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

Two things I have on my mind while reading through these 5 pages:

1) Are these your fish exclusively, or does your family also participate in their care? I know when I was 14, I certainly wouldn't have had the money or means (transportation, PayPal account, etc.) to purchase the meds, or even the most basic equipment, for keeping discus healthy, much less medicating sick discus. So I hope that they are a family project, and that someone is helping you with them!

2) No one has said it up to now, so I didn't, until nc0gnet0 brought it up...but your fish look like they are more than just sick with a curable condition, they look very genetically poor to me. The first thing I thought was that they were perhaps emaciated with parasites, but stunting makes sense. Look at this pic:

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Even if you could cure the finrot, clamped fins and sloughed off slime coat, that discus does not look right. I've no idea what kind of conditions you got these fish in, or how long you have had them, but they do look stunted (huge eyes) and genetically "off".

I think someone took advantage of you, I sure hope you got a good deal on these fish. A responsible breeder would only give these away as pets, since stunted fish can produce healthy offspring...but then again, responsible breeders don't let their fish stunt!

I know you are young, and have other things going on (summer activities and school) but you need to research as much as you can about discus care, and spend some time hanging around discus forums. Also get a book on discus keeping, I bet you can find them for very cheap on Amazon. Whether they are your fish or your family's fish, you need to do some more reading up on them.

Discus are different than hardy tropicals or goldfish. Not only are they more sensitive, and require large routine water changes on a more regular basis, but there is a lot of disagreement about how to care for them. Some people think the water should be boiling hot, some people think it should just be a little warmer than usual (I vote for this last one, never keeping them any higher than lower mid 80s). Some people think they should be fed beefheart. I think they should be fed a quality pellet diet, such as New Life Spectrum. They have a discus formula, Hikari also makes one. You can feed them frozen bloodworms for a treat. Beefheart is just to put bulk on them and make them grow faster, since it's pure, lean protein - if you are keeping them in a tank that's too small, there is no reason to try and get them to grow as fast as possible. It will also pollute the tank more, vs. a pellet food staple diet.
 
I also thought they looked stunted, not just juvies. But then Fishboss said the breeder had 2 tanks with multiple juvies in them. I know the fish look bad. So, thought that may be playing into my interpretation of the fish.
I also agree with platy...they are hard and continuously a source of money "investment". I just spent 120 bucks on metro to treat mine for hex. If the least little thing is off...down they go!!
 
I really feel for you. I tried a discus tank about 20 years ago. I am an experienced fish keeper, and I owned my own shop at the time. Discus are "The King of The Aquarium", but very sensitive. I managed to kill all 8 of my juvies, and I still don't know why...that's why I haven't tried it since. Yours look terrible. Go with the advice of someone who knows discus. I know it's no concilation, but atleast yours look sick. Mine were beautiful before I went to bed and dead when I got up, with no explanation. I wish you and your fish the best of luck!
 
I bought these discus for $60, or $15 each, with 5 for $60.

I have an airstone running, I will add more, I have a 24" bubble bar, I will add before i leave for camp.

This morning, as of now, no clamped fins, but all the discus are in the top half of the tank.:(
 
Hi FishBoss, got your PM and replying as soon as I could. To me it looks like columnaris which can be present in the water and only affect new tank addtions and not the existing fish. This will probably last a good 3 weeks and you will need to medicate and do daily large ater changes so it would be best to remove them and put them into their own treatment tank through this. They are shedding their slime coat which is a result of the bacterial infection they have. And there's a great possibility of them coming down with secondary infections. You need to get the shedding slime coat out of the tank water and the filter daily. Temp about 85 is fine. Keep the lights off in the tank. They won't eat until they start to get over this so if you put any food in there, very, very sparingly to see if anyone has interest and frozen bloodworms would be your best bet. Siphon them out of no one eats. Keep good filtration going. Fresh water for them everyday, 75% of whatever size tank you put them in. Just make sure that your tap water going into the tank is the same temp as what was in the tank. I had something much like this years ago. Acriflavin is the best med for this. You might not be able to find it locally but I think Big Al's online carries it (Kordon Acriflavin). I then treated their tattered fins and cloudy eyes with maracyn and maracyn 2 and didn't lose any of them. I did all my treatments in my 72G tank and after 3 weeks of 75-80% daily water changes after work, I thought I'd just sledge hammer the tank and quit. The other tank inhabitants did not have this and I had rams spawning at the same time in this tank. I chose not to add any salt because of loaches and plants. So treatment does not have to include salt. If it's impossible for you to get the acriflavine, my second choice would be to treat them with Furan 2 which might be carried locally, but Furan 2 is harder on the fish and more easily toxic of not dosed correctly.
 
