Please Help- Dying Discus!!!

Gooose

Small Fish
Feb 5, 2007
12
0
0
#1
Hi everyone, i would greatly appreciate any advice you can give me. I have a 55 gal tank with five discus that i purchased about three months ago, I make sure to keep the water very clean and as suitable as i can for them so I do three 50% w/c a week straight from the tap and then I add aquarium salt and aquaplus to the water. My ph is a little high (7.6) but they seemed to adapted pretty well. I feed them frozen bloodworms and pellets and flakes. My Aquarium Techs are: ammonia levels are at 0 and my nitrate and nitrite levels are also good. My temp is 84-86 and the fish are about 3 in. I got them from a local breeder on long island. i have a fluval 305 which is awesome, with two slots of biomedia on the bottom, two slots of cotton or floss in the middle and two slots of the aquaclear sponge on top, and I clean out my filter every two weeks. I have a fluorescent aquarium light on top that i leave on for about 10 hrs a day, my tank has gravel on the bottom and has decor and many places for them to hide. For the most part they adapted and have been doing very well since I first purchased them, until recently (about two weeks ago), one of my fish has been in really bad shape. For some reason all of sudden, he stopped eating, swimming, or doing anything for that matter. He is very dark most of the time and he looks like he’s about to die. I cant put a finger on whats wrong b/c all the other fish seem to be striving. i am not sure if his poop is white, I am pretty sure it isn’t bc then I would’ve noticed it, he just appears to be really sick and I don’t know what to do. I am willing to buy a 10 gal and a heater etc.. so I can quarantine him, but I don’t know wha to put in the water or to feed him that is going to help. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much everyone.
 

sphed

Large Fish
Feb 14, 2007
166
0
0
#2
How many times times do you feed them a day? small discus like yours should be
fed 3-4 times a day. Maybe the one that is dieing cant get enough food. I would
also start doing 50% water changes everyday. You can bump the temp up a couple degrees to 87-88. If you start seeing white poop I would start using Metronidazole.
 

Gooose

Small Fish
Feb 5, 2007
12
0
0
#3
White Poop!!!!!!!!!

hi thanks so much for the advice, i just saw white poop coming out, what should i do? and should i quarintine him etc...?
 

Pure

Elite Fish
Nov 1, 2005
3,216
7
0
Jacksonville, FL
#4
Also what other fish are in this tank? You saif your nitrites and nitrates are "ok" what are the exact numbers?

Is the fish eating at all? If he is and is still loosing weight then he most likley has an internal parasite that is common with discus. They often get it from frozen or live foods. You can rid the fish of it by mixing fresh garlick in their food. The garlic makes the food undigestable for the parasite thus starving it to death.

The others just may be picking on him and not letting him eat. This is also a common problem with young discus, to cure it you can separate him until he gets some size to him so he can fight back or add another discus to help spread the agression.

BTW on a 55 with discus I would run the 450 not the 350.
 

sphed

Large Fish
Feb 14, 2007
166
0
0
#5
hi thanks so much for the advice, i just saw white poop coming out, what should i do? and should i quarintine him etc...?
Well if hes been in there for a while its possible the other discus might have it to
so I would treat the entire tank. I would pick up some Metronidazole immediately .If you are from the USA you should have no trouble getting it at any LFS. Heres a link that will help you decide which method and dosage you should use SimplyDiscus - Rules And Agreement.

Garlic is a good preventative for ip but probably wouldnt work at this point
 

Pure

Elite Fish
Nov 1, 2005
3,216
7
0
Jacksonville, FL
#6
Jack Whatley swears by it, as the fish actually ingest the garlic instead of just having a med in the water. But yes if the fish is too far gone it won't help much, in fact IMHE nothing really will.
 

Fuzz16

Superstar Fish
Oct 20, 2006
1,918
3
0
Wellsville, KS
#7
why treat a tank that big to use all that money?

and i wouldn't up the temp to 88 at all...it might harm more than help. i even think past 84 is pushing it some.
i would keep the lights off on the tank to reduce stress and have it quieter around it too.

you might also want to contact the breeder you got them from, who may know a bit more than we do here on the forum if he is actually knowledgeable about his fish.
 

sphed

Large Fish
Feb 14, 2007
166
0
0
#8
why treat a tank that big to use all that money?

and i wouldn't up the temp to 88 at all...it might harm more than help. i even think past 84 is pushing it some.
i would keep the lights off on the tank to reduce stress and have it quieter around it too.

you might also want to contact the breeder you got them from, who may know a bit more than we do here on the forum if he is actually knowledgeable about his fish.
Use all that money? Do you know how much discus cost? treating a tank with metro cost nothing compared to the price of five discus.

Discus also need high temps. 84 is to low for discus, I would never keep my tank at that temp unless It was mostly a community tank . Discus are very easily susceptible to ich and parasites. Keeping your tank at 86 and above= no ich or parasites.

Fuzz, I suggest you try the link I posted above in my last post. You dont want to make the same mistakes twice with your discus.
 

TheFool

Large Fish
Apr 19, 2006
323
2
0
#9
Bullying is the first thing that comes to mind. Can you separate the fish to see if it perks up? You will not be able to reintroduce him tho'.
Temp of 88 is fine, water cahnges are fine, do not like you adding salt though. Are you using RO, or tap water? Oh, tap. Could be a build up of heavy metals, I don't know the quality of your city waterm but I'd expect it to be poor. Also nitrite should be zero - is it.