I NEED UR URGENT HELP! DISCUS PLAGUE

[albatrozz]

i have discus plague which broke out i think from my red melon, i am not sure how it got the disease but i know it because he had started to rot his fins and white slimy stuff was peeling off of it. 2 days after i noticed ALL my discus now have it and their find are starting to go white and rot. Only 2 of the 10 discus are eating. Rest are in the corner just breathing and peeling i guess . Help me out, what should i do, move them to another tank? i have a medication for white spot/velvet/fungal diseases for fish, should i use that? it contains methy blue and malachite green.
btw my red melon is in a seperate bucket. it has gone from bright red to white its completely lost its color and can barely swim. please help!

[samir]

there are a lot of posts regarding discus plague, give them a read, before that throw your white spot medication away. get yourself some metro and potassium permanganate.

[albatrozz]

just read. But i am kinda confused between discus plague and hex as if discus are shedding a white slime thing, its also a symptom of hex?

my red melon (the carrier of the disease) has just passed away. I will post pics very soon.

[Barry N]

Hey Albatrozz,

Sorry to hear about the outbreak Dosing as Samir described is the way to go.

Question though on the tank they are/were in = what sort of filtration and water changes do you do? Reason - I was away with work and missed 3 x weeks a couple of years ago and got the same symptoms. I fixed with PP and HEAPS of water changes. One red melon lost just about all of his fins - he's now looking like it never happened. I find water chemistry can be a catalyst for 'plague' or hex.

[albatrozz]

I have an established canister filter and a sponge filter in my tank. Ammonia in the water was always slightly above zero even though i do 40% water changes every 2-3days. I found the cause to be my gravel as it was way too thick and when i removed it this morning the whole aquarium was filled with dirt/poop/dead plant material. But i think my melon caught it from my 2 clown loaches which i had about 3 months ago. I still remember the day i found them dead in the corner, their corpse was shedding the exact same white slime. Im really confused though of how it broke out so quickly. Now all my discus are affected, im just praying that theyll survive.

[Barry N]

Don't think that Discus Plague (specific) will come from the Clown Loaches. Will leave the techinicality of this to some of the other more experienced among us...the ammonia in the tank and water conditions is the culprit.
Ammonia above zero - definite problem - Should always be 0. With a planted tank it's important to gravel clean evry coupl e of water changes otherwise the buildup of detrius is going to be a killer - literally. You say ouy've removed the graveel out - if so, leave it bare bottom and treat the fish. Daily water changes (big ones) and keep them up.
Filtartation and water changes sound Ok, are you overfeeding and not getting rid of the left overs? Leftover food is a no no as I have found out myslef in the past. Now i have 20 corys and BN's to take care of that!

Wait for some answers on treatment from the others then work on water chemistry - get than ammonia to 0.

Good Luck

[ILLUSN]

albertroz, get yourself a hospital tank, ph down to 5.0, give a good water change.

get to a vet, get METRO!!!! dose as per the sticky 25mg/L, you'll need a lot it will cost you.

treat as per the sticky first, then once they start eating medicate the food, 1g/100g, daily or even better 2x daily changes of 90% keep it up for a solid 2 weeks, then 1 good change a day for another 2 weeks.

again, bare bottom hospital tank with airstone (dont bother with a filter) heater set at 30C. ph 5.0,
metro at 25mg/L, a tspsalt/20L doesn't hurt either.

[nicholas76]

not a disease expert but this sounds like nasty velvet dont it illusion?

[ILLUSN]

not a disease expert but this sounds like nasty velvet dont it illusion?

dont think so mate, he would have seen "gold dust" look to the fish if it were velvet, its nice and easy to see on a black discus.

fin rot plus shedding of slime sounds more like plague to me.

albatrozz have the fish recovered?

[albatrozz]

yea most have. seems to be just external bacterial infections and fin rot. treated it with some tablets for them and the rotting healed but 2 discus are still in the back corner, not eating, they can barely stay upright (for some reason they cant balance themselves) and they are PITCH black .... i dont know whats wrong with them but im suspecting internal parasites. they are not rotting so that must be it... im getting prazi tablets tomorrow hopefully they'll last the night