Tropical Fish Discus Forum Questions Answered!

I have 8 discus in a 125 gal. tank, along with 2 cory cats and 3 dwarf plecos. All was well for about 4 months. Now, 3 of my discus have the clamped fins, very rapid breathing. and look as if all their body slime is gone two also have eyes clouded over. but, no white pheces to speak of. What can i do????
Reply:
Your fish is suffering from a very serious bacteria infection (Clamped fins,
cloudy eyes) and Gill Fluke (Breathing rapidly).

You should quarantine them in a hospital tank.
Give them a Potassium Permanganate bath.
Then apply Formalin plus Methylene Blue solution to the hospital tank.
Dosage: 100 liters of tank water / 2 to 3 ml. of Formalin.
Repeat this for three days.

Day 4 – 6
Treat them with Acriflavine solution plus salt.

I bought two discus a red melon and a white scorpion. The red melon had some kind of ich or parasite. The white scorpion had the same but also is wasting away. I’ve had them for two weeks and they still won’t eat. I treated for external parasites, but they still won’t eat. Help!!

Reply:
The fish will feel stress after transferring from one place to another place. They must be carefully handled.

If you are sure is ich: Raise the temperature to 31 degree C.
Apply Methylene Blue solution with salt.

If it is not eating problem, apply two tablespoon full of Epsom salt.
Water changed and repeat the treatment for second day.
On the third day she should be eating.

I have seven discus in a 75-galloon tank. They were all introduced at the same time about 3 months ago. Six of the seven are doing great. About two weeks ago the seventh turned black started hiding
and stopped eating. It looks like it is about on its last leg. I have a couple of questions though.
1. Should I quarantine it?
2. What should I treat it for?
3. Should I treat the other six even though they appear to be very healthy right now?

Reply:
1. Yes. You should quarantine it in the hospital tank.
Treat her with Acriflavine solution plus salt.

2. The other six you can treat them with Formalin.
Dosage: 100 liters of tank water / 2 to 3 ml. of Formalin.

I mean how many grams of Potassium Permanganate per. liter water. Is there a chance of overdose? Or is it enough that the color of the water is just light purple?

Reply:
PP is in crystal form.
Make PP solution with distil water.

Dosage:
Over-night treatment: The color of water in light purple.
Change water and repeat the treatment next day.

PP bath: Dark purple for an hour: When the fish shows stress, change water
or transfer the fish to another tank.

What is a Potassium Permanganate solution and what is the trade name?

I have a breeding pair which I’ve had problems with from day one. The
female is a green wild caught, and has always had problems with the gills. I
have tried many medications but not successfully. She also have white tissue
on her gill-mebranes,fungus?Do you think the gills is damaged forever?
She also get dark once in a while but this only last for a day or two!
I know the pair has gill parasites (dactyl…), but what treatment do you
suggest?. I can see in the forum that you suggest Potassium Permanganate
bath every two weeks for external parasites but is there a medication which
will solve this problem for good, not only controlling?

Reply:

Potassium Permanganate is best to treat gill and skin fluke. It is a crystal form. Many solutions for treating gill and skin fluke are used PP as a base. It is purple in color. I think you can get PP in pharmacy.

White tissue on the gill is fungus. After PP bath, apply Methylene Blue solution over night. Repeat the medication for one week.

She also gets dark once in a while. It is happened during stress or not feeling well.

I know the pair has gill parasites. Then you have to treat your fish.

Is there a medication which will solve this problem for good, not only controlling?
Yes with your cooperation.

If you cannot get PP, then you can use Formalin.

Dosage: 100 liters of water in hospital tank
2 to 3 ml. Of Formalin
Plus Methylene Blue solution (Light Blue ink)
Change water and repeat the treatment for 5 days.

The fish will get well and no more parasites.
If for good, you don’t have parasites in the tank.

I have a discus tank and have 12 fish, some of them started to go dark in color and floating in corners of the tank. They eat but look stressed have checked the water it is OK. I do regular water changes and care for them like my children, please can you advise on a medication that may help or a solution. the fish are all different sizes and variety the tank has been set up for 12months.

Reply:
Fish turns dark indicates something wrong.
Eating shows she is still okay.
It could be bacteria infection.
Apply either Acriflavine or Methylene blue solution plus salt.
Do water change and continue the medication.

I have 2 mature pigeon blood discus (male & female) and a week ago the female had what looked like a clear tube (2 inches) protruding from underneath her. After 4 days she rubbed it off and now she is very sick and will not eat. I’m not sure if the tube was a worm or possibly her egg tube and I’m not sure how to treat her. The male started picking on her, so I put a divider in the tank. What should I do next? She seems to want to survive.

Discus fish hobbyists often ask:
a) Why my discus fish won’t eat?
b) Why my discus fish eats but won’t grow?
c) Why my discus fish color very dull?

a) Why discus fish refuse to eat? Most of the time people often say. They don’t like this food. They like that food. Actually healthy discus fish eat anything you give, when they are hungry. If they don’t eat, there must be something wrong. Its the fish, not the food. Then what happens to the fish? They have no appetite to eat. What makes them no appetite? The parasites. The internal parasites. WORM

b) Why the discus fish eat but they don’t grow. When the fish eats the food, the food turns into nutrition for the fish to grow. But they eat and do not grow. Where has the food gone to? I think we should blame the worm.

c) My discus fish look very dull. The color doesn’t look attractive. They eat and grow. Even we enhance them. It doesn’t have much improvement. Why? There is a block. Who is responsible for it? I think we should blame the worm.

I keep dogs. Every month I treat them worm table. If I don’t do so, she will slow down in eating. Sometimes she refuses to eat. She loses weight. She becomes moody and not active. Her fur looks dull. She will recover after treating them worm tables. Every three months, I treat them with heartworm tablet too.

So, we should treat the discus fish the same. We must de worm them every month. The fish eat tubifex worm and bloodworm. There is no ways to avoid the parasite grows. I used to treat all my fish and get rids of worms every month. They eat and grow. They look attractive.

Reply:
The white faeces show internal parasites.
Treat them either antibiotic or metronidazole.
Increase the salt content in the water.

Can you give me some advice? My discus some of them have gone dark they look weak and fins close to body. Do you give discus
vitamins or any other tonics can you give tips on keeping discus fit and healthy.

Reply:
They are not feeling well.
It could be bacteria infection.
Apply antibiotic or acriflavine solution plus salt.

Yes. We include vitamin in the diet.
Please refer to our website on Care Guide.
There are a lot of tips in keeping discus fish.