someone please help.I currently have 4 discus and all of them seem to be suffering from some kind of excess mucus production on there skins along with fin rot.I have treaeted them over the past week with protozin which hasent helped at all other species in the tank are not affected atall at the moment my discus look like they have a silver outline allaround the edges of there bodies im on top of my water condition and for the life of me cant seem to cure this or work out what it is they have please help
sick discus
- Thread starter spiritualised
- Start date
what are your water parameters? Discus need clean water and when i say clean, i mean clean. Water conditions need to be close to perfect as well. The excess body slim was created by the fish in defense of something happening in your tank.
Test your water first
Test your water first
sounds like "slime disease" which is caused by various protozoan parasites. The parasites live on the skin and gill surface and feeding on skin and gill tissues. note that this is typically a water quality problem or stress due to improper biology .. i.e, keeping discus in too small a tank, improper temperature (discus prefer about 82°F), or with fish which are too active for this slow moving, relatively shy species.
Treatment: Treat with malachite green. If not effective try short-term table salt water bath or Formalin water bath.
Treatment: Treat with malachite green. If not effective try short-term table salt water bath or Formalin water bath.
i tried the salt bath method last night first time the fish are looking a lot better today but i am concerned more as to what was the cause forewarned is forearmed so to speak im inclined to go with you on what you have said.My water quality is good ph 6.5 temp 80 im in the process of upping my temp at mo by maybe 5 more degrees and cant check nitrites today as ive got to get another testing kit i have been testing my water daily and doing partial changes
Up the temperature to 86. Also, what are your water changes like?? Discus need 50% water changes 2x a week as a minimum...the more the better. I would add in more salt to a concentration of around 5-6 tablespoons per 10 gallons and maintain that concentration for a week. Along with the salt, increase your water changes. when you do a water change, be sure to keep the same concentration of salt in the tank...for example...if you do a 50% water change, add in 1/2 of the amount of salt to maintain the normal salt concentration. Whenever a discus starts to show signs of getting sick, or it hiding, or is dark...ALWAYS increase the water changes and add in salt as a first line of defense.
-Ryan
-Ryan