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.