# My Discus is sick.



## Sapphire (May 26, 2010)

One of my 4" discus has some tiny white lumps growing out from the head area. I dont know what they are and how treat it. Any one has any idea?


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

doesn't look good. Go back to where you get it from if it is a new purchase and ask about it. How about the rest of your other discus?


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## mollyb (May 18, 2010)

overall, the fish looks to have a thickened slime layer, I highly suspect bacterial infection, but won't rule out protozoal. My advice sounds like a broken record, sorry. Raise temp (90 degrees F) increase aeration, Kanaplex is good for bacterial, especially internal, but you can try Furan2 as well, nice broad spectrum, but I think works better for external, anything with formalin will work for protozans. I would try both.


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## mollyb (May 18, 2010)

My experience is that your other discus would be at immediate risk, I would treat.


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## mollyb (May 18, 2010)

Some people get results with Metronidazole, my success has been limited


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## josephl (Apr 21, 2010)

Sapphire said:


> One of my 4" discus has some tiny white lumps growing out from the head area. I dont know what they are and how treat it. Any one has any idea?


That's pretty far gone for a 4" discus. I would say water changes twice a day and sea or aquarium salt to help build the slime coat. I'm a fan of avoiding any chemicals with discus other than Prime but that's just me.

If it's a new fish, I would definitely return it.


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## hamburgerhelper (Mar 16, 2013)

Looks like HITH (Hole In the Head) Disease or Hexamita. Another good sign is if it has no appetite and has white fluffy feces. As mentioned above, do a large water change, increase the temp, and try treating with meds that contain Metronidazole. I've used General Cure with much success in the past. Also, I've used epsom salt which seemed to help. You can google to see the different ways people have used it (some just add to water, some soak the food in epsom salt/water if their fish is still eating). Good luck! Hope it makes a full recovery


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## mrbob (Aug 9, 2012)

I would ask Rick and listen to him he knows I have to agree with ham helper looks like hole in head discus get this...but please talk to Rick...


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

He has more than hole in te head. No one can give you good advice without knowing more about your water, tank mates. Did you add fish from
Different sources? New discus and he's perfect
But old one sick? If that's the case the innocent one suffers. He's almost
Black. skin disease or systemic . Wc routine? Daily? Even parameters? Ammonia? 
If it's bacterial you don't want to raise the heat at all. It would go
Like wildfire
If it's viral then I'd do furan 2 and salt. One tablespoon per 10 gallons ..
If he's in with other kinds of fish and substrate etc put him in a clean bb tank .
So you can do 50 percent or more wc daily and retest each day. 

Forget the metro for now . If anything that would be a secondary infection due to stress. 
One very good meds is bifuran . Works external and internal. 
But don't go dumping meds. Randomly until you assess what's going on. Move him first and do salt treatment . 
Give us more info.


Sent by tapatalk in north Burnaby


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## mollyb (May 18, 2010)

There is no antiviral action for Furan 2. Furan 2 contains Nitrofurazone, a topical antibiotic with antibacterial activity, no anti viral activity, and is useful for prevention and possible treatment of secondary infection, as well as Furazolidone, a related but different drug, which also has antibacterial activity and no antiviral activity but is useful against a broad spectrum (both gram + and gram -) particularly Strep., staph and salmonella infections, however, rather poorly absorbed through skin and mucous membranes, gills may be a different story. The doubling time for bacteria is usually temperature dependent, but fish are cold blooded animals and their metabolism (read immune system) is influenced also by the temperature they are kept at. The bacteria are already doubling pretty rapidly, raising the temperature is an attempt to increase the resistance of the fish (host reaction). 

From the picture given, I see no evidence of any hole, just a thickening of some layer on the fish with more concentration at some localizations along the head area (thus the white areas). 

The decision to treat or not treat is of course up to the aquarist with the fish, I only told you what I would do, and I would treat this fish. If I thought it was isolated, I would remove the fish and treat individually, but I doubt this would be isolated, and not everyone has the ability to place the fish in another tank/vessel for treatment.


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## mollyb (May 18, 2010)

Is the other golden discus you were giving away in (was in?) the same tank?


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## Sapphire (May 26, 2010)

Hi Molly, yes they were in the same tank. They seems to be having the same sickness. I have tried raising the temp with no success. The golden discus didn't pull through. 

As for tank mates, I have a adult angel 5", two blue tetra, and 8" ghost knife. I have been doing large water changes (70%) all these times for last 7 years. 

Out of the 3 new discus I got, only one seems to be fine.

I cannot return them as that guy told me to meet in the middle of the street and he only gave me a number that I can text him (some kind of internet service phone number).


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## mollyb (May 18, 2010)

raising the temp is not an instant thing, only helps the metabolism, but it may help the one that looks OK to fend off the issue. maybe. I keep my discus at 84 - 86 routinely, raising to 88 or 90 for a week or so if they look off. At least, according to my thermometers...


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## Sapphire (May 26, 2010)

April said:


> He has more than hole in te head. No one can give you good advice without knowing more about your water, tank mates. Did you add fish from
> Different sources? New discus and he's perfect
> But old one sick? If that's the case the innocent one suffers. He's almost
> Black. skin disease or systemic . Wc routine? Daily? Even parameters? Ammonia?
> ...


Hi April,

I got 3 discus from a guy on craigslist 2 week ago. They were all thin but didn't seems like they were sick. One golden one died yesterday. The snakeskin is dying. I did notice this guy turned dark a few days ago, but I didn't know he was sick. Cuz I had a snakeskin discus before, had him for 5 years, he sometimes turned dark but changed back to his original color after awhile.

I have isolated my sick discus in a clean bb tank. I will probably just do salt and see what happen.

All my other fishes are healthy except my ghostknife sometimes has white slim on him, but after WC the white slim dissappear. I am not sure if this is related to why my two new discus got sick and died.

Brian


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Moved thread to Hospital Section for more exposure.

Good luck.


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## Sapphire (May 26, 2010)

He's a goner too..


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## Stan's Discus (Oct 29, 2012)

Sorry to here that. But never never take a sick fish and put with other fish. And the person that sold you that fish is a A-- > If the fish looks sick don't buy it . Don't even take it for free


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## Matt & Larissa (Sep 1, 2011)

Sorry for your loss. If you still have the 3rd discus, I suggest quarantining and treating just to be safe. I've only had success treating discus when I've caught the disease really really early. Good luck


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## mrbob (Aug 9, 2012)

This is why I now always quarantine min 4 weeks I use paragaurd first week and keep eyes open for white poo and all the other signs and eating good..Craigslist scary if I can't see the fish first in there tank eating I wouldn't buy.,. I have only purchased from the awesome members here.. No problem s so far....sorry to hear what happend to you..


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

Sorry to hear. A lot of people sell discus when their health is failing or they haven't looked after them. 
Thin discus is bad news. 
Taking on others problems 


Sent by tapatalk in north Burnaby


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