As stated earlier, good water quality, nutritional food such as a vitaminized beef-heart with a non fresh water aquatic live food will go a long way in keeping your discus happy and in good health.Buying your fish from a quality breeder who practices the above will also get you started on the right foot.
But let us say you did happen to rescue some fish from a store and/or a wholesaler and you end up with a problem or two.Or you want to breed some live wild caught discus “Heckel Discus” maybe? What should you do to start with?
Quarantine First of all you need a reasonable size tank (30 gallon or larger depending on size and quantity of fish), away from the rest of your fish in another room if possible, bare bottm, off the beaten path, with a separate net and other aquarium utensils. I like to lower the light level and work on developing their trust. Trust is gained by spending time with them quietly watching them and of course feeding them, they eventually fiquer out you are the food provider. At this point if you have a white worm culture a few treats thrown their way quickly breaks the ice in the relationship and gets them eating. In a pinch if they are not eating after a few days a feeding of Hikari frozen Bloodworm may be necessary. Hikari are said to be the cleanest although their are now many authors that say they still can carry pathogens. Whatever the debate the priority is to get them eating and feeling comfortable and Hakari makes the best product out there, make sure to rinse first. . Why quarantine? If you don't, you risk exposing your present Discus to many pathogens and some like the Discus virus can kill your tank of Discus in just a few days. There are many pathogens that can impact your fish and cost you huge $$ treating them, once exposed. It's just common sense! Just because your new fish appear healthy which is very subjective it is impossible to know for sure if they are carrying internal worms or flagylits or even worse the Discus virus!
Finally don't trust the seller even if it's a store, in a lot of cases there priority is getting your money and will tell you anything, this unfortunately is a fact of the Discus industry.
I recomend a 6 week period of observation of the new fish and/or plants with your vollunteer from your main tank. What are we looking for? First you observe your vollunteer, any sudden change like not eating or clamping up is a sure sign of the Discus virus. He may be seen gasping for air at the surface while all the new fish appear normal.
At this point you are in trouble and are left with two choices;
* one try and medicate your vollunteer using Furan2 and salt knowing even if he does survive you could by accident pass it along to your main tank. And what do you do with your new arrivals they seem healthy but they are carriers? Personally if it was me, I would box the new arivals up and take them back to the store and get my money back and compensation for the one I lost! Don't let them off the hook!
* your second choice is to Euthanize which is my recomendation before it spreads to your main tank. Remember this virus can live on your hands outside the tank so use a good alcohol based hand sanitizer. This is a hard decission for most hobbyists but unfortunately it's necessary. I have talked to local breeders that have lost 200 fish with this virus and many hobbyists that lost a whole tank of discus worth many $100's of dollars due to inaction and not quarantining new arrivals.
Note: Clove oil is a humane way of euthanizing a fish. It's available at most drug stores and is sold as a toothache remedy. Clove oil will put a fish to sleep and ensure it feels no pain. Clove oil Solution - This solution's strength is based on a small pail with 1/2 a gallon of aquarium water with which the fish will be placed. - Mix 5 drops of Clove oil into a small jar 3/4 filled with aquarium water, place cap on jar and shake well. The solution should be a milky white colour. - Now place the fish in your pail and slowly add the solution until the fish is resting on the bottom of the pail, gently mixing the solution as it is added. - There should be no movement after a few minutes other than you will continue to see the gill plates moving as it is still breathing. If the fish continues to move around in the pail add more solution until the fish is asleep. This can take a few minutes. - After about 10 minutes or so and you are confident the fish is no longer moving at the bottom of the pail, add about 20 to 25% white grain alcohol (two oz of vodka per 8 oz of water = 16 oz of vodka to a 1/2 gal of water) to finish it off. After 20 minutes, I do a 60 second monitoring of the gill, there should be no movement indicating the fish has expired. At this point I bag the fish (no water) and place in freezer until I can dispose.
Other things to be looking for is their feces, make sure the feces is dark not white and stringy and that the fish are not scratching and breathing hard all signs of a potential problem.
Unfortunately some people have to learn the hard way and don't take the time to quarrantine with disasterous results you read about them all the time on the forums, desperatly looking for a solution, but in most cases it's to late and they loose the majority, if not all their existing fish.
