Discus has gone crazy, (UPDATE, shes starting to recover!)

[Nathan]

ive been away this week, an the female of my breeding pair has gotten quite sick, we worked it out havn flukes, so weve been treating her with a paricide, theres been a big improvment however she keeps going completely nuts, water all over the floor an has even moved the heater.

shes got dorsal fin damaga, i havnt had the lights on all week, there is light in the room just not the tank light.

ph 6.8
ammo 0
nitrites/nitrates 0
temp 29-30

is there anything else i can do, its making me sooo worried an i just want her to be better again. im really scared that she'll end up killing herself, the medication has made an improvment.

please help

[samir]

what medication are you using ???

[Nathan]

its aqua master para-cide used for controlling external parasites such as body an gill flukes, it contains trichlorfon, im not sure what it is but it may help you guys recognise the medication.

i have some prazi would that be better?

[Dee]

Hi Nathan,

Sorry to hear about the troubles you are having mate

A couple of questions ---

1. What symptoms was the fish showing BEFORE medication ?

2. Was the fish freaking out prior to medication or only after ?

3. What exact medication are you using ? Please list active ingredients.

4. How was this tank cycled ?

5. Where any WC's done whilst you where away ?

You also mentioned in your post that your water specs show no nitrItes and no NitrAtes. A properly cycled tank will show some reading for nitrAtes, even if it is low. Can you please recheck your water specs and post?


From the limited info provided I would say these things come to mind -

1. There is a water quality issue.

2. It's and adverse reaction to the meds used. Some meds are more potent/toxic at varying water specs ... ie temp and GH/KH.

3. Serious external infection of some sort.

With out knowing the symptoms prior to medications it's a hard call. Discus, from my experience, mainly react like that when waters specs are out of wack, if there is toxins in the water or have serious external probs.

Please let us know the above questions and hopefully one of us will be able to help

All the best with getting her back on track mate.

Cheers,

Dee.

[Dee]

its aqua master para-cide used for controlling external parasites such as body an gill flukes, it contains trichlorfon, im not sure what it is but it may help you guys recognise the medication.

i have some prazi would that be better?

Hi Nathan,

From memory Trichlorfon is most effective @25c. I think Trichlorfon is more toxic or unstable at higher temps. This may be making the fish jumpy, how long have you been treating with Para-cide ?

cheers,

Dee.

[nicholas76]

Nathan,

just checking your not treating it in your big planted tank are you?


also how did you diagnose it?? smells like LFS diagnosis

[Nathan]

i wasnt there so im not 100% sure what the symptons were, so mum did go to the LFS for help. but as far as i know

she was lying on her side
clamped a bit
thats all i know

the fish were freakin out a bit before but not like this, theyd just get a bit of a fright but that was it

the active ingrediant is trichlorfon, doesnt say what else is in it

i made sure the tank was completely cycled, i used amtrite down (a bacterial additive) also had fish in there, also added a mature HOB filter, an did weekly w/c with mature water. i added the discus after about 5 weeks from when i started cycling the tank.

there was one done an then mum started medicating them an said not to do wc whilst using this medicene.

ill check the nitrites an nitrates tomorrow for u.

no nick its my BB tank, ive been pretty lucky with the planted tank ive never had any problems, except now my bloody powerhead broke while i was away for the co2 so the plants arent lookin great, o well im more concerned about the female.

as i said i wasnt here so mum went to the LFS with the symptons, she doesnt kno a whole lot about fish but i gotta love her she looked after all the w/c an things whilst i was away.

anyway ill post the exact water specs tomorrow, however i dont have a gh/kh test kit.

thanx again for your help

[samir]

i suggest getting the medication out of the water, clamped and lying on side is imo a water issue. how did you come up with the flukes diagnosis ? were they rubbing against stuff ? i'd do an immediate 50% water change and filter with activated charcoal to hopefully get whatever's bugging it out of the water.

[Nathan]

yea the female constantly scratched up against stuff, shes even got cuts from doing so.

is activated charcoal same as activated carbon?

[samir]

yes. its better to use prazi for flukes.