platytudes said:
Two things I have on my mind while reading through these 5 pages:

1) Are these your fish exclusively, or does your family also participate in their care? I know when I was 14, I certainly wouldn't have had the money or means (transportation, PayPal account, etc.) to purchase the meds, or even the most basic equipment, for keeping discus healthy, much less medicating sick discus. So I hope that they are a family project, and that someone is helping you with them!

2) No one has said it up to now, so I didn't, until nc0gnet0 brought it up...but your fish look like they are more than just sick with a curable condition, they look very genetically poor to me. The first thing I thought was that they were perhaps emaciated with parasites, but stunting makes sense. Look at this pic:

attachment.php


Even if you could cure the finrot, clamped fins and sloughed off slime coat, that discus does not look right. I've no idea what kind of conditions you got these fish in, or how long you have had them, but they do look stunted (huge eyes) and genetically "off".

I think someone took advantage of you, I sure hope you got a good deal on these fish. A responsible breeder would only give these away as pets, since stunted fish can produce healthy offspring...but then again, responsible breeders don't let their fish stunt!

I know you are young, and have other things going on (summer activities and school) but you need to research as much as you can about discus care, and spend some time hanging around discus forums. Also get a book on discus keeping, I bet you can find them for very cheap on Amazon. Whether they are your fish or your family's fish, you need to do some more reading up on them.

Discus are different than hardy tropicals or goldfish. Not only are they more sensitive, and require large routine water changes on a more regular basis, but there is a lot of disagreement about how to care for them. Some people think the water should be boiling hot, some people think it should just be a little warmer than usual (I vote for this last one, never keeping them any higher than lower mid 80s). Some people think they should be fed beefheart. I think they should be fed a quality pellet diet, such as New Life Spectrum. They have a discus formula, Hikari also makes one. You can feed them frozen bloodworms for a treat. Beefheart is just to put bulk on them and make them grow faster, since it's pure, lean protein - if you are keeping them in a tank that's too small, there is no reason to try and get them to grow as fast as possible. It will also pollute the tank more, vs. a pellet food staple diet.
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1) I do everything for these fish, I do all the maintenance for all my tanks(2 10gs, 1 20g, and the 72G). I feed them, WCs, plant care, etc. Ferts, everything. I even pay for the fish and plants. I use my Birthday and X-Mas money to buy the eheim filter($300), lights($300), etc. My parents pay for basic supplies like meds, substrate, filter media, DW they choose, light bulbs, fish food, cleaning supplies, and other basic needs. I use my allowance and money I earn selling my fish that I breed like Yellow Shrimp, RCS, Tiger Shrimp, Fancy Guppies, Angelfish, and soon Killis.

Thanks

But, I am keeping them in a 72G, and lots of people told me they like less space when they are young and growing, so they told me a 20G for 2-4 weeks would be better than the community tank. I really hope they live. But if they don't, I will wait until I am at least in College Because I won't have time for 2X weekly 50% WCs during high school. Thanks for all the help you guys. I will keep you posted.:)
 
Good luck to you! I'm not sure about the space business, doesn't sound right to me, but I'm no discus expert. It seems like a fish that needs perfect water quality would be best off in the largest tank possible. I'm pretty sure the fish are stunted and were so when you got them, and I'm sorry you paid so much for them...but again, stunted fish can have healthy offspring, and it sounds like you are taking good care of them, especially given your age when most people have trouble remembering to take care of their hamsters ;) I really hope your fish recover. Acriflavine is sold at my pet stores, Kordon makes it. It stains your seals blue, however.
 
FishBoss....I've been googling fish meds for bacterial infections and it seems there are not a lot of choices of meds. And the only acriflavine seems to be the Kordon's. If you can't get the Kordon's acriflavine, then out of the two that I found for bacterial infections.....maracyn plus or furan 2.....I would opt to go with the maracyn plus.
 
I don't know anything about Discus, but what first struck me was they were all at the surface gasping for air! Hope everything comes out alright.
 
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