Water Quality; to start with, the water should be aged tap water, have a cycled filter system with lots of aeration and the temperature should be around 86 F or 30 C.You should have a good water source, drum or garbage pail, of aged water for water changes. Water changes should be done daily or at the very least until the health of the discus is restored. Monitoring of the nitrates which should be between 5 and 10 ppm will help dictate water change requirements.
Food; if the fish are not eating entice them with some live food, white worm, red worm would be good.A good source of Live Food” will make it much easier to get rid of any problems you might have. You simple soak the worms in a small water and medication solution for a few minutes or until the worms are almost dead and feed the worms to the discus.If the fish are eating your beef-heart mix just add medication directly to the beef-heart and then freeze, more about this in a minute.
I strongly encourage you to invest the time in a live white worm culture. I have included a number of hobbyist’s methods of keeping these cultures on this web site.
Now let’s say your fish are eating, we now wait and observe, let them get adjusted to their new surroundings and you of course.It is a good idea if you plan on being a serious keeper of discus to invest in a microscope. If you happen to have a microscope analysis of the feces may shed some light on the health of your discus.If you do not have a microscope, the feces should be dark not white and stringy. Microscopes are a very good investment. You will save money in the long run learning to diagnose problems accurately rather than a medicated shotgun approach which can further stress your fish as well as cost you $$ in both medication and fish. I don't care how good you think you are at fish keeping there will come a time when you make a mistake and get into trouble, knowing and anticipating is key to success.
After a few weeks of observing what do you see?
-White stringy feces?
-Are the fish scratching themselves against objects in the aquarium?
-Are the fish dark in colour?
-Are the eyes dull and cloudy?
-Are the fish fussy on eating?
If the answer is "no" to all questions you have some pretty healthy discus, and if you have a couple of yes's then lets break it down;
Internal - (See article below by Horst W. Koehler regarding internal tapeworms and treatment) the feces should be dark not white and stringy, if the fish are of wild stock I would de-worm anyway. As Horst has indicated in his article use Flubenol 5% or Droncit (praziquantel). A new product called Wormer Plus (Google Wormer Plus) contains flubenol and is effective against most parasites. Prazi pro contains praziquantel and can be used as directed, or soak your live white worms in a light solution prior to feeding.
Bloat- if your fish has over-eaten and has suddenly developed a very swollen abdomen that is not receding over a short time (1/2 day of not feeding). Isolate the fish, stop feeding lower temperature again gradually to 84 and try an Epson salt treatment. Gradually add the Epson salt over 3 or 4 hours until you reach 2 tbs per 5 gallons. Leave the fish lights subdued for two days after which do a 25 to 30% water change. The key is to catch the problem early. Avoidance - good water quality and not overfeeding. The addition of Kanaplex by Seachem can also ensure success 1 measuring spoon per 2 gallons. Again the key to success is catching it early.
Flagellates - Fish have lost their appetite, are facing the back of the tank, and have long white stringy feces. There are many suggested solutions out there. This is what works for me. If the fish are still eating then I mix Seachem's "Metroplex"' in the food using Seachems binder "focus" to bind the medication to the food per the directions on the metroplex container. Feed twice a day for 7 days or until their feces has turned dark. If the fish are not eating I put the metroplex directly into the water 400 to 500 mg per 10 gallons of water for three days elevating the temperature to 90 F. Once the fish start to eat then switch to placing the metro in the food as earlier stated. Note if you have several tanks I strongly suggest treating everyone so your fish don't get reinfested.
ExternalParasites– Discus can usually be seen scratching against objects in the tank, and the respiration appears high you probably have gill worms (flukes). Recent information I have read by Dieter Untergasser in the book "Exotic discus of the World" by Dr. Clifford Chan suggests that most drugs today used to combat gill worms (flukes) may kill the flukes but not the eggs and reinfestation will continue to be a problem. Dieter Untergasser suggests using formeldahyde 8ml per 100 liters (26 gal) for 10 hours and then move the fish to a tank that is set up new that has previously dried for 3 days. Three days of drying kills the eggs. The tank left behind would be drained thoroughly cleaned and allowed to dry again for a minimum of 3 days, restarted using a product like stability by Seachem to get it ready to receive the medicated fish that have gone through the second formaldehyde treatment. You basically keep bouncing the fish back and forth between the two tanks for three treatments. Note: When using formeldahyde DO NOT TREAT IF YOUR FISH HAS ANY CUT OR WOUND, wait until the wound or cut has healed. If you are moving the fish prior to the formeldahyde treatment wait a couple of days to ensure no damage to the skin has occurred during the netting process. This method is also found in Andrew Soh's book (although he uses a stronger dose for 30 minutes 18 ml per 50 liters) which I have done and it works well but requires constant monitoring of the fish) basically you formaldehyde killing and knocking the flukes off and you move your fish to a fresh tank leaving the eggs behind. Drying the tank for 3 days kills the eggs. Three treatments is usually enough. However you need a few tanks to accomplish this and it is the only way that I know that is 100% effective.
