Not Eating, turning black.

With regards to the smaller one not eating , he could be bullied or intimated by the bigger ones ..seen that happen plenty times with them ..

 

As @Fuzzy states about the bulliyng mabey being a factor is why the people sugest 5-6 discus in a tank so pecking is evenly dished out.Please keep us updated and good luck with ur round wabbas

 

@Ally. How are the discus doing ?

 

Hey guys
@Ally
Ive been busy so couldnt come check on here again.
I hope you did not move that Discus. Its already stressed and ill, so moving it is just going to make it worse.
Treat it in that tank.
This is the first priority now-to get that fish healthy and eating. The rest you can work on later. Take things one step at a time. If you are going to go mess around now with all this you will just make matters worse.

Slow down. Treat the Metro. Up the temp. Keep things like that till that fish eats
The dosage is 7mg per liter. Your 200mg tablet thus treats 28 liters. Rest is simple math.

Keep.us ppsted on the progress and what you have done so far

Rgds

Marco

 

Hi guys
@Marco
I did move them all, the tank is 50l and not 40l added my sponge filter that was in my DG hatchery, added prime and stability, ph was almost identical. My issue i have with the main tank is that i cant get my temp up to 31 and sometimes its 30deg. got 2x 300w in it.
i got the little one in first and he was swimming around and his colour looked good but just swam through the blood worm. Now that i managed to catch the others and put them in with the little one its gone dark again so as someone mentioned i think there is bullying buy the one bigger guy who has subsequently hoovered up all the blood worm.
Now comes the question do i move the bigger 2 back to the main tank and leave the now 2 struggling one in the smaller tank. i know this is counter to keeping them in a group.
I went around to the vet and another pharmacy to see about more stockists of Metro but they wouldnt sell it with out a prescription. Luckily the first pharmacy sold me 2 more packs. which would cover dosing in the main tank (20 pills) compared to 2 in the 50l.

I will try do a 50wc before i go to work tomorrow and dose Metro otherwise it will have to be in the evening.
I just hope the little guy will still be with us.

 

Well i think by the time i get home tonight the little guy will be no more. i given bloodworm and meds this morning but he looks so weak. will update tonight.

 

Good Luck. I hope your fish pull through.

 

Thanks Guys

Well he is still alive but now laying on his side most the time.
I did a little vacuum to clean up but i noticed the water is hazy, not sure if its from the Metro or i got a case of bad water conditions. @Marco if its not from the Metro should i do another wc and re dose?

 

Hey Ally,

Sorry to hear this. Couldve been avoided but what the hell. It is what it is.

Im not sure Ally. Its possibly the metro but are you sure the filtration is 100% in that tank?

I think you are going to have to do large water changes daily and dose the metro daily also. That tank is simply too small for this.
We need to get this sorted out asap and move the healthy fish back to the big tank and be done with them. Dont do it yet though. Finish at least 2 more days with Metro. Lets see what happens.

In future - to anyone reading this - DO NOT MOVE AN ALREADY SICK DISCUS and DO NOT SUGGEST TO ANYONE ELSE TO DO SO!

Hope it comes right Ally

Marco

 

@Marco

I will do a wc now and redose, dont want to loose the others through bad water quality.
Should i still look at getting one or two more or should i forget about that for now?

Thanks for your advise

 

@Marco with all due respect with you extensive knowledge and experience of keeping discus for many years , may i just put my 2cents.

It is common practice to use a Hospital tank.To treat 4 fish in such a large tank that is not suited for them just does not makes sence.In my personal opinion i would have thrown the hat over the wall with the one very sick one and culled him and treated the rest in hospital tank.its just not worth the work and heartache to deal with that discus that wont last long even after surviving this episode.He dnt look well at all.fact being this person was sold a raw deal when considering quality.That being said.

Regarding the cloudy water.I would dose with metro as you sugest but do 50% water change in the morning and 50% at nite.feed ocean nutrition bloodworms and discus mix to keep him going.keep temp up as sugessted.

The discus need for clean water can not be over emphasised in my opinion, it is essential sir.

Ps have you checked if you mite also have ph swing over 24hours.CHeck water directly.then let it stand and with heater and air bubbles recheck after 24hours does it change much.

and once this is all done and if you decide to get more discus please quarintine them properly before adding and please note plants also need to be qurintined.

I hope this does not rub anyone up the wrong way

 

Hope it works out for you mate

 

RIP Little one

 

sorry to hear - but the odds were stacked against him

 

Never nice losing a fish, now do all you can to make sure the others are OK.

 

@Ally... sorry you lost your baby @Marco, please could I ask:When you dose with Metro as per the dosage you gave, after your 50% water change, do you dose the full volume of the tank again at the original dose or only dose the amount of water which you replacing

 

Hi guys,
@Ally - Im sorry the fish didnt make it. How are the other ones doing?
@MariaS - Yes quite correct-when doing the follow up water change you redose for the entire volu.e of water. This is done because Metro does deteriorate in the water over time and we need to keep the dosage up. Metro is fairly safe and I have used higher dosages in stubborn cases with no (known) side effects to the fish.
@Quakeszn
Im going to assume you are not patronizing me with the opening paragraph....

It is normal to treat fish in a hospital tank yes. If the fish was already IN the hospital then good, but in this case it wasnt.
Its unfair to assume the fish wouldve made it had Ally not moved it - but Id never move a stressed, sick Discus for treatment. I would always solve the immediate problem first and once that is done take things step by step. Discus are quite hardy but bad decision making kills them really quick.
It may well have been hectic to treat in such a big tank, but the fish is now gone and possibly more issues exist with the others. They have to now be moved again because they can NOT be kept in a 50lit tank thats for sure.

As for quality - look around you in shops and anywhere Discus are being offered. They are sold at high prices and more often than not they are crappy and sickly. Must we cull them all? People pay bucks for them and they want to at least try and save them when problems arise.
Thats how we learn. If I had culled every sick Discus I have ever had Id be making many more wrong decisions. Experience teaches.

Now wither Ally got sickly discus or not, wrong decisions kill Discus. It sometimes is best to cull a fish, cause the community you keep.is only as strong as the weakest fish. But damn give it a fair chance at least.

Rgds

Marco

 

Hay guys

Thanks for all the kind words.
Look i dont think i was sold sickly fish, Ive bought most my fish from there. I was a chase of not knowing what to do sooner. If i had reacted sooner then i think i wouldnt have lost one of my babys. The others are all doing well and eating nicely.
I have been doing a wc everyday and redosing metro.
Just want to know something i came across, people talking about stress lines/stripes. What are they? I have also being trying to find out how to tell the different sexes but its bit sketchy.

Its been interesting to hear the different views everyone has and the justifications for them. It does seem that different methods are needed for different fish or situations so i think we should all remember that but it is still up to the individual on how he or she wishes to handle the situation.
I will try remember to update later on in the week, im sure i will have them back in the main tank as Marco said its a bit cramped in the 50l for them.

Thanks again

 

People will tell you to look out for all sorts of markings etc to sex a discus. In my oppinion and experience, this has all proven to be untrue. The only way to sex a discus is to actually witness them spawn

Regards
Waleed