GeorgeD Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 Need help! Everything was great in my discus tank until this morning. Most of the discus are clamping their dorsal fin, colour is dark and they are slightly tipped on an angle. A couple are hiding inside a flower pot thats in the tank. Water parameters are good. I did my standard 50% water change yesterday morning, same as I always do. WC done twice a week, same as I’ve always done. i have a sponge filter going, along with an air stone. I have a canister filter on the tank as well, and when I saw the fish this morning, I added a hang on filter as well. I think I added to much Prime yesterday, could that be the problem? Any suggestions? Thanks, George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeD Posted September 24, 2020 Author Share Posted September 24, 2020 3 of my discus have already died in the last day and a half. Others have said its discus plague, and to treat with 90 degree temperatures a cup of salt per 50 gal tank and no water changes for 10-14 days. then others say to do 100% water change every 2 days. Don’t know what to do now. Anyone experience this with their discus? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Cory Posted September 24, 2020 Administrators Share Posted September 24, 2020 I would go with the 90 degrees and salt method. WIth more information, we could weigh in more, like what the water parameters currently are including temps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr1709 Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 Please Help! I have 5 discus fish in a 180 gallon tank. I started with 13 and have been losing them over a period of time. I can't seen to figure out why. This is the latest one. Yesterday everything was fine. This morning I have one discus that is floating around as he is ready to die. Below is todays water test Nitrate (NO2) 0 ppm Nitrate (NO3) 0 ppm Ammonia (NH3/NH4) 0 PH 7.6 High Range PH 7.4 KH 11 Water Temp 82 I do a 40 to 50% water change every week. The discus seems Any support would be apricated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 (edited) What are you feeding and how often have you add any new fish or snail recently done any thing differently how long have you been lose discus for did you get all your discus from the same place @Dr1709 Edited February 17, 2021 by Colu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr1709 Posted February 17, 2021 Share Posted February 17, 2021 Sorry for the delay response. I have been feeding them Omega One Flakes - Cobalt Spirulina Flacks, Frozen Braine Shrimp - Bio-Encapsulated Multi-Vitamins Brine Shrimp - Omega One Discus Pellets - Hex-Shield sinking pellets. and Krill I feed them three time a day. I change the food around so I am not feeding then the same food everyday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr1709 Posted February 17, 2021 Share Posted February 17, 2021 I have not purchase any new fish lately. It's been about seven months since my last discus purchase. I don't have any snails. Yes, I purchase all my discus from the same supplier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted February 17, 2021 Share Posted February 17, 2021 It an odd one nothing jumping out foods fine water parameters are fine did you treat for parasites when you got then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeD Posted February 18, 2021 Author Share Posted February 18, 2021 I had what may be a similar thing. I’ll post the advice I got from a longtime discus owner. I followed the advice, and I was able to save 9 of my 13 discus. I’ll post the conversation I had below: “Hi Dale, thanks for the help with my discus. I’ve kept fish for a long time, but discus for almost a year. I don’t want to bother you, but I have a question about the discus plague treatment. if discus require such clean water as so many posts say, then how can I keep it clean without changing the water for 10-14 days? Just trying to understand the rationale, because I really want to succeed with keeping discus. Thanks again, George” “hi George....what you are fighting is Columnarus . IT's life cycle is 14 days and thrives on fresh , clean O2 water. SO, when you do a change ( as you seen when it all started ) it blows up and will kill your fish. The more you try to do ( meds, etc ) the worse it gets. HONESTLY, listening to these idiots online does NOT help !!!! Any meds...will kill ( again, it stresses the fish ) We also could never figure out why column. meds didnt work, but it is assumed that it is viral based and the columnarus is a secondary result ( like aids, etc ) SO, after years and years of doing this and discussing it with hundreds of breeders....what i mentioned is the best . Temp up, lots of salt ( which helps the FISH , but doesnt help the column or cause it to bloom ), lower PH and most important...TIME !!!! We all have made the mistake of seeing the fish getting better after a week and thinking.,...."i can do a change now", BUT NO !!!!! Have to wait until the last fish comes out of it. Please also remember, your tank is "hot". If you add fish ( discus, angels ) they will get it....once you see the last fish, wait at least 3-4 weeks before adding new. also, good idea to have a tank in another part of the house for new arrivals. I HAVE seen this go airborne !!! Does that help ?? What have you done so far ?? Do you want me to call you and walk you through this ??” 