Nutrition – Now say our fish has been de-wormed and de-fluked, but the colours and the eyes are still not sparkling and full of fire.Now we look at Nutrition, what are we feeding are the gills swollen indicating an iodine deficiency, are we lacking the essential vitamins that our fish needs to feel healthy?What is in that beef-heart mix that you’re feeding? As I have been preaching from the beginning, much like us, the Discus requires a balanced nutritional diet and most serious hobbyists and breeders use a beef or turkey-heart, fish mix.I have placed some good articles including our recipe on this web site under the nutrition page to address nutritional needs, please read, trust me you will notice a difference in behaviour and colour within a few days.
Disease Alert - Discus Virus.. Virus UPDATE
The latest news a lab at the University of California has isolated and identified the Discus virus as a form of Herpes virus. It is very difficult to isolate and requires advanced equipment there is no cure or any way of detecting animals that have previously been infected. In addition recent Discus samples supplied to the University of Florida have concluded that a virus was present in the samples and the lab continues there work to try and identify the virus. In Germany wild altums that had been exposed to domestic angels and suddenly got sick were analysed and found to have had the herpes virus.
This virus first appeared in December 2009 in some of the stores in the Toronto Area as well as across North America and Europe. Two forums "Simply Discus" and "BIDKA" reported numerous hobbyists that had contacted a new disease problem after purchasing and introducing a new fish to their tanks. The new fish would look fine however the existing fish would clamp up their fins and secrete a heavy slime gasping for air at the surface of the tank.
I am not totally unfamiliar with viruses as one appeared that was very similar to this one back in the late 1980's early 1990's that killed tens of thousands of Discus across North America and the world. The source appeared to be from fish received from Asia. We were taken by complete surprise and biologists in Florida and Chicago were frantically trying to find answers. Many large North American Discus and Angel Fish breeders were wiped out overnight. The biologists concluded that based on the speed of the attack, that it was a virus. Also when specimens were analyzed different bacteria were observed in the killing of the fish and because of this the biologists concluded that the virus was attacking the immune system of the fish allowing whatever bacteria that was present in the aquarium to rise up and attack the fish.
During the first Discus Virus attack in the late 80's Jack Wattley left some sick fish in his back yard in a tub. After a few days he went back to check on them and to his surprise they were doing well. Jack checked the pH it was at 4.0. This knowledge was instrumental in saving a many Discus. I remember getting a phone call in the middle of the night from a hobbyist located in the mid west and he was many miles from the nearest town and had nothing but sulpheric acid that he used for filling batteries. I told him to dilute it with water and very very slowly over several hours bring the pH down which he did and managed to save every fish. Low pH and the use of course salt with plenty of air and water quality monitoring using frequent water changes was all we had and it worked. The reason for a lower pH is that bacteria is killed off but so can your fish if you are not carefull accurate equipment is a must and very slow changes is key. Remember do not to panic!
Speaking with the experts at "Simply Discus" they are recomending for this group of symptoms a treatment of Potassium Permanganate PP followed by a treatment of anti-biotics specifically Nifurpirinol (also knowm as Furanase) and Neomycin Sulfate combined. Treatment should be done in a bare tank.
The fish should be placed in a quarrantine tank, no gravel . A plastic storage bin could be used, preferrably clear. Lots of air stones. If you do not have PP as recomended I might suggest a course salt bath (1 tablespoon per gal) in a bucket for about 10 to 15 minutes under heavy aeration prior to placing the fish in their quarrantine tank. Make sure to add extra airstones and be prepared to do frequent water changes, water quality must be monitored closely. Anti fungal anti biotics are added. Also place course salt in the tank (1 tablespoon per 10 gal). I would suggest Furan 2 which is readily available which is effective against fungas infections and does not upset the filter.
