Discus going crazy

[ljtan55]

Its the second discus I have which seems tp have seizures, so I'm getting rather worried. Everything would be calm in the tank until suddenly, he'll go nuts and start swimming all over the tank bashing into the driftwood and then end up in a corner where he'll be until the next episode. Already he's got scratches. I've already lost one discus from the injuries he's received when he started playing up in a similar fashion, when he ended up burying himself in between the driftwood and the gravel.

I do have ottos in the tank, but they've never disturbed the discus before, as well as whiptails and a hillstream loach. When I lost my first discus, I thought it might have been a neurological disorder, but with the second one (after 2 months since the last one) I'm getting seriously worried. Only the bigger ones seem to get affected - might they be growing out of the tank?

Tank specs:

50 gallon, nitrates nitrates low, phosphates 1.5ppm, ph 6.5

Tankmates: 5 discus, 10 cardinals, 10 black neons, 6 sterbai, 6 blue rams, 3 saes and 4 ottos, 2 whiptails.

[Luke*]

Cool range of fish ljtan55. I've seen young discus do this before and the conclusion I came to was that it's flukes, sorta makes sense, like it's irritating the fish so they try to swim away from it and freak out. Try some PP or praziquantel if you can get some see what happens.

[BK]

Could be bacteria build up, do a large water change as well as above treatment. Discus really need large water changers rather than a lot of small ones.

[tHEcONCH]

Cool range of fish ljtan55. I've seen young discus do this before and the conclusion I came to was that it's flukes, sorta makes sense, like it's irritating the fish so they try to swim away from it and freak out. Try some PP or praziquantel if you can get some see what happens.

I'd agree - probably flukes.

[ljtan55]

I do heaps of water changes all the time with the discus tank so I dont think its the water.

Flukes? What are they and is there any outside way of telling if your discus has flukes? They seem to be eating fine and getting larger. Where would you get prazi from? From a pharmacy? Sorry for all the questions I've never encountered anything like it before.

Will prazi kill plants btw? Should I be quarantining the whole tank? I have a UV sterilizer going if it makes a difference.

[tHEcONCH]

Flukes are parasites that attach themselves to the fish - some flukes attach to the skin, others to gills. There is a particular fluke that only afflict Discus. They are tiny and you won't be able to see them with the naked eye. They are the fish equivalent of hair lice. Your UV sterilizer is useless against them because they are on the fish, not in the water.

You can usually tell if your fish has them by the way the behave - darting around, bashing against objects etc as the flukes bit on.

You can buy Prazi from a vet (you might have to pay a consult charge as well - ring first), or sometimes at rural traders (CRT etc), otherwise put an ad in the buy/sell and someone may have a few extra they want to sell. Using Prazi won't harm plants.

[Psyc]

Dude I have tried everything for treating Discus and lost many fish in the process.

By far the best all round treatment is Formalin. It not only kills gill fluke but also kills bacteria. Make sure you get the right dosage and if necessary follow up with white spot cure, although i have never had to do this. It also helps to oxygenate the water during treatment and the filter will eliminate the formalin over a 10 day period.

I use the Blue Circle Formalin in the pink bottle. Accurately measure the water volume and add 3 drops per litre, no more no less. This will eliminate many diseases in any tank and on one occassion I have not changed the water for one month after. ( due to personal circumstances). In a Discus tank this would normally be sacralege. But I guarantee this works unlike many of the other drugs, some now illegal, that others will reccommend.

Sometimes I wonder why people haven't told me this before. I think there are some out there that like to keep their little secrets for themselves, especially when it comes to Discus!

[Caper]

ljtan55, how are your fish doing?

Caper

[Psyc]

They are awesome. I now have very few problems, if any in a long time.

[Luke*]

UV steriliser is good it means you won't have whitespot (UV kills this parasite). Flukes you cannot see with the naked eye, need a microscope. Prazi won't hurt the plants or the biofilter. It's also a wormer which is nice. You'd have to get some from a vet if anywhere. You should also be able to get stronger formalin from the vet (40% as opposed to 5% from LFS). PP is easier to get, most pharmacies will have it.