# Injured Discus



## Jonney_boy (Apr 28, 2010)

I'm not sure if the discus injured itself or if something was really wrong with it internally...

This discus has always been "quiet", only coming out to say hi to you when you first walk into the room before hiding back behind the plants. The other day (2-3 days ago) I noticed a large "gash" on it's underside..

What can I do to help? So far I have increased the water changes to 30% once a day for the last couple days. It does not seem to be helping the fish much tho. I considered adding some Melafix.

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/4384/img3249la.jpg


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

Ouch. He/she is not happy for sure. New to discus so can't help


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## chillin (Apr 21, 2010)

try a salt bath..seems to help their immune system ,lots of water changes,meds try to stay away from if possible..feed well and mother nature will take over..hope this helps, seems to work for my discus injuries..chillin


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## Jonney_boy (Apr 28, 2010)

what do you suggest for a salt bath??

Should I just "drop" the fish into a bucket of 1 table spoon per 10 gallons of tank water for few mins before returning the fish to the tank?


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## athena (Apr 22, 2010)

My discus have injured themselves countless times, unfortunately. I have always just left them alone to heal up. There was once when it even had white fuzzy stuff growing on it +.+ but I still left it alone, and it healed right up. As long as you keep up the water change, make sure their water is always clean, the would will heal up. However, if there is something else wrong with it, best to figure out what it is, then treat it.


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## ibenu (Apr 21, 2010)

HOw long have you had these guys? And what else has been going on, I ask cause they are very skinny, making something like the gash uber susceptible to secondary concerns. It takes a long time to "bring back" fish that look like the one on the left of the black one. Let alone skinny dark and now with an injury ta boot. Not trying to be a downer, I hope the best for them all.


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## Jonney_boy (Apr 28, 2010)

I've had these guys for aobut 6-8 months now (at least)... and A friend of mind had them for prob another year before that. Before that i'm not sure how long the previous owner had them for either.

Unfortunally, this is my first time keeping discus...... as far as I can tell, the rest of them "seems" to be in good health....

They are fed tetra-bits twice a day and they all seem to eat reasonably...... the one that is injured right now is not eating much currently.

Tank seems to be in good condition as far as I can tell... Levels are normal (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) and the rest of the fish are doing fine. Kribs are breeding like nuts. Tank is being kept at 84 deg C

I've not made any changes to the tank recently (2-3 months). I will follow up with a few more pics tomorrow when I have more time tho and see if anybody can see something i'm overlooking. Maybe it's time to introduce some other food to help fatten them up a bit (I honstly though it was normal).


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## catgoldfish (Apr 21, 2010)

Jonney_boy said:


> I've had these guys for aobut 6-8 months now (at least)... and A friend of mind had them for prob another year before that. Before that i'm not sure how long the previous owner had them for either.
> 
> Unfortunally, this is my first time keeping discus...... as far as I can tell, the rest of them "seems" to be in good health....
> 
> ...


 Do you have something sharp in there? Like slate or driftwood with pointy ends? If so get rid of those. I would also take that fish out and put it in a hospital tank. It's easier to add salt or medication to a smaller tank (10 gallon) than a big one with plants. Plants don't do well when salt is added. Some people just use salt and some people like using medications that would be up to you. Salt is 1 tablespoon for every 10 gallons once a day with a water change of 50% everyday. If he doesn't get better fast (cause he looks pretty bad) I would use some medications. Best to go to the pet store and ask which one is good for open wounds like that.


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## Jonney_boy (Apr 28, 2010)

I do have a piece of driftwood in there that is "kinda" pointy I guess..... I didn't think enough to cause a problem with the fish but i'll defently get rid of it just to be safe....

and yes, i'll start up a QT tank and see if the discus gets better.... it does look fairly bad right now 


As for what happened to the tank.... I was thinking about it all day today.. the only thing I can think of is that the kribs in the tank just started to breed like crazy the last 2 months or so... and each pair is defending the entrance of a cave.... maybe this is stressing out the discus?

I guess I could move the kirbs out to a 20 gal temp to see if the discus gets better.... and if they do, i'll just sell (give away) the kribs ...

As for the discus, they can change colour so fast.. one second they are super dark, 2 mins later they are nicely coloured...... keeps stressing me out..

If anybody else has any suggestions, i'm all ears....


And for reference..

The tank is a 3ft long 100gal tank.
Water levels seems to be ok (ammonia, nitrate, nitril)
EI dosed, CO2 injected, running 4x t5HO (6 hour photoperiod), Planted (bunch of swords and crypts)
Two XP3 + eheim 2236
25w UV
inline heater
ADA substrate
Temp holding at 83 deg F

Stocking...
4 wild discus (I would guess two are about 4-5" and two are 5-6" big).
8-10 Bristle nose's
lots of kribs.. (errr... 8-10 large ones and a bunch of babies)
Lots of raspora's (30?)
2 clown loaches 
Few MTS (almost all gone now.. yay)

Normal maintance is water changes twice a week... 40% on wed and 50-60% on sat. Plant trimmings as needed.


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## Jonney_boy (Apr 28, 2010)

Here is a pic of the other 3 discus

http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/7015/img3349h.jpg

Maybe somebody with more experience can take a look at them and see if they look healthy or if something is really wrong......

If you wanted other pics of the fish, just let me know and I'll snap them....

