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

[goldenpigeon]

an update for today

well i have just made up this mornings batch of food (with metro in it) and all the fish are eating it now! even the ones that were quite sick!

i still have not lost a single fish and all are recovering well.

i am now taking the approach to water changes a little differently. because so many fish are not producing mucus (excess) now the water is 70% clearer after around 9-12 hours. so i am now trialling doing 1x 150% w/c on the first day and 2 100% w/c on the second day.

because i only have air stones running none of they debris is captured and contained so what i do is do the first siphon of 90%, top up to 50%. then i have a spare 2000Lph internal filter which i put in the tank for around 20 minutes and it pickes up all the debris. the tank i am using for the treatment is 150 odd litres. i have 2 pipes i use for water changes on my tanks. they can both be connected to siphon my 6fter, or the shorter one i use for this tank i am using for treatment as it is closer to the door. i just hook up the filter to the smaller pipe and it delivers the water back into the tank * but it is delivered with less force because the head height on the pump is 2.2m and the pipe is 5m. the fish dont get stressed and it does a great job. this also helps to conserve metro as it is quite expensive.

i will get some pictures so it is easier to understand when i do the next water change.

if anyone is wondering how i make the food up ill give you a quick explanation.

i get around 5mL of water in a medicine cup. put half a tablet of metro in and about 8-10mL of breeders premium discus food. you can use tetra bits or what ever dry food you use for discus. simply put the food in the dissolved metro and let it soak. this doesnt take long and metro isnt very soluable (spelling) and sinks to the bottom of the med cup. every 30 secs or so give it a quick stir and mix the metro in. the food doesnt have to be soaking wet. it just has to contain the metro. hth

ill put some more pics up soon.

Ben i will talk to you soon mate and thank you everyone for your kind comments. i hope that my work pays off!

[goldfish]

what u have just posted is very useful to everyone GP,goodwork!
how u have described it and with the pictures is just excellent, i've just printed out this page to keep as a reference.
my fish went through a similar illness as yours, i didnt treat it with metro but with paracide, 6 fully recovered to grow huge now but 4 died!

[goldenpigeon]

hey gold fish,

thanx mate and glad i am able to help

i have noticed that fish that are badly affected with the disease kind of get a bit of a beaked forehead. correct me if im wrong but i think the diease rots away flesh and the fisnd. i think this could be due to the tissue between the eyes and mouth is soft and therefore succeptable to infection? fortunantly i got to them in time and only one has a little bit of a beak.

cheers
David

[Merrilyn]

That's a wonderful post David. Thankyou for documenting the disease so accurately. Discus plague is airborne and highly contagious, and it's common for every tank in the room to become infected, no matter how careful you are with nets and hoses to avoid cross-contamination.

Fortunately, due to good fish keeping practices, and careful observation, David was able to catch the disease early, and treatment has been successful. If treatment is delayed, the fish become weaker and deaths will occur.

With good care, the fish will recover fully, and the rotting fins will regrow. Interesting to note, that the fish are now immune from plague for the rest of their lives, although some may be carriers of the disease, and any new fish added to the tank, will need to observed carefully after introduction.

Good luck with the continued recovery of your fish David. You can be very proud of yourself for such a high recovery rate.

[Dave76]

Good to hear you're on top of things & things are going well - fantastic informative post

Dave

[sammigold]

Wonderful Post GP.... I wish you continuing good luck with your discus... you seem to have done a fantastic job!!!!!

[goldenpigeon]

thanx for the nice comments guys

well i have a little bad news:

last night one of my golden pigeons sadly passed away. however he was quite bad to strat off with. probably the most affected fish. anyway i was able to keep him alive for over a week and im happy with that atleast

the rest of the fish are doing well and i have found that if you can catch it early while the fish will still eat they have a VERY high chance of survival.... if not well its a little more complicated.

i have finally gotten all my fish to eat now

ill keep u guys updated

[anti-generic]

if only you could have posted this 4 months ago
then i might be able to keep some of my old fish

But none the less..
this a great post.
a must read for anyone keeping discus

Great work
GP

Reagrds,
Eric

[goldenpigeon]

hey guys!

sorry i havnt been here to update until now. i am very busy these days.

anyways here is the update on the progress they have made.

all the fish have recovered very very well now. i only lost 1 fish to the plague sadly but that definetly beats loosing half of them.

THERE IS EVEN SOME BREEDING ACTIVITY GOING ON!!!!!!

i am pleased i can now get back to the normal schedule lol this excercise had really mad me tired

i hope this post has been helpful to everyone and a big thank u to merrilyn and all of you for your support

cheers guys

[marg]

Fantastic news David. Glad all the rest made it o.k..

Your description of the plague and your method of treatment was really informative.

Hope you get some new babies soon.

Marg.