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Thread: Fluke?

  1. #1

    Exclamation Fluke?

    Hi all,
    I have a young discus that is breathing fast and its seems as though one gill in clamped closed and the other one is working very fast. What is wrong with him? He is happy and swimming with the others and eating well though. I already have another young one in QT tank being treated for fluke the past few days. Is fluke contagious? Should i salt dip this little one?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxZCEmK-6jM
    Last edited by Sabrina; Mon Oct 31, 2016 at 07:22 AM.

  2. #2
    Wrigglers
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    Hi Sabrina;
    Discus especially under 6-7 month old can get fluke ,i have had success both with salt bath and potassium permanganate pp both ,there stickies under disease section in here ,just make sure that fast breading is not due to spike in nitrite or ammonia and you have plenty of oxygen ,i personally found the above two method better than praziquntel or strazin .90 % of the tanks have fluke and most discus has fluke it only becomes problematic when their number increases and it restricts breathing .once the discus becomes adults they generally can manage the flukes .HTH
    SAYID

  3. #3
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    Could be flukes, could be water quality. Is the fish behaving strangely? flashing, rubbing on things. Flukes are a little parasite that hook themselves onto the fish, they will be in the skin and gills causing clamping and closing/breathing through on side. Flukes will be present in most fish you get, but sometimes lack of good conditions can make them multiply. Keeping your tank really clean is paramount now. When you do a water change, wipe all the sides down, (glass) if you run your finger over and it feels slimy they need wiping.

    As for treatment, salt dips can work. There are other treatments, but salt is easier as well as really clean conditions and good water.
    Why me ?

  4. #4
    Hi guys,
    I noticed this little one after i had done a 60 liter water change on the main tank, i forgot to mention that yesterday.. I also forgot to grab some water from the tank this morning to test before i fed them, so i have to wait until tonight before i can test the water.. What is flashing? The little one is showing no strange signs but the few bigger discus i have noticed they sometimes skim off the plants. Maybe i am over feeding them, i feed 4 times a day.

  5. #5
    Wrigglers
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    Hi Sabrina;
    Flashing is when the fish rub themselves against objects in the tank ,they actually try to detached flukes from their skin or gills ,i would go with Steve 's advice regarding general house keeping of the tank but the difficulty in your case is that you have got the plants and gravels /sand and various decors which is aesthetic but difficult to keep clean ,the other problem is that the discus you buy are from LFS which are the runts of the breeders and normally would be culled ,these fish are prone to different disease despite your good effort so don't be hard on yourself .I also think you are right regarding your over feeding ,i would feed them 4 times a day like you do but half the amount ,that will help your water quality as well.
    sayid

  6. #6
    Thank you Sayid, i have taken all the decor out of the tank a week ago, there is only plants and driftwood in there now.. I just tested the water, i think its been about 3 hours since i fed them last.. 7.0 PH, 7.4 High Range PH, 0.25 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 10 Nitrate, 53.7 KH and 179 GH... Now i dont know whats happened to the PH as it was 7.6 one week ago? Also i think the ammonia is from foods. I will test again in the morning before feeding.

  7. #7
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    Sayid is right, half the feeding. Feeding so much, I would expect at least 50% falls into the gravel and rots. This would give you your ammonia reading which you must address immediately, also not good for the fish. Keeping it clean is so important, specially as younsay the fish are rubbing(flashing) themselves on objects in the tank. Parasites cause them to itch, you need to wipe down the glass as I said before and really clean well.
    Why me ?

  8. #8
    Thanks Steve, Im trying not to feed as much and im about to do another water change of about 50L.. I scrubbed the walls of the tank with the magnet cleaner, they came up well with no slime on the glass now.

  9. #9
    I ended up doing a 50% water change, i had noticed a few little snails that came on the plants weeks ago, id been picking them out as i saw them, well i moved the driftwood to vacuum and by god there were at least 50 or more of them under the wood, some dead most alive! So i quickly pulled the wood out and ran it under hot water to get rid of them, then i scooped up as many as i could from the sand in the tank. Would these snails have brought parasites into the tank?? I might have missed 1 or too, some are tiny baby snails

  10. #10
    Wrigglers
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    some people don't mind them ,i personally don't like them ,yes they can bring parasite with them they can also spike your ammonia if lots of them die and you discover it a bit late , you can't get read of them by picking them , praziquantel kills them for good . HTH
    SAYID

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