Help! My discus are looking weird, and I think they are sick! HELP!!!!

^Yeah, there was no ammonia/nitrite spike at all. There even shouldn't be because the larger the tank, the more stable. I have all kinds of fish in there, and I saw no signs at all. I have rams, rasboras, angels, discus, loaches, corys, plecos, SAEs, UDC, and others. Could it be that the discus were stressed because on the first 50%, I think the new water I put in was like 88 while the tank water was 85, could that be it?
 
nc0gnet0 said:
They are stunted, there is no two ways around that. You can easily tell by the eye to body ratio.


This is what healthy 3 1/2 month old discus look like:

View attachment 179665

Focus on thier eyes. Imagine stacking additional eyes one on top of the other until you hit the top of the fish. See how you can easily stack 4 or more? Now look at the picture of your discus, see how you can barely stack one more eye on top? See how much larger your discus eyes are than mine in comparison to the body size? This is how you tell if the discus you are buying are juveniles, or just severly stunted fish. Yours are stunted. NO amount of clean water or good food is going to change that, the damage has already been done.

Are you changing water straight from the tap? If so you need to do a test. Test the PH of a bucket of water right out of the tap. Then fill a bucket and let it sit for 24 hours and then test the ph of that.

When/if your fish get a bit better, you need to worm them ASAP.
Click to expand...

oh my god............................:(
holy crap, they are super stunted then:( And how do you worm them? Or is it deworm them?

thanks for the info, now I know what to look for when I get new ones, I will probably only buy ones from aquabid, more pricey, but healthy.
 
If you were keeping the discus in the 72 gallon in your signature, that stocking sounds very heavy to me. Were they getting enough to eat? Discus are not community fish, not just because of their temperature needs and their requirement for pristine water quality, but they also can't compete with a bunch of eager feeders. They are slow and easily spooked. I frankly can't imagine discus in a tank with such diverse and active tankmates!

The heavy stocking might indeed have caused ammonia and nitrite spikes, particularly after feeding. There is really no way to tell unless you have an in tank ammonia monitor (and even those are not always accurate).

IMO overstocking and incompatible tankmates in the 72 gallon is a sure thing. Intermittent ammonia and nitrite spikes almost certain, as well. Intestinal parasites sound like a real possibility, and not getting enough food due to competition from other, much faster fish...

How long have you had them in the smaller tank by themselves? Plecos and other sucking fish are known to rasp on the slime coat of their slow moving tankmates...but I really don't see any indications of welts on your fish. Plenty of other things wrong with them, but that probably isn't one of them!
 
I know there are some here that will disagree, but typically speaking, keeping angels and discus together is a no no. Juvenile discus with angels is a big double no no. These two species can pass diseases amoungst each other very easily. And with the addition of the discus, yes that tank is over stocked. I couldn't help but reading in one of your first posts your reluctance to use salt. I didn't bring it up, as IME salt has only a limited use in treating disease. But, there is one lesson you need to learn and learn quickly about keeping discus.

Rule number one: IT IS A DISCUS TANK
Rule number two: when other fish interfere with the treatment of the discus, refer to rule number one.

As for deworming your fish, if they are eating well you can get a deworming flake from Angel's plus. If not then you can get some flubendazole powder. BUT, only after you get them back on thier feet so to speak.
 
lots of good advice..
keep in mind that discus tend to be prone to hex....they are often infected with these flagellated protozoa..an intestinal/stomach parasite..Sx are similar to other internal parasites(clamped fins, darkening and other typical stressors)
often stressed fish may become infested

this is also one of the reasons to not keep angels with discus..as hex will infect both hosts
it is responsive to treatments of metronidazole(flagyl) which can be used as a bath
 
platytudes said:
If you were keeping the discus in the 72 gallon in your signature, that stocking sounds very heavy to me. Were they getting enough to eat? Discus are not community fish, not just because of their temperature needs and their requirement for pristine water quality, but they also can't compete with a bunch of eager feeders. They are slow and easily spooked. I frankly can't imagine discus in a tank with such diverse and active tankmates!

The heavy stocking might indeed have caused ammonia and nitrite spikes, particularly after feeding. There is really no way to tell unless you have an in tank ammonia monitor (and even those are not always accurate).

