Discus disease diagnosis sheet

Hi Guys,

I am getting increasing number of requests for advice on discus disease problems that have so little information that it is absolutely impossible to give advice and it leads to a standard set of questions afterwards that take far too much time to answer. As a result, I have drawn up a standard format enquiry sheet that I would like persons to use if they have such enquiries. Fill in as much as you can, the more the better, but about the first three quarters are essential. Copy and paste the message below into your message and use it to fill in what you would like to ask.

Kind regards,

Dirk

Dear Guys, Dirk (or whoever you are asking),

Could you please help me with the following discus problem?

I would appreciate your assistance.

Kind regards,

John Smith (and I want persons to identify who they are as I want to know whom I am giving advice to!)

Where do you stay?:
How long have you been keeping tropical fishes?:
How long have you been keeping discus? Are these the first discus you keep?
Description of the sick fish (age, size, breathing speed):
Describe the problem that the fish is having: (behaviour, breathing, excretion (droppings), food intake, colour):
Has the problem occurred before?:
Have you treated the problem and how?:
Have you had any other problems in the past? What were they? Did you treat for these problems? How?
When and where did you buy these fishes from and what size were they when you bought them?:
What type of discus are these? Wild or hybrid and which type?:
Your aquarium (Size; what do you have in the aquarium such as logs, stones; plants; gravel; fertilizer use; CO2? etc.):
Your filtration (Type and size of filter, what is in your filter, liters per hour)
Aquarium hygiene: (how do you clean your aquarium and your filter, how often do you clean your filter, when last did you clean your filter, when last did you clean your gravel?)
How many fishes do you have in your tank (discus, their size and other fishes):
When did you last buy any new fishes and from where were they bought?:
Which food are you feeding and how often do you feed?
Water changes? How often, how much, what is the temperature of the water you use for water changes, what is the source of the water (tapwater, well water, borehole water, river water) :
Do you prepare your water for water changes? Reverse osmosis, peat filtration, do you add peat extract?:
Water description (smell and colour):
Water parameters in your aquarium
Temperature of the water:
General hardness (GH):
Carobonate hardness (KH):
Nitrite (No2-):
Nitrate (No3-):
pH-value and how did you measure your pH: