2013-12-29 flubendazole

1/2 blind coral fish has lost weight and his fins are fraying.  He cannot get food effectively when competing with the other fish.  This is made worse by his behavioral reluctance to go to the bottom to get food.  I decided to move him to the QT to fatten him up.  There he can eat without competition.

One of the blue leopards is losing weight (wasting) and yet is still trying to eat.  He spits a lot of it back out.  This is consistent with the parasite issues I have had before.  Will try the following treatment but using flubendazole instead of levamasole.  Flubendazole is much better tolerated by the discus.  Added 90% of 1.5 tsp of 20% flubendazole to the big tank (i.e., 1/3 tsp/20 gallons).  Will need to repeat next week.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?77832-Capillaria-The-Cure&highl

addendum.  Flubendazole is effective against Capillaria:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22024017

2013-12-16

cleaned filter last week.

blue discus has white lesion on area immediately anterior to tail, similar to prior lesions on Golden Melon that resolved with Baytril.  1 lesion on Golden Melon resolved without treatment approximately 8 weeks ago.

Will add salt and follow up.  It is possible this is an injury rather than pathogen.

2013-9-1 Thinning plus Levamisole

Major thinning of plants yesterday plus added Levamisole.  Usual dosin is q 2-3 weekds at temp 75.  BC temp is 82, parasites life cycle speeds up but dot sure if it is this much.. 

Thinned glosso dramatically and removed it fro the dwarf hair grass.  Crypts and java grow well now that NPO4 added.   Adding double excel to keep down hair algae.

I notice the discus bc very lethargic  on the levamisole.  Did not read that anywhere but have noticed it the 3 times I've used it.  They will not eat today.  It was traumatizing for them when I cleaned the tank so thoroughly yesterday.
Need to do another water change Mon or Tues night.  I think the Golden Melon still has worms.  He's the one I got the last picture from.

2013-8-29 accidental formalin (Rid-Ich) overdose

Formalin OD

Accidentally added 9 TBSP to 90 gallon tank instead of 9 TSP!

 

See the ORP (redline) crash.  Tank became hypoxic.  Fish at surface gasping for air.  Did 50% water change ASAP and added airlines ASAP.  I think all the discus were saved.  Lost one rummy nose tetra.

 



2013-8-15 Capillaria eggs from Golden Melon discus

Proof positive for capillaria eggs in Golden Melon stool.  Treated for 3 days with levimasole at 5gm/100gallons.

SE makes fish sluggish and they don't eat with this treatment.

Now treating main tank to get newly hatched eggs from that tank.  Need to do it again in 3 weeks.

QT only has the albino coral.  Still can't figure out why he eats poorly and is so skittish.

2013-8-15 QT potential pathogen

Hexamita /Spironucleus

Hexamita is a small (3 -- 18 m) intestinal parasite commonly found in the intestinal tract of freshwater fish (Figure 10). Sick fish are extremely thin and the abdomen may be distended. The intestines may contain a yellow mucoid (mucus-like) material. Recent taxonomic studies have labeled the intestinal flagellate of freshwater angelfish as Spironucleus. Hexamita or Sprironucleus can be diagnosed by making a squash preparation of the intestine and examining it at 200 or 400x magnification. The flagellates can be seen where the mucosa (intestinal lining) is broken. They move by spiraling and in heavy infestations, they will be too numerous to be overlooked.

Figure 10. 

The recommended treatment for Hexamita / Spironucleus is metronidazole (Flagyl). Metronidazole can be administered in a bath at a concentration of 5 mg/L (18.9 mg/gallon) every other day for three treatments. Medicated feed is even more effective at a dosage of 50 mg/kg body weight (or 10 mg/gm food) for five consecutive days. See also IFAS Fact Sheet VM-67, Management of Hexamita in Ornamental Cichlids.

2013-8-13

QT TANK

Was going to move Golden Melon to big tank bc was eating well and being more aggressive to the companion sighted Coral Albino.  But then way white stringy poop from the Golden Melon.  No evidence of bacterial infx and the sores on the side were successfully eliminated by Baytril and the secondary fungal infx eliminated by salt and Rid Ich.

Stringy poop examined and saw 1 fluke like parasite and the tumbling egg-shaped parasites but not much else.  Specifically did not see capillaria eggs.

I had treated the big tank recently with Levmisole and all those fish are now eating well.  So I am treating the QT tank with Levmisole also.  Perhaps I should add them all back to main tank and treat the bunch again and perhaps I will, bc I need to treat the main tank again as it needs to be repeated q 3 weeks.

Both tanks maintained at pH 6.0 and the bio filters work at that pH.  At pH 4.0 the bio filters are knocked out.

2013-8-7 Disease update

Main tank has recovered well.  May need to repeat Levmisole next week to keep the cycle of parasites from repeating with newly hatched eggs.
The small flamingo red discus is eating again but will not eat with the other fish.  It acts traumatized, probably by all the housekeeping I have to do with the tank.
The 1/2 blind coral has remated with the same blue fish as before indicating health.

I have tried to increase Excel to cut down on hair algae and it looks successful.

I dropped the pH in the main tank to 6.0 with phosphoric acid and CO2.  This is for disease prevention effects.  No problem with increased ammonia.

QT tank:  The large Golden Melon looks to have recovered with 2 injx of Baytril 0.1cc IM QOD X 2.  Developed white spots c/w fungus.  Skin scraping showed nothing else but apparent fungal hyphae, though I have trouble discerning the diff bn fungal hyphae and algae strands bc the strands look green sometime to me.
For this I increased temp to 88F and added salt at 1 tbsp./5gal and added Rid-Ich Plus which is combo of formalin and malachite green.  Dosed q-12-24hrs.  After 2-3 days the spots have appeared to resolve.  The fish is not eating great but eating some.

The other coral albino that is not blind has been in the tank for 10 days or so for what looked like wasting disease.  He had withdrawn and stopped eating for a week before QT with no external signs of disease.  For this I dropped the pH gradually to 5.0.  I will go ahead and drop it further to 4.0 per Jack Wattley since it doesn't look like I'll have to QT more fish at this time.  He is eating enough to appear status quo in weight but clearly needs to gain.

Need to replace bulb in UV light.  Also I treated the main tank for cyanobacteria again this week with Chemiclean.
I ideally should do twice weekly water changes but clearly that is not practical at this time.

Crypts and Java fern grow well with added nitrogen.  Red plant needs further tweaking to grow faster to outpace the hair algae/algae on the leaves.

2013-7-23 disease update

clearly have pathogen in planted tank.  QT new fish 5 weeks and after introduction now 2 maybe 3 fish with the wasting disease sx.  One cured with Jack Wattley's pH lowering technique in QT tank but probably won't work in planted tank.  So added levimisole 5g yesterday.  Fish have all become lethargic and uninterested infood but not overtly in distress.  Read levimasole can cause this.  Will continue in hopes of finding a solution.  I suspect parasites given absence of external disease and little resp distress.  Sx withdrawal, lethargy, reduced/no appetite.

pH lowered to 6.
Nitrates <25. No ammonia nor nitrite.

May have to move all discus to QT tank but that won't remove pathogen from main tank.

http://www.bassleer.com/?cl=en
May look into this for more help.

2013-7-10

QT day #2 for snakeskin discus with wasting dz.  Dropped pH gradually to 4.7 from 6.0 this am.  Tomorrow will take it to 4.0 per Jack Wattley's rec for treating this.  Discus is eating brine shrimp only.  A little.

Resp 72.

2013-7-7

Tap water GH 60ppm
Tap water KH 60ppm.
50% water changes weekly.

Aqua water parameters
NH3 high.  no nitrite.  25 nitrate.
I may need to thin plants more.  Suspect that it's harboring bacteria.
GH & KH not much different than tap.

See new discus pix in tank.  Just back from vacation today with them one week in tank.
Golden Melon recurrence of raised lesions along lateral line and at tail along back bone line.

Pretty snakeskin has the discus wasting disease I'm afraid got him to eat today with a little pancure in brine shrimp.  Not hardy appetite but ate.

2013-6-11

After these 5-6 years I FINALLY figured out that the reason I have been disappointed int he plant growth in the 90 gallon aquarium is because I wasn't adding enough nitrogen!  I assumed that Flourish COMPREHENSIVE was indeed comprehensive!  It is not!  It does not contain enough nitrogen for the aquarium.  I added Stump Remover and IMMEDIATELY the plants greened up  and the java ferns started growing!  I had given up on java ferns.  This is the reason the swords never grew in this aquarium.  I had replaced them with cyrpts which are also gorowing well now.

2013-6-11

Received 4 fish from Kenny on 5/21/13.  Golden melon looked a little stressed as he was the biggest and less water and air left in his bag than the others.  Plus he had tail burns that the others didn't have.

Red larg (golden melon) discus listing to side, pectoral fins flailing resp rate 104 at temp 84F. Likely dx, constipation. Administered 1 ½ tbsp/10 gallons of Epsom salt at 1pm.  His resp rate normalized by 3 hours and he ate some brine shrimp.  doesn't seem to like bloodworms?  This is odd.

He has not eaten well since I got him. Others are eating well. Initial superficial fin infections have cleared with Maracyn 2 (minocycline) over 5 days. Then did 65% water change.

Today, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite all OK.  this is the third time since the new arrivals that the old coral 1/2 blind albino discus and the new carnation snakeskin have mated and laid eggs on the intake of the filter or the top of the heater.

 

I read that new additions might be treated with Prazi as a preventative, so I added Prazipro a few days ago.  I still suspect that parasites might be infecting the discus even the albino in the main tank, bc his growth rate is slow and he apprears underweight.  Hve feeded the new fish with flakes also and they are eating the flakes.  The older discus are too picky to eat flakes.

2013-5-3 Planted Cryptocoryne wedtii 'green'

I am giving up on the swords which have gradually declined for no clear reason.  Other plants look fine.  Planted crypts to take their place.

KH 40.  Will add 1 tsp

One day this week forgot and left filter off all night!
Thankfully, ammonia, nitrates, nitrite all 0 today.