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeD Posted February 18, 2021 Author Share Posted February 18, 2021 Conversation continued... Thank you for your time! All your info makes sense to me now. So since your first post I have not done a water change. I added the salt and turned up the temp, last time I checked it, temp was 91 deg. I lost 3 so far, and yesterday it looked like number 4 was on the way out, but today he seems to have rebounded. I have the lights turned off and have been feeding them very little. I have 2 air sponges going plus my canister filter, but after reading what you just said about oxygenated water, should I stop one or both sponge filters and/or the canister filter? Ph is down from 7.2 to 6.4 and I used peat in nylons to accomplish this, hope I didn’t do more harm. great buddy.....DONT do anything else. believe it or not, you are past the main issue. Your fish will look terrible, but one day you'll see...pop, one will come out and then another feed lightly ( bloodworms, freeze dried ), but stay away from pellets ( as they are crap and will pollute ) Now, its just time ( turn your back and try to not let it bother you )....you will see...all will be good in time Do you have gravel in the tank ??? If so, get rid of it after all has improved ...makes Discus keeping so much easier !!! Great book ...is Jack Wattleys "Discus for the perfectionist " Asks all the right questions to a load of breeders and they answer ( including myself ) SO, you can take the norm of what they are saying I am always here buddy....feel free to ask anything you want Again, i see more false, idiotic responses on these pages...be careful !!! Dale sent September 24, 2020 oh..yes, dont need the airstone Dale sent September 24, 2020 I mean past the worst in that usually deaths are in first day or two ( or after aggressive things done to the tank or fish ) I hope this helps you Dr1709 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr1709 Posted February 28, 2021 Share Posted February 28, 2021 On 2/18/2021 at 4:18 PM, GeorgeD said: Conversation continued... Thank you for your time! All your info makes sense to me now. So since your first post I have not done a water change. I added the salt and turned up the temp, last time I checked it, temp was 91 deg. I lost 3 so far, and yesterday it looked like number 4 was on the way out, but today he seems to have rebounded. I have the lights turned off and have been feeding them very little. I have 2 air sponges going plus my canister filter, but after reading what you just said about oxygenated water, should I stop one or both sponge filters and/or the canister filter? Ph is down from 7.2 to 6.4 and I used peat in nylons to accomplish this, hope I didn’t do more harm. great buddy.....DONT do anything else. believe it or not, you are past the main issue. Your fish will look terrible, but one day you'll see...pop, one will come out and then another feed lightly ( bloodworms, freeze dried ), but stay away from pellets ( as they are crap and will pollute ) Now, its just time ( turn your back and try to not let it bother you )....you will see...all will be good in time Do you have gravel in the tank ??? If so, get rid of it after all has improved ...makes Discus keeping so much easier !!! Great book ...is Jack Wattleys "Discus for the perfectionist " Asks all the right questions to a load of breeders and they answer ( including myself ) SO, you can take the norm of what they are saying I am always here buddy....feel free to ask anything you want Again, i see more false, idiotic responses on these pages...be careful !!! Dale sent September 24, 2020 oh..yes, dont need the airstone Dale sent September 24, 2020 I mean past the worst in that usually deaths are in first day or two ( or after aggressive things done to the tank or fish ) I hope this helps you Dr1709 Thank you so much GeorgeD 🙂 Yes, it help a lot. It explains a lot of the issues and it make sense to me. I see I am doing a lot of the thing wrong. Water changes, meds, and air stone which I have a lot in my tank. This means a lot to me GeorgeD, because I had no one to reach out to ask questions and when you go to blogs you get all shorts of different suggestions. I am a disable Army Veteran dealing with some Mental Health issues, and I love discus fish. They are so beautiful and believe it or not. When I had my tank full of discus, they have gotten me through some tough times. Enjoying taking care of them and not dwelling on my issues. It was very depressing watching them died and no matter what I did it didn't work. I'm going to follow your instructions to the tee. I will keep you up to date of my progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr1709 Posted February 28, 2021 Share Posted February 28, 2021 Colu In response to your question. Yes, I buy my discus and put them in a 10 gallon tank and its located in another room. I have been using ParaGuard, Salt ( which I don't believe I was applying it properly ), also using Microbe-Lift ( Herbtana & Artemiss ) and some other meds which I don't remember the name at this moment. I usually keep them in the 10 gallon tank for about 30 days before I put them into the 180 gallon tank. I want to thank everyone for their support. You guys have been a Blessing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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