Help! New member - Discus displaying illness

[scooby]

Hi,
I just acquired three discus about 1 week ago one of them is displaying darkening of skin together with white patches and fins are not in good health. Please see photo below:

I have used a test strip 6 in 1 and everything seems normal.

The other fishes (including the other two discus) are pushing it around.

What do I do and what could the illness be?

Thanks








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[scooby]

more pics

[Hollowman]

I really hope you never spent much money on that fish. It was a cull before you got it and was obviously very sick before you got it. I would get some clove oil and put the poor thing out of it's misery right now.

I am not being hard, but humane. You were conned by whoever you bought it from. Demand your money back.

H :cry:

[Hollowman]

I would also recommend that you get some liquid test kits. The strip ones are not accurate because they all leech into eachother.

Can you tell us what conditiond you are keeping them in? Planted tank? Bare bottom? tankmates? water change regime? etc etc

[scooby]

Thanks for your quick reply.

Tank conditions
Planted tank
28oC
Ph 6.8 to 7.0
water change 1 or 2 weekly
External filter ehiem 2213
2 small angel fish,2 otocinclus,2ancistrus, 1 clown

but what do you recomend the disease is? show I use white spot treatment? can it spread to the other fishes/discus?

[Hollowman]

Scooby,

I am sorry t osay that I think the fish has already gone too far to be saved. Thats why I recommended the clove oil, it will send it to sleep, until it passes. I can give you instruction on that if you like.

My initial observation of the fish still stands. It was terribly ill before you got it. They dont go downhill like that so quickly.
The fish is a very poor fish, not only is it sick, but it is very stunted, malnourished, and in poor condition.
As you are new to discus, I'll guess you never did any research into what to look for in a healthy fish. I expect you got it from a local shop, where they notoriously sell fish that should have been culled, but sell to unsuspecting aquarists for silly money. I don't blame you, but I do blame the seller. It happens so many times.

Pm me if you like for info on clove oil

[lpiasente]

Scooby I am so sorry for you that you got a fish in such poor condition and very sorry for the fish that someone has let it get to such a poor state of health. Hollowman is right there is not much hope for this poor little guy. Can you post pics of the other 2 fish.

[Hollowman]

Scooby I am so sorry for you that you got a fish in such poor condition and very sorry for the fish that someone has let it get to such a poor state of health. Hollowman is right there is not much hope for this poor little guy. Can you post pics of the other 2 fish.

yes, I forgot the others, please post pics, I can't imagine they will be much better tbh, but we will help if we can.

[scooby]

I still haven't seen this one eat I am concerned

[scooby]

this one looks and eats fine and very friendly follows me around :D

[bartek]

Agree with the others. You should put the poor thing out of its misery.

Also get some proper test kits. The strips are only good for a rough indication at best.

[lpiasente]

I am myself only quite new to discus but these are some questions that will need to be answered to help het those poor little fish in tip top condition.
What are you feeding them
How many times a day are you feeding them
How many water changes are you doing a week and how much.

[Hollowman]

I seem to be the bearer of bad news :cry: The first fish is a Marlboro, but a very very low quality fish. It is stunted and heavily peppered (back spots over the body) the second fish is also in the same category, but worse imo.
I am sorry that your discus experience so far has been a bad one, I get so annoyed at sellers making a quick buck by conning unassuming people who think they are getting good fish. :evil:

The fact that the first fish is not eating can be down to a couple of things, it could be worms or the fact that it is not settled into it's new home yet. If it is worms, you can treat the fish with Levamisole and Praziquantel.

The term 'stunted' that I use is the way we describe a fish that has been raised in it's early life in such a way that it has distorted and affected it's growth rate. The common signs, as you can see from all of the fish you have are
1, Big Eyes, unproportional to the body.
2, Rugby ball shape.

I explained this in another thread and made a couple of pictures showing the eye size of a stunted fish, and a high quality fish.
Look here: http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=139395#139395

The second fish is a type of Marlboro, but very poor, mishaped and stunted. Can I ask how much you paid for them and what they were sold as?
To sum up, you can treat for worms to try to get them to eat, again, but they will never grow to be the type of fish that you see here from the experts. The only hope is that they pull through with good care and have a reasonable quality of life.

For your information Scooby, take a read of this thread: http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17743&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0
Take a look at the last page to see 14 week old fish, they are not stunted and have great shape, look at the eye size too.

H

[scooby]

Hi, all ,thanks again im learning more in 1 day erethan what ive read in books!
Thats an excellent way to describe the Bib Eye in your pics , i c what u mean,so what does those black peppered back spots mean, that its not from a good breed?
The 1 thats really bad" only "cost me £14.50, i thought it was strange but being naive i thought it was because of its smaller size! :oops: ,the other 2 were £20.00 & £25.00 they said they were reduced & i thought it was c
ause they had just brought in new discus & they were short on space :x .
I,ve just ordered a digital ph thermometer as ive got a stirp & liquid test & they both give me different readings strip 6.4 liquid 6.8 to 7.0.
Im feeding them frozen bloodworms 2ice a day , sometimes frozen special mix, water change 1 to 2 times a week about 15% a go.
Thanks again

[Hollowman]

Scooby, are you in the UK?

[scooby]

No, Gibraltar.

[Hollowman]

Scoob,
you need to up your water changes to at least 30% 3 times a week.

[ILLUSN]

your going to have problems with your 2 pigions in a planted tank, with excellent water and regular feeds you could turn them around, your turk is just way too far gone.

are your 2 pigions eating? if so try and get them onto a high protein moderate fat diet like beefheart mix or freeze dried worms, you can supliment with a high quality flake or granual but try and make the beefheart mix the bulk of the diet.

try and reduce the ammount of frozen bloodworm the exoskeletons are very hard for the fish to digest.

[scooby]

Hi, thanks,
I haven't seen the brighter pigion eat yet, but at feeding time it follows the others to were the food is but does not eat as if it doesn't see the food it goes past it!, the other eats with no problems even from my hand, even the turk was eating untill my last feeding.
I'm also feeding them tubifex & tetra diskus but i don't think they like the tubifex too much.

[Hollowman]

NEVER feed Tubifex :shock:

[scooby]

Hi,
whats wrong with tubifex :? is it bad for discus only or any fish?

[Hollowman]

Because of the way it is grown it inherently harbours disease. The worms are grown in stagnent water, no discus keeper I know feeds or risks feeding them.

:wink: