Sick Discus?

[cheshirex]

So my roommate has a discus tank and she's recently added one. The new one (it's been home for about two weeks now) has started swimming tail up. It looks kind of like it has tail rot and/or ich. So I'm writing here to see if anyone has any ideas of what it might be (I'll try to get a picture) and how to treat it.

Thanks a bunch in advance!

[TwoTankAmin]

In the absence of more and better info I can offer a suggestion with caveats. Move the fish in a bare bottom Hosp. tank- 10 gals will suffice- add some plastic plants or other sterilizable decor so the fish feels more at home. The tank needs heat and either a filter or airstone. Get the temp into the 86-88dg range, add one tablespoon of epsom salt (more may be needed) and then be prepared to dose Erythromycin which is the active ingredient in Maracyn by Mardel and/or Metronidazole for parasites. The fish is blocked- probably because of internal parasites or an internal infection. This in turn can effect its swim bladder.

After several hours check the bottom of the tank to see if the fish is pooping and for how the poop looks. If the fish is not pooping, increase the Epsom by another tablespoon. The maximum dose of Epsom you should reach in 10 gals is 3 tablespoons. My experience has been that with new discus it is more likely internal parasites over an internal infection. If the fish poop looks abnormal, make medicated food using the Metro and feed it twice/day for the next 10 days- do not feed any other foods during this period. if you want to be double safe, you can also dose the EM at the same time- follow the package directions.

During the treatment period do a 25% wc every other day. After the wc dose that days meds adding back enough Epsom to maintain the dosing level you are using. 4 days of Epsom should be sufficient and you can stop that even while continuing the other treatments.

I have had to treat discus for this before and a discus breeder originally recommended this course of treatment.