My Discus Seems To Be Blind

[wildechild_01]

Ok,last weekend i noticed that one of my discus seemed thinner than the rest, now this particular discus months ago had a very cloudy eye on one side, as well as some damage from scrapping with the other discus. I currently have 6 and they were added to the tank in groups of 2 this guy being in the last group. The behaviour seemed to settle down and everyone was fine so i didn't think much of it. Now both eyes on this discus are quite cloudy, almost looks like cateracts. Anyway... to to get to the point... I think this particuar fish is blind, when i feed the tank it will simply float there with food all around and not eat anything... it will swim a little sometimes opening and closing its mouth and get a little bit of food now and then but not much. As of this morning the fish is hiding down low and looks extrememtly thin and worn out.. he is obviously uncomfortable and i fear he is starving to death. i tried putting him in anopther tank on his own earlier this week to increase his chances of getting food but with no luck... at this point i think it may be time to intervene and end the suffering but i am not sure of the best, most humaine way to do it so if anyone here has any advice on how to save the Discus or how to gently end the suffering i would appreciate the suggestions... thanks

 

[mattlee]

the discus sounds sick not blind to me. with these fish its best not to buy thin examples especially if its above the head, also known as pinched. if its not eating, not being sociable and just hiding away then it doesnt sound good im affraid.
if its in its own tank then keep doing plenty of big water changes and try different foods, there are meds available but it sounds too late to me......

 

[Avinitlarge]

Try and feed it bloodworm. Ive found that the sickest of Discus will eat bloodworm. If it wont eat this i think you will be struggling to save it.

I would post on here too, Very helpful when it comes to Discus http/www.forum.ukdiscus.co.uk/

 

[Athena]

Cloudy eye disease can be treated fairly easily in most cases. Start by checking your tank stats to make sure there's no obvious toxins causing stress in the tank. Then do regular (for now, daily) water changes of about 15-20%. There are medications available to treat cloudy eye but treatment needs to be prompt otherwise it can snowball into other bacterial diseases and where the fish cannot eat properly he will become malnourished and that in itself will eventually cause death.

Myxazin by Waterlife is a good one for this disease - you can also use Myxazin as a preventative treatment to add to the tank for 2 days when introducing new fish to the tank.

If you can't get Myxazin where you live, there are plenty of other meds available to try. At the moment there is still a chance you can save this discus if you begin treatment asap.

Good luck! Athena