Please Help!

I woke up this Morning and found that all the discus in our tank has gone pitch black. They seem to be trying to dig into the gravel in attempts to hide from view. All off them have a grey covering on their eyes and their skin seems to be "dripping" with something. They are not eating. All the other fish (black Ghost knife, cardinals) seem fine, its only the 6 Discus that seem to be really struggling. The water is at 29C, ph 6.9. I did a water change on Saturday and yesterday they wwere fine, although a bit scared. i figured it m ight be from th e water change. I dont know what to do. The LPS suggested i use Sterazin from Waterlife as they think its an internal parasite. I havent added any medicine yet. What must i do?

 

Water quality issues. Add salt as well

 

Dont add that Sterazin JohnJ. Get in contact with Prof Immediately. That might be serious. I had a similar problem 2 or 3 weeks back. Prof helped me. Can you chebk your Nitrates etc to just make sure its not the water. Have you added any fish recently?

 

Could it be as simple as the Chlorine/Chloromine in the water?

How do you prepare your replacement water for a water change?

I agree however to go at least read through the Profs forums as there is valuable info in there! I too would not add Meds unless you know exactly what you are treating?

Cheers
G!

 

here i did some searching for u and found this im no discus expert i mean not AT ALL but i can help with regards to getting u info on what u have here is an article
Black disease or discus plague

What is black disease? What is discus plague?

Black disease also referred to as Discus Plague.
It is a disease caused by virus. Discus fish will die when the virus attacks them. If it happens in a discus farm, it will kill all if no proper action taken to prevent it to spread.
How does it look like? What are the symptoms?

The fish stay in a corner of the tank with body full of slime. They stay just under the surface of water and breathe heavily. They turn dark in color, fin clamping, scratching against objects. They will turn black with abundant of body mucus secretion and its fins folded. They will flock together or hide at a corner. The epidemic goes from one tank to another and spread rapidly.
Can we save the fish?

Certainly, you can save your fish. What will happen if this epidemic spread rapidly and is incurable? All the fish in the rivers, in the ponds and in the sea will die. Then the fish will be extinct. There will be no more fish in the world. Do not worry as you can overcome this disease. If you monitor it properly and patiently, you can save all your fish.
When the disease strikes:

Those who have experienced it, often talk about the panic and helplessness feeling. They consult experts, experienced discus keepers and friends. Before they can start to do anything, the fish start dying one after another. The experience is painful to farms owners as they start losing their fish and years of their work.
The disease spread within days, possibly an airborne infection and contagious.
Discus will turned black and emit an awful smell. They lie still at the bottom of the tanks and if disturbed, they would dart and jump everywhere (early stage). At a later stage, whitish mucus will cover the whole body. Their fins and tails will rot and eventually they die. You will collect the dead fish by pail loads. This is the result after the black disease attacked.
Is it curable? How?

Oh! Yes, you can save your fish. You will help your fish to fight the virus.
Nothing you can do to the virus but the fish can. They will fight them. You must help your fish while they are fighting the virus. What you can help your fish is to stop the secondary infections from attacking the fish such as parasites and bacteria. Parasites and bacteria attack discus infected with black disease.
The slime or mucus is best for cultivating the bacteria. You must help the fish to get rid of these to reduce the growth of bacteria. Stop multiplying the bacteria. Allow your fish to concentrate on dealing with the virus and you help to kill and drive away the bacteria.
Anything that can kill parasites and bacteria can be use, provided the fish can tolerate. Medications found useful are Potassium permanganate, tetracycline, Formalin, Oxytetracycline and many others. Proper application and dosages of the medication above is crucial to achieve successful treatment. Most common mistake that fish keepers make is the poor decisions on medication and dosages
It will take 5 to 10 days for the battle between fish and virus. When your fish has overcome the virus problem, he will now divert his target to bacteria and parasites. You will apply more antibiotic for your fish. Once recovered, they will have antibody and immunity to this virus. They will grow; have no fear to this virus - called Black Disease.

from http://www.clcdiscus.com/Discus-Black-Disease.html

This sounds like what you have all the best hope u get the problem solved. once again i know nothing about discus but i know how to search for what you need

Just like all the others said and i will echo what they said get hold of the prof ASAP

 

Guys, its John's dad here. I checked the water. Nitrates and everything is perfect. Water changes we do with 50/50 RO and tap water treated with Aqua safe. We added no fish but did get live food on saturday (baby guppies) for the Black ghost. Gosh *€$(@[!! I hope it aint what Snyper suggested! We have been so so so diligent with these fish!