As for the sick, injured fish. The gash does seem to be healing a bit in the sense that it does not look so fresh anymore. The fish is starting to get a little bit of colour back into it BUT has decided it likes the top corner of the tank now... which has me really worried.

The kribs will be out of the tank by tomorrow.. along with that large drift wood..... if the discus does not look like it's getting better i'll move it to a QT tank (which is setup and ready to go, but I rather not "shock" the fish by moving it if I don't have to).


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## traco (Apr 22, 2010)

If he is starting to hide in the top corner, and being dark and with a gash, I would pull him and put into a hospital tank. Not sure if you should try the salt or go straight to meds ... you could start with salt and see how he does but watch him and see how he does. He being so thin and not eating is a concern.


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

they are all getting pretty thin in the head. they could have internal parasites. hows their poo? dark? trouble with wilds..they get that thin head . 
if hes sitting up top..and still dark..id say hes not very happy. your tank looks nice. you may need to take him out and treat him. he may need more than meds for an owie. id say the mark is just from hitting the driftwood or something . or..those kirbs can make some pretty impressive injuries if they keep butting him when hes near the cave. i had a school of congos in with a mated pair..and they had sores all over their stomachs. it was from them charging and attacking them on the stomach.


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## catgoldfish (Apr 21, 2010)

Jonney_boy said:


> Here is a pic of the other 3 discus
> 
> http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/7015/img3349h.jpg
> 
> ...


 Love the tank. The other 3 fish you have there look healthy. Just quarantine him. Try the salt if it doesn't work go to meds. A gash like that takes a fair bit of time to heal over. Keep us posted.


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## Jonney_boy (Apr 28, 2010)

I'm sad to say, the injured discus didn't make it. I went to move it to the QT tank yesterday morning and it was already gone, resting on a piece of driftwood 

Anyhow, all the driftwood and most of the kribs have been moved out of the tank to hopefully prevent this from happening again. 

As for the rest of the discus, I've noticed that while they are eating, they arn't eating much. They don't chase after the food (like when I first got them) but rather just wait for the food to land on the ground, wait another 4-5 mins then go pick at it for 15 mins or so. I'm not sure if something is wrong here... I've increased the feeding to 4 times a day now with tetra bits and some marine flakes.

I know April asked how the poo looks like, Unfortunally i've yet to see them "take a dump" yet, so I will report back as soon as I do.


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

hi there..sorry to hear..when they start sitting up top and dark..hate to say it..but checking out usually. 
to be honest..id pull them all out..put them in a small tank..daily wcs..high heat, and see if they eat. dont bother throwing in 4 feeds of tetrabits a day..id say its not getting eaten and goinng to make the water quality go downhill ..very fast. 
watch and see if they are eating or putting it in their mouth and spitting it out. there may not be poo..as they arent eating. stop feeding for a day..or two..then introduce a small cube of bloodworms in the morning and see if they come up to eat it and actually swallow it. if your overfeeding..why would they run to the top to eat. crank the heat also..see if it stimulates their appetite.


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## Jonney_boy (Apr 28, 2010)

Update:

Setup a 20 gal tank last night and let the temp settle down first. The discus are now in the tank. 

April, when you ask us to "crank the heat".. how high do you really mean?? This tank has a large (ac 110) hob filter on it so O2 should be ok.. i'm sitting at about 84-85 deg F right now.

I know this tank is a bit small for the fish, so i'll keep up with the 50% daily water changes. Should I also be adding some aquarium salt to the tank too?


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

88 or 90 but have an airstone for oxygen. yeah add salt. wont hurt. the high heat gets them eating better. higher metabolism.


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## Jonney_boy (Apr 28, 2010)

how that the fish are in their own tank, I can finally see their poo.

Here's a pic of it, I found 2-3 pieces of this in the tank in a 24 hour period so they are pooing...... So far i've been starving them for 24 hours. Tank is up at about 86-88 with twice a day 40% water changes. I'm adding 1 tsp of aquarium salt per water change.

Fish looks to be doing well (after the shock of the move to another tank).

After doing a lot of reading on the net, it seems that some people are suggesting to dose some pazaipro into the tank as a preventive measure.

Sunday afternoon or Monday afternoon I will drop some blood worms into the tank and see how they eat

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/6679/img3420j.jpg


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

id hold off on the prazzi pro for now..well it wont hurt..its only good against tapeworms and flukes. for discus you need double dose to have any effect. 
feed them bloodworms and their poo should get nice and dark. blackish if they are eating. hopefully they come up and devour them. 
if any concerns about worms..theres a great dewormer from plymouth discus in the uk called kusori. works on alot of parasites. one time dose and the discus perk right up and brighter eyes etc.


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## Jonney_boy (Apr 28, 2010)

Thanks for the info......... I ordered a package of the Kusori just in case so it should be here in a few weeks hopefully ... "just in case"...


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

They send pretty quick.


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## Jonney_boy (Apr 28, 2010)

That's good to hear....

Quick update:

Discus are being fed blood words twice a day now, they seem to be eating again. I'm feeding them "one block" each time and they are finishing it all in about 5 mins.

I've also tried to drop some tetra-bits every once in a while, but they seem more interested in the blood worms right now... I also bought some of the frozen Hakari discus food.... i'll see how they like that tomorrow...


I guess the short term plan is to feed them what they will eat, and get them "fat" again.......


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