One of my discus died a couple of days ago.
I suspected she had hole in the head, but it was difficult to tell because she had a kind of "dent" on the nose from day one, and that was six months ago. Also she was the most timid of the group and was hiding much of the time. In the last days it definitely became hole in the head and I was preparing to treat her, but he was still fairly lively and eating.
I had a massive death of java moss in the tank and relative nitrite spike and weakened by the illness she struggled for half a day, then I looked in the tank and she was dead.
I am considering getting another couple of discus to thicken the shoal as there are only 4 left and I'm going to "invest" in fully adult speciments (well... if I can afford them, we'll see). The reasoning is that mine are not adults yet, but fairly big, and introducing juveniles half their size is asking for trouble. Also adults are less maintenance.
Now for the problem: the male I am convinced was pairing up with the dead one is hanging at the back of the tank, dark and with white blotches with the scales raised. It looks as if the skin has detached and blistered. Also I think I am seeing the beginnings of hole in the head, but I could be just paranoid.
The other three look fine. Coloured up and roaming the tank even if a bit intimidated by the rams.
The one I suspect being ill isn't listless or inactive. He is (used to be at least) the top of the pecking order and is still bossing around the others if they approach, but he does seem to be reluctant to come out from the amazon sword. I sprinkled some food just above him, and he didn't eat any, but I'm not sure it is because he'd already eaten or if he was too intent on staring at me staring at him. I had fed the tank half an hour before that but didn't see who came out to eat (I know, very bad of me).
Before I order the new fish I'd like to make sure the tank is fine and that I won't add fish just for them to get ill.
I did a larger than usual (150 litres out of 400) water change on thursday evening (as soon as I could after I noticed the nitrite spike) and I did some water tests half an hour ago: Ammonia zero, NO2 zero, NO3 approximately 10ppm, ph approx 6.7
Water changes are half RO water and half dechlorinated tap water (measured approx 300ppm from the tap)
Do you have any advice?
I suspected she had hole in the head, but it was difficult to tell because she had a kind of "dent" on the nose from day one, and that was six months ago. Also she was the most timid of the group and was hiding much of the time. In the last days it definitely became hole in the head and I was preparing to treat her, but he was still fairly lively and eating.
I had a massive death of java moss in the tank and relative nitrite spike and weakened by the illness she struggled for half a day, then I looked in the tank and she was dead.
I am considering getting another couple of discus to thicken the shoal as there are only 4 left and I'm going to "invest" in fully adult speciments (well... if I can afford them, we'll see). The reasoning is that mine are not adults yet, but fairly big, and introducing juveniles half their size is asking for trouble. Also adults are less maintenance.
Now for the problem: the male I am convinced was pairing up with the dead one is hanging at the back of the tank, dark and with white blotches with the scales raised. It looks as if the skin has detached and blistered. Also I think I am seeing the beginnings of hole in the head, but I could be just paranoid.
The other three look fine. Coloured up and roaming the tank even if a bit intimidated by the rams.
The one I suspect being ill isn't listless or inactive. He is (used to be at least) the top of the pecking order and is still bossing around the others if they approach, but he does seem to be reluctant to come out from the amazon sword. I sprinkled some food just above him, and he didn't eat any, but I'm not sure it is because he'd already eaten or if he was too intent on staring at me staring at him. I had fed the tank half an hour before that but didn't see who came out to eat (I know, very bad of me).
Before I order the new fish I'd like to make sure the tank is fine and that I won't add fish just for them to get ill.
I did a larger than usual (150 litres out of 400) water change on thursday evening (as soon as I could after I noticed the nitrite spike) and I did some water tests half an hour ago: Ammonia zero, NO2 zero, NO3 approximately 10ppm, ph approx 6.7
Water changes are half RO water and half dechlorinated tap water (measured approx 300ppm from the tap)
Do you have any advice?
