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  1. #1
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    DISCUS PLAGUE - treatment and photo's of fish UPDATED!!!!!!!

    Hey everyone,

    Well recently my discus fell sick with DISCUS PLAGUE!!!!! So i decided to make this post so that other with fish that have this disease can identify it and treat the disease.

    Firstly here is my situation:

    On around Sunday 23-10-05 i noticed that my DISCUS where looking quite dark and were hiding togeather on the corners of the tank bottom and top. The discus were a bit slimey (white slime) on their bodies and breathing a little fast (not rapidly thoagh). Ocassionally i would see one of the discus flick up against a plant or bit of driftwood in the tank.

    This was VERY odd because i keep my tanks in excellent condition. Then i noticed that all the discus spread across 3 tanks had the same symptoms. I noticed that the young discus I have in a 2ft tank were affected first. Only the same night all the tanks fell sick.

    I had done large water changes two days before as normal and had done nothing different from what i usually did in the past months. Imediatly i did large water changes on all the tanks and used seachem prime which i had bought a day earlier to dechlorinate the water. Prime removes chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, detoxifies nitrate and nitrite and replaces the slime coat on fish. Thinking something had come in on the water in the last change i did a very large water change and dosed up on the prime to hopefully clear the tank water.

    The next morning the fish hadn't gotten any better..... they had gotten WORSE!!! and a new symptom. Their fins had started to rot!
    Imediately i went to the fabulouse Ladyred hoping to get an answer... i got one... it wasnt what i was after.... my discus had discus plague!!!!

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Here are some symptoms to look out for:

    - discus hiding in corners near bottom and top of tank
    - discus have white slime all over their bodies (like webbing)
    - fins look like they are rotting
    - very dark in colour
    - gasping for air/ breathing faster than normal
    - flicking against objects in the tank

    here is one point that really caught my attention:

    NONE OF THE OTHER FISH IN THE TANK HAD DIED, WERE BREATHING HEAVILY, DARK, IN CORNERS OR ANY OF THE ABOVE SYMPTOMS... THEY WERE FINE....

    yet the discus were in such bad shape.


    *with the above point i am talking about my community tank*

    fish in the community tank included:

    angels, cory's, bristlenose, gibbiceps and tetras..... none were sick or had died

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Here is the treatment for this disease and some things you will need:

    - aquarium salt , and lots of it
    - what ever product you use to alter the ph down
    - a spare tank, you are going to put all your discus in here for treatment, this tank needs to be bare bottom
    - an air pump to airate the tank (no sponge filters just airstones to go with it)
    - heater
    - water aging drum
    -Metro (Metronidazole) tablets..... and lots of them.

    Metro is an antibiotic an will stop the fins rotting and keep the fishes slime coat in good order.

    Treatment Method:

    1. Assemble tank (bare bottom), air pump, heater and fill with aged water

    2. Dose the tank with metro at 250mg per 40L, add 1 teaspoon of salt per 40L of water( you could go to 2 pr 40L )

    3. Put the discus in the tank and slowly adjust the ph down to arund 5

    * bacteria in filters tend to die at this ph thats why i dont mention putting sponge filters in. the water gets VERY dirty but htee is nothing you can do except water change*

    4. Do 90% waterchanges morning and night using aged water from the water drum/bin. redose with metro.

    *I have been doing 90% water changes, topping the tank up to about 50% water then siphoning the water out again to get the water as clean as possible and so i dont overdose on metro. then filling up again.*

    REMEMBER TO HEAT THE WATER BEFORE PUTTING THE WATER INTO THE TANK!!

    5. Adjust the temperature to 30 degrees celsius... maximum 32 degrees.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Be as vigitant as possible and you will hopefully not loose a fish. The death rate from this disease is around 50%.

    here are some photo's of the fish with discus plague
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails visibility.jpg   slime.jpg  
    DF.com Resident Cool Guy

  2. #2
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    some of the discus
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails sik1.jpg   sik2.jpg   sik3.jpg  
    DF.com Resident Cool Guy

  3. #3
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    more
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails sick.jpg   sick4.jpg   slimey.jpg  
    DF.com Resident Cool Guy

  4. #4
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    some of the discus in their recovery

    i have not lost a single discus to the plague yet!
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails recovery1.jpg   recovery.jpg   recovering.jpg  
    DF.com Resident Cool Guy

  5. #5
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    here are some food prep pictures
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails foodprep.jpg   foodprep1.jpg   foodprep2.jpg  
    DF.com Resident Cool Guy

  6. #6
    Blue Diamond Discus
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    Sorry to hear you are having problems GP. Hope they get better soon.
    "True Friends are like Blue Diamonds, so Brilliant, Precious and Rare - Protect them while you can"

  7. #7
    Moderator Ben's Avatar
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    Hi David,
    I am extremely sorry to hear and see that your fish have been affected with this very nasty disease. Between such an enthusiastic young man and a very knowledgeable woman, Merrilyn. I believe you will be able to conquer the plague.

    I would personally like to thank you for the information you have posted up for me and others to see.

    Thanks again David and lease keep us posted as your fish recover.

    Ben

  8. #8
    Moderator Ben's Avatar
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    David,
    i have some spare metro i can donate to help you if you like. Let me know if you need more mate.

    cheers
    Ben

  9. #9
    Just an Egg
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    Yeah - real sorry to hear your having such problems - I would hate my tank to come down with something like that..I cant stand the thought of losig any of my Discus. I hope they all recover in record time. Quick question anyone - I have never had to use it but how much does Metro cost to puchase and it is only available from Veterinary Clinics.


    Regards
    Pete

  10. #10
    Larvae
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    Excellent post Big Dave
    OMG - don'get me started

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