IMO overstocking and incompatible tankmates in the 72 gallon is a sure thing. Intermittent ammonia and nitrite spikes almost certain, as well. Intestinal parasites sound like a real possibility, and not getting enough food due to competition from other, much faster fish...

How long have you had them in the smaller tank by themselves? Plecos and other sucking fish are known to rasp on the slime coat of their slow moving tankmates...but I really don't see any indications of welts on your fish. Plenty of other things wrong with them, but that probably isn't one of them!
Click to expand...

Actually, the stocking is way diff. from my sig, I have way less fish as of now, no more angels. I sold them. I think I will try to sell the discus if they recover. I will probably give them back to the breeder.:(
I haven't yet put them in the smaller tank yet as some of you guys think they would be better off in a larger more stable tank.



nc0gnet0 said:
I know there are some here that will disagree, but typically speaking, keeping angels and discus together is a no no. Juvenile discus with angels is a big double no no. These two species can pass diseases amoungst each other very easily. And with the addition of the discus, yes that tank is over stocked. I couldn't help but reading in one of your first posts your reluctance to use salt. I didn't bring it up, as IME salt has only a limited use in treating disease. But, there is one lesson you need to learn and learn quickly about keeping discus.

Rule number one: IT IS A DISCUS TANK
Rule number two: when other fish interfere with the treatment of the discus, refer to rule number one.

As for deworming your fish, if they are eating well you can get a deworming flake from Angel's plus. If not then you can get some flubendazole powder. BUT, only after you get them back on thier feet so to speak.
Click to expand...

Okay, thanks for the future heads up. Yes, I would love to make it a discus tank, but I would love a planted tank with discus and angels even more. So what I am going to try to do is really change up everything in the 72G gradually.

Add Co2 System
Change Whole Stocking
Star_Rider said:
lots of good advice..
keep in mind that discus tend to be prone to hex....they are often infected with these flagellated protozoa..an intestinal/stomach parasite..Sx are similar to other internal parasites(clamped fins, darkening and other typical stressors)
often stressed fish may become infested

this is also one of the reasons to not keep angels with discus..as hex will infect both hosts
it is responsive to treatments of metronidazole(flagyl) which can be used as a bath
Click to expand...

Any know how or tips on where to get metro. and how to use it?

thanks for all the help. Wow, these fish have totally drained me:(

Well, I guess I learned a lesson on buying fish by examining them especially if they are very sensitive, and fragile(?). I am hoping that it doesn't come to culling the discus, but if they get very sick I may have to do that.

And as of now the current stocking is.............

14 harlequins
4 yoyos
4 albino long fin corys
1 emerald green cory
2 SAEs
1 clown pleco(I am not sure if he/she is even alive anymore, I haven't seen him/her for 2 weeks)
1 ABN pleco
1 pair gold rams
1 pair GBR
5 discus

I am going to be removing the discus as soon as they recover and sell them/rehome them.
 
nc0gnet0 said:
I know there are some here that will disagree, but typically speaking, keeping angels and discus together is a no no. Juvenile discus with angels is a big double no no. These two species can pass diseases amoungst each other very easily. And with the addition of the discus, yes that tank is over stocked. I couldn't help but reading in one of your first posts your reluctance to use salt. I didn't bring it up, as IME salt has only a limited use in treating disease. But, there is one lesson you need to learn and learn quickly about keeping discus.

Rule number one: IT IS A DISCUS TANK
Rule number two: when other fish interfere with the treatment of the discus, refer to rule number one.

As for deworming your fish, if they are eating well you can get a deworming flake from Angel's plus. If not then you can get some flubendazole powder. BUT, only after you get them back on thier feet so to speak.
Click to expand...

Can't be said much better than that.
Keep that in mind should you get the urge to chance placing them both together - notwithstanding that others have done so successfully.
One final small point - and this is based on my actual experience (more than once) - if you're going to keep those SAE's with discus - keep a sharp eye on them - as they get older and lazier, they tend to take a liking to discus' slime coats as part of their diet.
All the best.
 
^Thanks. Yeah, I will be replacing the SAEs, they are around 4", but very very active, like rockets, darting around full time, even moving while eating flake food, crazy awesome fish!;)
 
any link or website for angels plus deworming food? is it an online store?
 
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