Thin Discus

[BlueTurk]

Hi,

We have a Juwel 180 our water specs are fine and we have a Ph of 6.4 the hardness is at 6 Niitrate and nitrite are 0 and amonia 0

We have 4 discus in there 2 small lads around 6 months old and 2 older at 2 years.

There were 4 smaller lads but 1 was a bully and 2 died so we introduced 2 older fish and things on the bullying side seem fine now.

But 1 little lad swims around fine and eats bloodworm with ease but he doesnt seem to grow and seems very thin and you can see almost his skeleton...

I dont know what to try with this guy, we were going to put some peat into our filter and see if that made the water better for him but the others seem fine? We did put in a little PH down against better judgmentas we dont like to put anything in the water unless we need to but thought we would try and It hasnt changed anything in fact they all sulked for a day after we added it so Ive tried nothing else.

Any thoughts or suggestions are very welcome
Thanks

 

[-=Joel=-]

Might be an internal parisite

 

[BlueTurk]

Might be an internal parisite

Thanks Joel,
I was thinking it would be perhaps that, there are no outward symptoms of any kind and am not sure how to diagnose a type of parasite, is there something thats general usage I can use on a small discus?

Thansk

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I would recommend food medicated with Metronidazole. You can mix food with the med and then freeze it and then feed it, and no other food, twice/day for 10 days to 2 weeks. I would feed it to the whole tank as most parasites can spread to other fish. Metro is a very benign med, excellent for parasites and will not harm anything in your tank including your bio.

 

[kev_kb]

Before you start medicating I would consider tank conditions and your water changes. Small discus such as these should be kept in bare bottom tanks in large groups for best chances of success. You will need to keep the tank very very clean, how many and what volume of water changes do you do?

What are you feeding and how often?

Are there any tank mates and if so what?

What temperature do you keep the tank at?

It really isn't a good idea to add anything to tank you don't need to. The pH and hardness are fine for Discus if your tests are correct. Only medicate when your sure you have identified the problem.

 

[BlueTurk]

Before you start medicating I would consider tank conditions and your water changes. Small discus such as these should be kept in bare bottom tanks in large groups for best chances of success. You will need to keep the tank very very clean, how many and what volume of water changes do you do?

What are you feeding and how often?

Are there any tank mates and if so what?

What temperature do you keep the tank at?

It really isn't a good idea to add anything to tank you don't need to. The pH and hardness are fine for Discus if your tests are correct. Only medicate when your sure you have identified the problem.

Hi we do weekly waterchanges..

Were in a 180 litre tank and have 4 discus 2 larger and 2 smaller, there were 4 smaller but they got bullied to death or were srtessed to death?? but were very small and young

The temp of the water is 82 / 29

Thanks

 

[Bloo]

(I have never kept Discus)

But I know that many Discus keepers dose them with dewormer as a standard procedure.

Have a look at Plymouth Discus / another link and their info there. And also their product Wormer Plus - which is not only for worms, but other internal parasites. I've used this product (see my thread) with success and no adverse effects.

 

[kev_kb]

Hi we do weekly waterchanges..

The temp of the water is 82 / 29

As you have young 2 water changes of 20-25% per week would be good, more wouldn't hurt either.

If you could answer the other questions about the tank that would really help.

 

[BlueTurk]

Hi we do weekly waterchanges..

The temp of the water is 82 / 29

As you have young 2 water changes of 20-25% per week would be good, more wouldn't hurt either.

If you could answer the other questions about the tank that would really help.

Hi sorry..

The tank is a Juwel 180 litre
Water PH 6.5 KH 3 amonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0 GH 6

There are only 4 fish in this 2 larger discus and 2 small

Gravel substrate, and bog wood and plastic plants, there are a bunch of spears but this is the only live plant.

We have a Fluval 305 external but have nothing custom added to its filtration but have some peat granuals/pellets to try but have held off with this so far.

Hope thats of some help for you.
Thanks

 

[kev_kb]

I would remove the gravel and go bare bottom if you intend to raise small discus. Sorry I can't help with treatments as I don't have much experience of them. Also you should be feeding a variety of foods several times a day.

 

[BlueTurk]

I would remove the gravel and go bare bottom if you intend to raise small discus. Sorry I can't help with treatments as I don't have much experience of them. Also you should be feeding a variety of foods several times a day.

Thanks