Dead in 12 Hours

[slabba]

This morning I noticed one of my discus was not very well, he was dark and on his side with fast/heavy breathing. Unfortunately I don't have a hospital tank, the best I could do was a little seperation box net which I used for observation. I increased the temp to 32 and added salt. My other discus all seem fine and are eating well as with the rest of the fish in the tank, cardinals, corys, angels, rams and agassizis. Params of tank 6x2x2,
pH -6.7
GH -2
KH -2
NO2 -0
NH3/NH4 -0
Temp was 30-31 increase to 32
Last water change was on Sun, 25%.

In the twelve hours my observations were

1. On side constantly, would attempt to swim but had difficulty may have been semi paralysed?

2. Fast & Heavy breathing

3. Dark

4. Didn't see any poo, but there was a bit of something in the box net which I thought was too large to be poo? It was jelly like and cloudy.

5. Towards his end he developed a white patch on his abdomen which increased in size until his death.

Thinking it may be a blockage once dead I gently squeezed his abdomen and black poo came out?? Looked OK, didn't seem to be any blockage. Same colour as when healthy and as the other discus.

I'm worried what ever caused his death is contagious and what can I do about it.[/img]

[slabba]

This is the poor guy dead after 12 hours.

[Merrilyn]

So sorry to hear of the loss of your fish.

I've seen this before, in one of my own tanks, and it happened just as you described, but I was never able to find out just what it was.

I guess the good news is, that it only affected one fish in a five foot tank, containing around 20 other fish. None of the others ever showed any symptoms or were affected by the disease, or whatever it was. I wish I had more information for you.

Good luck with the rest of your fish.

[slabba]

Thanks Ladyred, I was hoping you would have more info for me, maybe something I did or didn't do as I am new with keeping discus. Anyhow a day later and no news is good news and alls well in my tank.

Thanks again.

[Merrilyn]

Slabba, as far as I can see, all your fish keeping practices are perfect.

I do believe that fish are prone to things like heart failure, liver cancer and various tumours. We may never know what happened to your fish, and I know that it's frustrating, but all you can do is keep up your good fishkeeping, and keep a wary eye out for any symptoms in your other fish. After 12 months I have never seen another case like that in any of my tanks, so I'm still at a loss too.

If anyone has any ideas what this might be, please feel free to add your comments.

This forum is for sharing knowledge and experience, so every piece of information is valuable.