 

Is this only happening in your 4ft or both your Discus tanks?

 

JohnJ and JohnJ's dad... Sometimes viruses and bacteria come from nowhere and there is no way you can pinpoint their origin ESPECIALLY if it's airborne. I'm a vet student and you can get dogs with viruses where it is a perfectly isolated case. There is only so much you can do in the way of sterility and even though you do everything, something can still go haywire. If you have been diligent as you say then you shouldn't beat yourself up about it. It happens to the best of fish-keepers.

 

The fish seem extremely petrified! I have just noticed a fluff like growth on some off them, on the fin on theirback, whats that dorsal fin? I'm sorry guys but right now i feel hysterical!

 

Sho... I've never even heard of something like this... If there is "fluff" growing on them, it is a fungal infection of some kind. I'm not sure about them going black, but that could be a stress reaction to something. Did the power go off at all? A drop in temp can cause this, but I'm not sure about the stuff dripping off them.

Could you take pictures of the fish and upload them so we can get a good look at the fish? It would help us determine what is wrong.

 

Pics would def help the sooner we can help u find a solution the better for ur fish and for you

 

JohnJ, FIRSTLY calm down! I have just gone through this. It is vital that you not do anything to further stress your fish. I had this exact problem and prof Dirk helped me. Firstly turn your aquarium light off. This will make things darker and set them a little more at ease. Raise your temp to 30C. Its only 1C but they will probably be a tiny bit happier.

 

The light is off. For now this is only in the 4ft tank. What could this be? Marco, its damn difficult to stay calm thank you very much!

 

Did you get hold of Prof Dirk John?

 

No I didnt. I went to the guys I bought the fish from and they assured me that Waterlife Myxazin and regular water changes WILL sort out the problem. I have added this to both tanks as ven some of the fish in the 6 foot tank also seem affected now. Thank you

 

Johnj, what are you saying here?

 

Hi John. Honestly, you should've just spoken to Prof Dirk first. Myxazin contains Acriflavine which, as the Prof explained to me is hard on Discus. Apart from that I'm not sure its going to work. If you have the same problem I had then an anti-biotic is needed. But its done now. I really suggest you get hold of Prof. These are your fish so you should do what you think best though. Good luck.

 

I would advise against the water changes, as this stresses the fish even further. First find out what the actual problem is and then take action! I know it's difficult, but not doing it this way would put undue stress on the fish and may be what kills them in the end. Personally, I don't think that waterlife is the best stuff around for treating fish, but that's just my opinion. I'd prefer the Sera, and Seachem stuff. But, that's just preference.

I hope your discus survive this. Also, make sure you have enough aeration in your tank. Medications are known to deplete Oxygen in the water and especially if the water is at such high temps. The higher the temp, the less O2 in the water as it is... Add another air pump to the tank if you haven't got one going already!

Good luck guys...

 

i.M KEEPING THE tANK AT 29c. If what you say MArco is correct, it would surprise me because why would they put ingredients into a Medication if it is harmfull to the fish. All I'm trying to do here is figure out the best way to save my fish. Everyone I speak to has a different opinion and who should I listen to? Its impossible from where I stand to decide who is right and who is wrong, as I am certain I do not have the knowledge to properly deal with this. I made a decision on medication based on a business owners judgement who deals with this on a daily basis. I'm not saying "the Prof" would be wrong or anyone else, but in the meantime my fish could die, so I felt I had to take action. I just hope it all works out. Thanks for everyone's advise.

 

Pls whatever you do dont mix meds ever this is lethal for the fish. I really hope they get better all the best