Please help!

For a week he was only bumping his face on stuff. Now half his face is paralised. Geuss he is getting worse.

There isnt other discus in the tank.

 

Arthur and CB,

What do you think and what would you advise? I am still of the opinion that this is a nervous problem unfortunately.

For the record, Steve, where are you based. This would tell us something about your water conditions from the tap. Also, what are the tank parameters such as tank volume, temperature, pH, filtration and tank mates.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Carletonville

Nothing else in tank. 60 litres. Dunno what filter is called. Blue and black on side of tank. 30 degree heat. Don't have ph metre sorry

 

Hi Steve,

When keeping discus, the minimum volume per adult fish is 60 to 70 litres. Is your fish an adult or how big is he? What are the dimensions of the tank?

Carltonville has fairly hard water, do you add RO water to your water or are you keeping him in tap water only?

How often have you done water changes and when you do water changes how do you treat your tap water?

Dirk

 

He is as big as a couster.
Sorry what is RO?
Tank is 60 centimtres long
I change half of the water every week. Got stuff from petshop to make the water safe.

 

Can you give me the size of your fish size in cm, not sure how big your coaster is, perhaps 10 cm?

RO water is water prepared using a reverse osmosis unit. This water is almost completely pure and is therefore very soft. If you were to mix your tap water with this water then, it will make your water softer. This is what is recommended when your water is very hard, however, if you do not do this, this is not entirely wrong.

You say your tank is 60 cm long. How high is it and how wide is it?

If you change half the water per week this is what would be recommended so that is good. Also if you treat the water with something to make it "safe" then this should also be OK.

Dirk

 

Yes about 10cm

I will go mesure tank

 

Okay 60cm 30cm 35cm

 

OK Steve,

Perhaps CB and Arthur can also give their opinions on my diagnosis and my general comments.

When keeping discus it is advisable to keep a minimum of six as they are shoaling fishes and they get quite stressed if kept alone. Although this may be a contributing factor, I do not think that this is the reason for your fishes problem, but it is contributing to his stress.

Your water in Carltonville is not the best for discuskeeping and could be improved by softening it, but again, I do not think this is the main reason for your problems.

The tank that you have been keeping the discus in is far too small and is causing the fish considerable stress. Minimum size for a discus tank is 60 cm long, 50 wide and 50 cm deep. For a group of discus the dimensions should not be less than 1 m long, 60 wide and 50 cm deep. Your fish has been stressed as a result of the small size of you tank, and this will have contributed to the problem.

I do not know what you are feeding, and perhaps you can give us his diet?

Finally, I think this stress would have made him more susceptible to gill flukes, but I am still not convinced that the gill flukes are the main problem. I still think it is a nervous problem. Let us see what Arthur and CB have to say.

In the meantime, if you can give us the diet, that will also help me with the diagnosis.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

He eats discus food by Sera and frosen red worms

 

Hi Steve,

Sorry to have to add to your stress, but it appears that you have also not received good advice with regard to the diet that you are feeding your discus. Discus food from Sera is good, and they should be fed bloodworms or red worms as you call them once or twice a week, but they need to be fed a variety of foods including high quality dried foods, granulate and flake, and a variety of frozen foods including frozen brine shrimps, mysis and krill, as well as some food mixtures which contain beefheart enriched with green foods such as spinach and minerals, as well as vitamin C. Blood worms should be fed occasionally for roughage but they should certainly not be fed as a main part of the diet. Shortages in the diet will also have therefore added to your fishes problems.

Now let us wait for what CB and Arthur have to say.

Leave the fish in peace for the night in the meantime and then we can take the matter forward tomorrow.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Dirk I agree, if it was a gill fluke problem I would expect the gill to be open somewhat but not moving, there may well be gill flukes but this could be secondary to the original illness.
People often comment on how easy it is to keep discus, but unless their minimum requirements are not met they do not survive.
When a fish is stressed it leaves it open to infection by all number of parasites and disease.
The professor's advice is as usual on the mark, you really should follow it.
Company, a varied diet, and water quality make all the difference.

 

Thanks for your advice CB, and I am glad that with your considerable experience in keeping discus we can agree on this one. I am only sorry, Steve, that I think we are too late to save your fish.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

I got some medicines for parasytes and put it in the tank

 

What exactly did you get?

 

It was anti parasyte tablets like corenza. It fiz in the water.

 

Cryptic... Jungle Tank Buddies Parasite Clear perhaps?

 

Yes! Those. Sorry they are at home and I could not remember the name. Maybe it helps for the worms in his gils. If it is worms

 

The gill flukes, it should help a bit.

 

He is lookin better. When can I put him in big tank?