I strongly recomend Isolating any new fish or plants for at least 6 weeks and place one of your fish from your main tank into the quarantine tank for this period. I also recomend having PP and a good antibiotic Furan 2 on hand just in case. This virus can live on your hands for several hours so make sure to wash your hands with disinfecting soap. Lastly if you have this virus it can reoccur and the survivors are now carriers and will infect any fish that have not previously had the disease.
This information is based on information collected from recent occurrances in my local Toronto area and forums.
*****
"Worm Concern"
Comments from Horst W. Koehler, Publisher & Editor of Diskus Brief, Reprinted from “Our Discus” Volume 4 Issue 1
Editors note: Horst is referring to an article posted in "Our Discus" N.A.D.S. publication asking a number of question in which Horst had previously answered most of the questions through his publication on internal tapeworms. I have recently visited a number of forums where hobbyists are looking for answers for their constant reinfestation with tapeworms. I hope reposting Horst's article gets the message out once again!
It is really a pity that, in spite of all my efforts and suggestions, there is yet no international cooperation and hardly any exchange of experience and knowledge regarding the keeping, breeding and treating of the discus.Hopefully, this situation will change soon – to the benefit of all of us involved and, last-but-not-least, our fish too!
Yes, we do have experience with using Flubendazole (more efficient than Mebendazole, and not toxic at all) to successfully combat tapeworms in Discus fish.Back in 1987, I suggested in a publication to mix 100 to 150 mg of the active agent into 1 kg of beef-heart, which means 2 to 3 g of the available formulation Flubenole 5% (which contains 5% of the active substance). Alternative: bath 1 kg live red mosquito larvae in a bucket with tap water containing about 4 to 6 g of Flubenole 5% (continuous stirring until the first larvae begin to die is necessary) and freeze the larvae afterwards. Regardless if you feed Flubenole containing beef-heart or mosquito larvae, this medicated food should be given exclusively for about 12 days.
An alternative medical treatment is Piperacincitrat, which is contained in the available formulation Droncit, produced by the German company Bayer.
A fight against the tapeworm larvae in fish is not useful, as a light infection will be borne without reaction.In a heavy infection, when the larvae are killed off, the dying parasites usually cause a deathly strange eggshell white poisoning for the fish.The employment of Masoten and Niclosamiden has know effect, according to our experiences here in Germany.
Regarding tapeworm reproduction, Rob is on the right track; I think. Yes, in the past it was clear that tapeworms can only infiltrate with live food to parasitize aquarium fish, and tapeworm infections cannot spread out in a tank since the final host is always lacking.Hence adult tapeworms in the intestinal tract of tropical fish are only possible among wild caught species.This was the situation up until last year.
However this seems to be no longer the case.My assistant editor, Mr. Roland Teufel, has investigated in his laboratory more than 100 Discus of different sizes in 1989, which he received from different sources.During his investigations with these and other Discus fish, he discovered a tapeworm species named Botriocephalus Acheilognathii in a surprisingly large percentage of these fish, even in Discus fry only 10 to 14 days old and 3 to 4 mm in size: 60% of this fry, for instance, was heavily infected with approximately 20 cestodal larvae, 4 to 5 tapeworms with maximum 15 mm in length, as well as numerous eggs in the intestine, 20% were affected to a lesser degree and 15% showed only a few tapeworm larvae and worms. Only in 5% of all investigated fry, Mr. Teufel did not find tapeworms, but eggs. In the larger discus, between 5 and 8 cm, he found between 12 and 15 larvae and numerous tapeworm eggs.It is worth mentioning that none of the potential carriers of tapeworm larvae were given to these fish, like tubiflex and Cyclops. To be absolutely sure, even planarians and Artemia nauplies in the Discus tank were investigated for possible indications of cestodal life – without any result. This leaves us with the only possible explanation: at least this very tapeworm; B. Achteilognathii must be able to reproduce in the aquarium. What a surprise!
Doesn’t news like this strongly indicate a need for international Cooperation in connection with Discus? Let us start to work together!
Horst W. Koehler 20/7/90
Editors Note: two key points; one, these internal worms can reproduce in the aquarium on their own and two, treatment for the worms should be everyday for 12 days.
