Help...Sick Discus and Angels

[clayt101]

OK....I screwed up, I put brand new discus in my big tank (before I took them out and put them in a quarentine tank, they looked fine). Now all my discus appear to be sick (except the new ones). Angels are sick as well. Angels are kind of shaking back and forth. Discus are just in the corners of the tank.

New discus in the quarintine tank are fine. Any ideas / recomended medications?

Thanks

 

[The Zigman]

its kind of normal for discus to hide till they feel comfortable in thier tank..

what do you mean by them being sick? What are their symtoms?

What are your water params, including temperature.
How big are the discus?

How big are the angels?

 

[clayt101]

This is a well establish 225 gallon tank. Discus are several years old and very friendly. Angels are large, discus are large.

Temp is 86, ph 7.8-8.0.

Not sure on ammonia and nitirite, but it should be very low.

 

[msjinkzd]

are they eating? what are their exact symptoms?

 

[clayt101]

My photos suck as I turned the lights off. Basically, the discus are lethargic, some are at the top, some at the bottom. The angels swim forward and backward and then shake. The new discus are fine, eating like piranha in the 10 gallon tank.

 

[Star_Rider]

you need to check the parameters.

are the discus showing stressors signs?

clamped fins? dark colors?

what else is going in the tank..planted? CO2?

 

[clayt101]

One of the discus people I know told me it is a virus. Here is our email converation.

I would bet anything that it is Viral

Move all the sick fish in smaller tanks and do large daily water-changes. The entire slime coat may decay on the fish and shed. Large water-changes usually help. A Rx will just stress them further (in most cases).
After they clear the virus, they may look like hell, but most will recover.
Send me a typical photo and a description of the fish behavior so I can confirm my ............

I am thinking that you are correct about the virus. That would explain why it is only the angels and discus. Tetras and plecos are fine. On the plus side, I am guessing that since the new discus are acting fine, that the old discus should heal up.

You think I should up the temp? It is at 86 right now.

I would lower it to about 83. But, moving them to a small tank where you can help them shed the slime coat from there environment helps greatly. The gills will also be affected. It usually takes two weeks to run it's course. Took me a couple of major fish losses and much bad advice till I found this simple method.

I never use antibiotics. If treated with a clean environment, you should not have any fungus. And antibiotics will not treat a virus nor can you achieve a therapeutic blood level unless injected. Discus and and Angelfish are prone to slime-coat infections like people are prone to lung and throat infections from flues and cold virues.

By quarantining new fish, some exposure is transferred at lower levels like a live vaccination.

 

[Arkangel77]

you need to check the parameters.

are the discus showing stressors signs?

clamped fins? dark colors?

what else is going in the tank..planted? CO2?

Clay start with the basics. Run a full series of test on the tank. Has anything changed recently (besides the new fish)?

 

[clayt101]

Well, I took Chucks advice and moved them out of the big tank. The better discus into a 20 long, the worse discu into a 20 long and the angels into a 35 hex.

Been a long few hours...to do this, I had to strip a female yellow lab. Catch about 15 3 month old yellow labs and put them in my cichlid tank with the stripped female. Catch about 50 younger yellow labs, and 60 or so L-144 pleco babies and put them in the 10 gallon that had the discus that brought the virus. I put the 3 discus that brought the virus into the big tank.

I still need to put the brand new yellow lab babies into the 10 gallon tank in a baby holder.

 

[Arkangel77]

WOW - that's a lota work! - I need some of those Plecos when they get bigger