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  1. #11
    Medium Discus
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Adelaide Australia
    Posts
    615
    Im starting to dread getting up and looking at my fish as my last two clown loaches died over night and my discus still arent better. A couple of them are dark and 5 out of the 8 are only breathing out of one gill. I did another 50% wc this morning and i disconnected the canister antil they are better. When I did a wc I wiped the inside of the glass and it had a white powder like substance on it obviously from the balls I put in the bottom of the canister its this that's probably blocking one of their gills, i've added another airstone and turned the light off this is just so upsetting that this is something that I have done to them.

    Leanne

  2. #12
    Moderator
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Gold Coast QLD Australia
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    2,971
    u cant blame yourself too bad leanne. we all experience this through out keeping discus. atleast now you know and you WONT do it again because you have seen results.

    just keep up the water changes, salt and keep the canister off until further notice. otherwise that is all you can do.
    DF.com Resident Cool Guy

  3. #13
    Larvae
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Adelaide
    Posts
    193
    Leanne
    hang in there, you know that discus are tough little buggers and yours were really healthy to start with.
    What concerns me is the tank has gravel on the bottom, the white powder will be in the gravel, if you clean it the powder may cloud the water causing the discus more gill problems. What do others think??? However if you leave it they will pick at the bottom and thus inhale it.
    A no win situation.
    Could you put the discus in a small tank, clean the gravel and run the filter for a few hours before putting them back.

  4. #14
    Wrigglers
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
    Posts
    264
    Leanne.

    Given that your fish are breathing from one gill, I wonder if you have a concurrent gill fluke problem which may have bloomed due to stress? - especially if there have been additions to your tank in the last week or so.
    You might like to run this by Ladyred - she seems to know a lot & I have found her advice to be pretty good.

  5. #15
    Medium Discus
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Adelaide Australia
    Posts
    615
    Thanks for that Bill but I'm almost pretty sure the gills are just blocked form all the white powdery substance that the canister threw out. I did another wc and added about 150g of rock salt to my tank on advice from my lfs and since then I now only have 3 fish (the smallest 3) that are still breathing from one gill and unwell the other 5 are just about 90% better, swimming around and eating well. I put the salt in a pile and it dissolved and tiny little bubbles rose and the discus went and sat above it and shaked like dogs in it, it was really weird but it looks like it may of helped them. Merrilyn should I still do 50% wc twice daily or reduce that, I havent vac the gravel yet didnt want to stir things up just yet may do little bits at a time from tomorrow. thanks for your help everyone.

    Leanne

  6. #16
    Eternal Moderator Merrilyn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Melbourne Vic.
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    8,692
    I wonder what that white stuff was, in the filter. Maybe a call to the manufacturer or distributor might help to clear it up. At the very least, it's some kind of gill irritant, and at the worst, it's a kind of toxin.

    Leanne, I'd try to vac the gravel without tossing it around too much. If you get clouds of white stuff swirling up, then the only thing to do, is to put all the fish in a holding tank of some kind (even a new garbage bin will do) and tear the whole tank down and scrub everything, gravel included.

    Sorry, I know it's going to be a huge job. Wish I could be of more help.
    Thirty-five years keeping and breeding discus, and I'm still learning :P

    Merrilyn has passed, but will not be forgotten - Goodbye dear friend

  7. #17
    Medium Discus
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Adelaide Australia
    Posts
    615
    I bought a pro aqua CF -1000 canister filter and it came with round sand like balls in the bottom of it sorry Im not very sure on what they are actually called. When I ended up disconnecting the filter some of the balls had disintegrated into powder I rubbed a couple together and and it felt like really fine sand. So you could imagine I didnt even rinse these balls or the filter for that matter so this powder was getting flushed around my whole aquarium all afternoon and night antil I noticed it in the morning, I dont think it would of been toxic or they wouldnt surely of packed it in the filter but as i didnt rinse it it must of clogged up there gills. With the addition of the rock salt today I still have one which isnt breathing properly but still swimming and eating and 2 that arent breathing properly, quite dark and arent eating or swimming around etc these 2 are the smallest and probably cant handle it as much. But cross fingers so far have only lost 3 clown loaches and a flying fox but 1 of my bn is still not accounted for either.

    Leanne

  8. #18
    Wrigglers
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
    Posts
    264
    Glad to hear about the improvement.

    Why not ditch the contents of your canister filter alotgether. I have used biomax ceramic filter media in the past with good effect (always wash it first before use). The purpose of these products is to provide a large surface are for useful bacteria to colonise. Once established they do a marvelous job of converting ammonium to nitrite to nitrate (I think I got that sequence right).

    I run a couple of eheim external canister filters. Bottom half of the canister has ceramic filter media, then a large course sponge, then another lot of ceramic media, then a fine filter mat, and the option of a carbon mat which does a great job of removing pollutants.

  9. #19
    Medium Discus
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Adelaide Australia
    Posts
    615
    Thanks for that Bill I did chuck those little balls actually with great force out the back door I replaced them with charcoal and have reduced wc down to 50% daily not twice. Considering my tank is established with gravel, rocks, plants, driftwood,a ship and a internal filter I probably didnt even need those balls in the filter as my tank must of been riddled with good bacteria anyway but oh well. This morning my fish are much happier ALL are breathing with both gills, only one remains a little dark and not totally happy. They're begging for food when I walk in so they have to be feeling better.

    Leanne

  10. #20
    Larvae
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Adelaide
    Posts
    193
    Leanne, those balls should not be breaking down when you rub them together. After they have been washed well, nothing should be coming off them. Dont use them, I would also email age of aquarums and tell them about your problems. Other people that buy that filter could have similar problems. I have balls, noodles and some kind of rocks in my filters (depending on who made the filter) but none break down or crumble.
    PS I gave the babies some black worms, two of them had an end each and were shaking around looked like dogs with a bone. They are just so cute.

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