Quarantine(hex)(RIP)

[chris]

Hi I have a really nice looking Goldern Crystal, Shes not been happy for a few weeks now she on pecks at her food, infact from an active eater to a poor eater she will only peck at BH. Her colour is great still, fins flared
Her poo is white.
I have seen tapeworms before these are not tape worms.
She seems to breathe very slow, her gills dont flare half as much as the others but there not closed.

Water parameters
Slight traces of amonia
0 nitrates
0 nitrites
Ph sits around 6.0
every other fish is very happy.
I think I might treat with Prazi by herself in my quarantine tank.
But im not sure if im treating for the right thing.
My LFS said they might be normal worms?

[mistakes r crucial]

Discus going off their food coupled with white feces could be a flagellate such as Hex or Capillaria, a type of nematode worm. In my experience it is doubtful Prazi will permanently fix either of the above problems. If it were my fish I would seek the advice of a vet and then treat it. If you have other Discus/fish in the tank you may want to consider treating all fish as Hex and Capillaria are easily transferred from one fish to another.
MAC

[wild_amazon]

I am treating my discus in QT with Prazi now. If I am going to place them in a bigger tank after Q period do I need to treat all the fish (not discus) in that tank with Prazi too. I have tetras, plecos and rainbow.

[chris]

Ok treating for Hex, how do I do that
Can someone please give me some more info, on this topic.
Cheers Chris

[mistakes r crucial]

Chris,

Treating fish for suspected problems as opposed to definite problems is not something I would do. The drugs you have to use to eliminate some of these issues are very stong and can really knock your fish around. Again, my advice would be to seek professional help, establish a cause and then treat them.

MAC

[chris]

Thanks for the advice Mac, Ive had discus for only 15months now and have only ever wormed my guys. Now I know getting a vets opinion would be great but I dont think im at that stadge yet. Im sure plenty of people out there would have come across what my golderns got at the moment. Im sure with the advice I could get from here or my LFS could help me overcome this problem.

[Merrilyn]

Hi Chris, It sounds to me like your fish has a case of hexemita, or hole in the head. Fish with this disease show symptoms of not eating and the white jelly like poo that you mentioned.

Now, there are some pretty nasty strains of bugs around now, and quite a few of them are resistant to our normal medications, and may well need something stronger. However, I would begin with Metro, and see what results you get from that. There is more information available here:-

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2475

Hopefully, that will do the trick, and you won't need anything stronger.

[chris]

Thanks Ladyred and Mac for your valuable advise I am treating for Hex from advice from my LFS, who has had a fair bit of experience with Hex, It sounds like my recent poor water quality was the Major contributer to this infection.
Have you guys got any pointers
My goldern has been of her food for 3 weeks now and has lost some colour.
Tommorrow She Is getting her first Dose.
In my Quarintine tank.

[leanne31]

Just curious Chris where did you get your medication from for hex I tried to get some a few months back and no one would give it to me, Rod Lewis ended up posting me some down. Did you get metro

Leanne

[chris]

Well I have given my goldern her first does of Metro, she seems to be doing fine. With in two hours she has already let go one big white poo.
What other signs do I look for
I havent tried to feed her today.
should I tommorrow

I was talking to my LFS owner and Ive told him of my recent water problem, high nitrates and nitrites. He brought it to my attention that my Hex outbreak could be because of
1-I had a black out for 5 hours, all the bacteria could have died.
Then my tank started to cycle again
2-I recently tried live black worms on my discus they loved it.
3-They already had them lying dorment.

Oh and leanne I got my vets advice and he perscribed them for me.