1 HR from now...

pinkertd said:
Maybe this?


Argulus (“Fish Louse”)
Argulus.jpg


If you're looking to see if there are gill flukes, you have to actually swab the gill and look at that under the scope. You can't use anything you find in the water to figure out if it's flukes or not.
Click to expand...

They were definately not flat, it was stocky, like a turtle/spider, and I didn't see any suckers. The head looked like one that was designed to tear things apart, like a shrimp/snapping turtle.

What's the best way to grab the fish and get a swab? Using Q-Tips? One of my little guys went balistic as I tried to catch him the other night, and swam in circles, jumped out of the water, slammed into the driftwood(constantly), if I didn't know better, I thought he was blind/suicidal.
 
OK, you said tick like looking, that's all I could think of.

As far as catching them, there's no easy way.....fish don't like being netted. You have to net them and either hold them still in a clean cloth that's been soaked with tank water, or...believe it or not, if you place them into a very shallow container that contains a little tank water to just cover them, they stay pretty still. I'm sure you've seen pictures of them lying perfectly flat over on simply. I'd still have a wet cloth/towel to be ready to hold them still if needed. Use a Q-tip and swab. Do it on a large flat surface where there's no possibility of the discus landing anywhere that will cause harm to him, just in case it decides to go ballistic on you and you're not expecting it.
 
I can't help you with the microscope. From what I've read, you gently scrape right inside the gill.
 
I did it! It was so freaky, I don't think I ever want to pick up another fish again, lol.

I first tried on one of the little ones, that was a mistake. His gills are too small for a swab.

Then I went for a medium one, he didn't want to open his gills for me.... so I let him go.

Then I went for a larger one, and he did good, opened right up. I took the HUGE swab, and went for it. It looked brutal, like I was about to break the little guy's head open! I swabbed, and swabbed, and swabbed some more. If I got this far, I'm not going to let up a chance and make sure I get something.

To my dissappointment, I couldn't really get anything from the swab, onto my homemade microscope slide. It was just too dry. I didn't see anything, except these little buggers that were already dead. I then took more samples of slime, and such that was floating around, and saw these buggers that looks like horsshoe crabs, with the tail and all. They were dead also.

How well does Discus do with salt baths?
 
Found some Chilodinella in some poo last night, along with more Water Mites. The Water Mites are HUGE compaired to these little heart-shaped things. I have still yet to see any Flukes, but the gill function is starting to look better. Salt is recommended as a treatment for Chilodinella at a concentration of .3 salinity. Anyone know how much salt is that for a 46G?
 
discus do pretty good with salt (increase heat add salt is an old standby treatment with them)
 
in a 46G tank are going to get crowded and sick unless you do a lot of h2o changing

good rule for discus is 12g per fish once they are adults.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom