what color is your background? i have noticed when my discus go to the back of the tank (mine is black) they get darker, when they are up front they are lighter. maybe a camo thing.(?)
Discus Advice regarding stress
- Thread starter golfproinlexky
- Start date
Parasites
Thanks for all of the advice. Definitely think its a parasite of some kind, as they are pinched and I have noticed some white feces. The strange thing is that they are aggressive in going after food! I've already treated with an API product for "general cure" containing Metronidazole and Praziquantel about a week ago as I suspected this to be the case. I treated as directed, taking out the carbon filter, retreating after 48 hours, waiting another 48 hours and then doing a water change. Any other advice on treatment?
I did a water change last night, so I'll treat again tonight and see what happens.
It seems like there is a double feature on the stress because my loaches are very active and were in the tank for well over a year before the discus. The flagfish were mainly added to battle beard algae, but they must go!
Stupid question, but where do the parasites come from? Did they come with them (looked good after a few days) or is my tank the problem?
Thanks for all of the advice. Definitely think its a parasite of some kind, as they are pinched and I have noticed some white feces. The strange thing is that they are aggressive in going after food! I've already treated with an API product for "general cure" containing Metronidazole and Praziquantel about a week ago as I suspected this to be the case. I treated as directed, taking out the carbon filter, retreating after 48 hours, waiting another 48 hours and then doing a water change. Any other advice on treatment?
I did a water change last night, so I'll treat again tonight and see what happens.
It seems like there is a double feature on the stress because my loaches are very active and were in the tank for well over a year before the discus. The flagfish were mainly added to battle beard algae, but they must go!
Stupid question, but where do the parasites come from? Did they come with them (looked good after a few days) or is my tank the problem?
I've got a dark blue background, but unfortunately they are dark even when in the front of the tank.
I don't believe in hijacking, it creates more learning opportunity for everyone. Glad to see others have an interest and similar problems to me!
I would tend to believe they came in with them. Where did you purchase them? It's really good that you can catch this while they are still eating.
I found a posting on simplydiscus.com where two people successfully used the exact same dosing method of Seachem metronidazole available at www.jehmco.com to treat intestinal flagellates: And by the way, notice he mentions the type of frozen bloodworms...ever since I began keeping discus I have seen where many people say that Hikari frozen bloodworms are the best to use for discus. I've read many posts where fish became sick while eating other brands. Hikari is known for their special sterilization methods to ensure pure product. Hope this info helps, flagellates in discus are a battle!
"what i did was to put around 5 to six measures(it should have a small spoon. i made sure that when i pick the powder with the spoon i wouldnt make a hill so there would only be powder to the height of the dept of the spoon like dont over fill the spoon) for 40 gallons raise the temp to 90 to 91 F let the med stay for 38 to 48 hours meaning that when you feed (if they are eating)
and you syphon the left overs dont add any fresh new water to the tank. the original water should stay with the med for 38 to 48 hours.
then do a 95% water change. now when you want to add med again you can just pour the same amount in the tank and start filling it but what i did which might not be recomended by many hobbyists was to pour the med right in front of the fish when there is only 5 to 10% water left when i do this because the fish is breathing, while breathing some med particles will be swallowed by the fish. of course most of it would be spit out though. and then i would start adding fresh water. it took me 6 treatments that is 12 days to treat the fish. they start eating on the 3rd or a day before the 4th treatment. after 12 days i kept the water at 91 F for another 2 weeks so the fish would eat 5 to 7 times a day to get health back also in this 2 weeks i started adding top fin conditioning salt found in pets mart.
i add almost one measure for evey 5 gallons (i added salt to keep stress away). also in this two weeks after syphoning the leftovers i add fresh water to the tank. then at night right before sleep (2:00 AM) i change 90 % of the water.
do not put 2 measures of this med for every 10 gallon it will overdose making the fish dark and if kept in the water without WC. your fish may bleach out starting to swim like it has gone blind. if this happened do 140% WC every day for 3 days with no meds at all.
after the fish get completly healthy i recomend water change more often also be carefull what brand of blood worms you feed. i noticed when i use San Francisco Bay blood worms my fish get sick i stop using it and switched to hikari Because it looks more fresh, brighter red compared to the San Francisco Bay one."
I found a posting on simplydiscus.com where two people successfully used the exact same dosing method of Seachem metronidazole available at www.jehmco.com to treat intestinal flagellates: And by the way, notice he mentions the type of frozen bloodworms...ever since I began keeping discus I have seen where many people say that Hikari frozen bloodworms are the best to use for discus. I've read many posts where fish became sick while eating other brands. Hikari is known for their special sterilization methods to ensure pure product. Hope this info helps, flagellates in discus are a battle!
"what i did was to put around 5 to six measures(it should have a small spoon. i made sure that when i pick the powder with the spoon i wouldnt make a hill so there would only be powder to the height of the dept of the spoon like dont over fill the spoon) for 40 gallons raise the temp to 90 to 91 F let the med stay for 38 to 48 hours meaning that when you feed (if they are eating)
and you syphon the left overs dont add any fresh new water to the tank. the original water should stay with the med for 38 to 48 hours.
then do a 95% water change. now when you want to add med again you can just pour the same amount in the tank and start filling it but what i did which might not be recomended by many hobbyists was to pour the med right in front of the fish when there is only 5 to 10% water left when i do this because the fish is breathing, while breathing some med particles will be swallowed by the fish. of course most of it would be spit out though. and then i would start adding fresh water. it took me 6 treatments that is 12 days to treat the fish. they start eating on the 3rd or a day before the 4th treatment. after 12 days i kept the water at 91 F for another 2 weeks so the fish would eat 5 to 7 times a day to get health back also in this 2 weeks i started adding top fin conditioning salt found in pets mart.
i add almost one measure for evey 5 gallons (i added salt to keep stress away). also in this two weeks after syphoning the leftovers i add fresh water to the tank. then at night right before sleep (2:00 AM) i change 90 % of the water.
do not put 2 measures of this med for every 10 gallon it will overdose making the fish dark and if kept in the water without WC. your fish may bleach out starting to swim like it has gone blind. if this happened do 140% WC every day for 3 days with no meds at all.
after the fish get completly healthy i recomend water change more often also be carefull what brand of blood worms you feed. i noticed when i use San Francisco Bay blood worms my fish get sick i stop using it and switched to hikari Because it looks more fresh, brighter red compared to the San Francisco Bay one."
As always the experience of others proves similar to my own. I've been feeding San Francisco Bay that the breeder (Rain Forest Discus) rfidiscus.com sent with the fish. I would like to think that the breeder would send safe food, but obviously this must not be the case. I'll be making the change immediately.
For tonight I've purchased Jungle parasite medication (Prazipro was not available at my LFS) and treated. Since they are still eating I'm going to cross my fingers and hope for the best.
What non-frozen foods do you recommend?
For tonight I've purchased Jungle parasite medication (Prazipro was not available at my LFS) and treated. Since they are still eating I'm going to cross my fingers and hope for the best.
What non-frozen foods do you recommend?
Is there a common med that my LFS will carry that will have fen, flu and lev Hcl in them?
It may not have been the food, the fish could have had parasites the whole time. The parasites can exist at low numbers showing no symptoms and then rapidly multiply when the fish gets stressed.
Jungle makes good products! The only frozen food my discus will eat is the Hikari FBW, they love them. There are many nutritionally good fortified foods on the market. I chose Ocean Nutrition Brine Shrimp Plus flakes, Ocean Nutrition Formula One flakes, and New Life Spectrum Discus Formula. A 2.5 oz container of each of the Ocean Nutrition Foods and a 5.3 oz container of the New Life Spectrum food purchased at good prices on line at Drs. F&S will last many, many, many months! They are hungriest when I get home from work and that's when they get a decent sized pinch of all three dry foods, followed an hour or so later with FBW, and usually another pinch of the 3 dry foods about an hour before their lights are set to go out. These foods all work out well for all the other occupants of the discus tank too.
As SoCal says, they could have had parasites the whole time. Very often hobbyists don't recognize that their discus are really sick until they see visible signs of weight loss and refusal to eat. When they have stopped eating is when it is hardest to cure. I don't even want to tell you how many discus I had die from intestinal parasites when I started out with discus....that was before there was a wealth of information to be found, experienced people to chat with and forums on the internet!
