooms

I just gave the discus a salt bath. Slime is gone but still looking stressed. Joe many times do I have to do that? I had to remove the big DW to be able to catch them easily. It was hard. Lol

Being caught and dunked in water is stressful, I would do daily water changes for a 2-3 days and monitor them from there.

[roydooms]

Ok. I'll do that. What if after 3 days of daily PWC they still look stressed and still have cloudy eyes?

[HUKIT]

If no improvement is seen I would start with a anti-fungal medication. My personal favorite is Jungles Fungus Clear, it easy on the fish and works well with bactiera infections as well. I always recommmend clean water and salt to start for discus and let their bodies fight the attack but sometimes medication is needed.

[roydooms]

Few of the big discus are not eating. The bigger discus was at the bottom. So I decided to put all the discus in a separate tank and dosed tetracycline by API. The big one is more active now. How fast does this thing work? Any experience with this medicine? Since I only have discus in the tank, should I increase the temp to 90*F? I know they can tolerate up to 95F. Thanks.

[roydooms]

This is the med.

[HUKIT]

No experience with that one.

[DiscusDennis]

roydooms,
Sorry no experience with that med but daily water changes usually clear up cloudy eyes.

Also these links might be helpful if going to use Tetracycline:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?83925-tetracycline-and-temperature&highlight=tetracycline

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?34806-Discus-Color-amp-Tetracycline&highlight=tetracycline

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?58375-Tetracyclin-treatment&highlight=tetracycline

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?41046-Tetracycline&highlight=tetracycline

Dennis

[roydooms]

Hi Dennis,

Thank you for the info. I read that I need to cover the tank. Also it is really recommended to do a Big PWC before another dose. According to the instruction, I should only do a 25% PWC. Thanks a lot!

[DiscusDennis]

Originally Posted by roydooms

Hi Dennis,

Thank you for the info. I read that I need to cover the tank. Also it is really recommended to do a Big PWC before another dose. According to the instruction, I should only do a 25% PWC. Thanks a lot!

Hi roydooms,
I always do a big water change (50%-90%) before a dose of meds. It just depends on what your tank PH is and what your tap water PH is. If they are the same or close to the same then big water changes will definately benefit the Discus.
My belief is that meds work better in clean water.

Hope your little guys are feeling better,
Dennis

[roydooms]

Originally Posted by DiscusDennis

Hi roydooms,
I always do a big water change (50%-90%) before a dose of meds. It just depends on what your tank PH is and what your tap water PH is. If they are the same or close to the same then big water changes will definately benefit the Discus.
My belief is that meds work better in clean water.

Hope your little guys are feeling better,
Dennis

Tap's and tank's pH are usually the same. I'll test if the meds changed the pH. I'll be doing big PWCs. Thanks dennis.