Emaciated juvie discus

[Sati]

I picked up two 50 cent size discus yesterday after seeing an ad on Craigslist offering them up for free. The owner said the fish had not eaten in at least a week, but these fish are very emaciated, not very round, so who knows how long they've been suffering. The only food he'd tried to feed them was some Tetra bits or something like that. The previous owner did not know his water parameters. He had these discus in with some larger discus who killed the third smaller discus. Apparently the large fish are dead now too. The fish were in what looked like a 40g and housed with some very large fish - A ghost knife, 2 clown loaches, and a pleco.

I got the two discus home last night and put them alone in a 29g. I offered them some bloodworms a few hours later and they were not interested. I don't normally feed my fish after bringing them home since they're usually startled but these fish need to eat soon of there will be nothing left of them. They are pretty sad looking.

The only supplies I have on hand to treat sick fish are Melafix, salt, and heat. I have started to raise the temp up to 86. Should I go even higher? I've never kept discus but I still wanted to try to save these little guys. I have 8 other tanks of various species. I've never had many problems with illness and don't often lose fish so this is new to me. If anybody has any suggestions on what I can do for these fish I will happily do whatever I can to save them.

Also, should I move the fish to a bare bottom 10g or remove the substrate from the 29g so that I can monitor their eating and pooping better?

Thank you in advance.


Edit: Oh yes, here are some photos (Sorry about the rotten quality.):
http://www.ourglasshouse.com/holly/pets/fish/discus/Discus1.jpg
http://www.ourglasshouse.com/holly/pets/fish/discus/Discus2.jpg
Unfortunately you really can't tell how sickly these fish look. They're actually concave when you view them looking down or from the sides.

 

[Ky'smommy]

umm what is your water peramiters(SP?)
discus like high heat. so leave it the same, if they have no ich spots, as you have it now.
what is your p.h. most discus like it under 7.
but we will try to see if we can figure out what is worng.
some discus like certian foods.
i feed mine lots of different frozen stuff and there fav is shrimp of sorts.
and for the first few days they wouldnt eat.
so i hope someoen else can help you more.
they are wonderful fish

 

[Zagz]

The first thing that needs to be done is to have the water quality kept pristine. How long did you acclimate them? Don't move them again, the stress is too much for sick fish like this. I will get ahold of a member I know can offer more advice than I can and see how quickly we can get you some help.

 

[BrianNY]

Hi Holly. Good to see you again although I'm sorry this is the reason.

1. By all means move them to the 10g barbottom tank. Assuming your filter is seeded and use at least 7 gallons from the 29 they are now in.

2. The most likely culprit is Hex. Get the temp up to 91 gradually and treat with any medication containing metrodinazole. Ask at the lfs because there are a few. Follow the directions of the manufacturer. Most Hex remedies require 48 hour treatment after which you should do a 50% pwc.

Good luck and hopefully we will save these discus

 

[Sati]

Shoot, I'm just seeing these responses now. I'm sorry if I didn't provide enough information, Ky'smommy. I'll go ahead and fill in all of the information below that was posted in the sticky on this forum.

Brian, thanks for responding. (I remember you from way back when… I hope you’re well!) I will look for the meds this afternoon. Do you have a particular brand you recommend? So this looks to be a parasite? What kind of physical effect does it have on the fish exactly? How possible is a full recovery at this point? When should I begin to see improvement? Maybe somebody had a good link where I could read up about it. And should I be concerned about infecting my other fish even though they are not in the same tank as the discus? I use one python and one net, rinsed in between tanks.



1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.).

I think I answered this one

2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.

I should have specified that my tap water here is primo for South American fish, which is what I keep in all but two tanks.

pH 6.4
NH3 0 ppm
NO2 0 ppm
NO3 5.0 ppm
KH 4°
GH 4°

3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?

I did move them to the bare bottom 10g. I just set up the tank. But the media I added in was of course colonized and ready to go.

4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.

AquaClear 20

5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?

Just the 2 discus (50 cent size).

6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?

Today. I do 30-50% PWC weekly normally. Should I do this daily for the discus?

7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?

I brought them home Thursday evening.

8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?

No substrate or decorations. I use Prime.

9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?

They have not eaten anything. But this is what I have on hand:
Live grindal worms
Hikari frozen bloodworms
Hikari frozen krill
Hikari ocean plankton
San Francisco Bay freeze dried plankton
Omega One freshwater flake
Omega one cichlid flakes
New Life Spectrum community fish formula

What should I be feeding them? I'm sure I could access other live foods from my fish society if need be.

Thank you again!

 

[Ky'smommy]

i feed mine frozen and new life specturum pellets. mostly just frozen cuz they love them so much.
just a note mine hate krill and plankton.
your water parameters do sound good.
well i dont know how to help you and hopefuly someone with more discus knowledge then me comes along.

they havent eaten one bite that you ever notice?
aww i feel sad for these fish.
i hope they get better and all is well.
i wonder what the old owner was doing wrong.
you should call him/her up and see water conditions. what they did and didnt do.
i would.
just to know.
they probably did nothing thats why they are sick.
how long did the person have them before you got them?
just curiousity.
goodluck

 

[BrianNY]

Hexamita is a protozoan living in the digestive tracts of fish. Discus can live with it for some time before they succumb. I'm just guessing this is what your fish have because of the conditions they came from. It's very common in stressed discus and the signs are they stop eating and wither away. Long stringy white feces is also a symptom but if your discus have stopped eating...... then no feces either.

High heat is needed to cure this (90-93), as well as a med containing metro in advanced cases. It's worth a try. Here's a link to some Seachem meds for hex. Good Luck and keep us posted.

http://www.shopsolution.nl/shop/home.asp?shopid=seameuk&deptid=seachemmedicatie

Frozen bloodworms should be offered during treatment. It might take them a few days to eat however, so feed very lightly and don't let them foul.