Apex has been working well.

I need to add a circulation pump and maybe that will cut down on the algae at the bottom of the tank.

2013-3-27

Replaced filter gaskets.
cleaned filter.
Removed plants with fungus and large sword. 
Replaced far back pink light with another plant grow pink light.
Replaced front light with 6700K light last week.  All lights have now been replaced in last 6 months.
Fe 0.  This is where my problem with plants probably lies.

2013-3-24 current plants

carolina bacopa

water hyssop

 

glossostigmata

 

dwarf hair grass

ludwigia peurensis

 

water shamrock

 

2013-3-20

Replaced a bulb with 6700K bulb.
Plants don't look green and swords are anemic in particular.  Foreground plants are not doing well.  May need renewed substrate or more fert supp of substrate.
CO2 has remained in green level.

2013-3-13

Cleaned tank last night.
Added 2 tsps baking soda and all ferts.
Cleaned filter about 3 weeks ago.
Swords are looking pale.  Added 3-4 fert tabs to each.  Need to monitor iron closer.
Today Free Fe=0.
Fe chelated=0
KH 60ppm
Added 15ml Fe.

2013-3-12

Fish healthy except as noted. 
Albino still has some ? hole in head. but he's eating well and more vigorous than in the past.
Need to add more discus to try to see if OD blind discus can be incorporated back into big tank.  The others picked on him toom much when added back alone.  But don't have time before Merlefest.
Need to give medicated food again this month.  No signs of capillaria infection.

Swords never have looked as good in this tank.  Not sure why. 
I need to keep up with iron better.

2013-2-25

Got Apex.  Will install.

Filter leaked 1/2 inch water.  Will order gaskets.
Cleaned filter. Removed charcoal that had been used post-meds.
Still operating quarantine tank for fish blind OD. Other fished harrassed him when I tried to return to main tank.  No signs of infx.

2013-1-8 Disease outbreak notes

12/28/12 FISH DISEASE NOTES

 

Problem 1:

Used Prazipro (praziquantel) 1 tsp/20gal and metronidazole 150mg/10gal QOD for 2 weeks prior tentative diagnosis of Capillaria GI infection. 

I doubt this is resolved but am not sure.

 

Problem 2:

Blue Diamond discus developed infection on ride side behind gills aroud lateral  line and it spread to dorsal fin and finally to right eye before he died.  Process took about 48 hours.

 

Albino Coral discus developed it 12/28 AM and its resp rate increased noticeably eventually with it in resp distress gasping at top of tank.  At that time I moved it to the quarantine tank.

 

Today Albino Coral discus is in quarantine with 1 TBSP salt/5 gallons, Furan2 (, Maracyn(erythromycin 200mg) and Maracyn 2(minocycline 20mg). Temp 86F.  Triple sulfa added 8pm (Sulfathiazole 664mg, sulfamethazine168mg, sulfacetamide168mg) after Blue Diamond died.

 

Initially used Furan 2 (Niotrfuazone 120mg & Fuasolidone 50mg/tsp) in large tank for 24 hours without benefit.

 

 

Infected Albino Coral discus has resp rate 104. Clearly elevated.  Uninfected Albino Coral resp 80. Water temp. 85. ph 6.8.

 

12/29/12

Blue Diamond died last night.

Albino Coral may look a little better today.

Vet Rx Enroflaxacin for bath for Albino coral and

Fenbendazole for parasitic infx (Capillaria).

 

12/31/12

Cottony infection on Rt eye developed.  Still poor eating. Added Fungus Guard assuming it’s fungus.

Main tank fish eat febendazole medicated food ok.

 

1/3/13

Finished round 1 of febendazole. Repeat 2/1.

Yesterday after doubling salt content to 2 TBSP/5 gallons in desperate effort to save fish and repeating Malachite green dose over a 36h time period (higher than recommended doses) , the fungus patch fell off at the end of the day and the fish ate blood worms.  Microscopic exam confirmed it was fungus but surprisingly also showed innumberable fast-swimming, egg shaped organisms as well.  I don’t know what they are. Spoke with Dr. Crawford who advised against adding anti-parasite med on top of the enrofloxacin, malachite, and salt.  Suggested we could consider formalin after the side wound is fully healed.  It is healing.

The albino coral fish is eating a little daily but is not out of the woods.

 

1/8/13

Coral was sluggish todayin hospital tank.

NH3= 3.5ppm!  NO3=0. NO=0.  Enrofloxacin knocked out bio filter, I guess.

65% water change. 

Added 2 tbsp salt back.

Need to repeat NH3.

Fish had eaten a good deal the last 3 days.

2013-2-9

GH 60ppm.
KH 65 ppm.

2013-2-6

Alot to tell but no time.

Hospital tank with 1 albino coral discus with 1 blind eye.  There to gain weight and wait for the opportunity to add more discus.  I tried adding it to main tank but the others picked on it and prevented it from eating.

Hosp tank finally with 0 ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.

Main tank with 4 discus left.  Will add more but waiting to make sure I have no more of the losses due to wasting disease.