Dying Discus - HELP! - Didn't make it

[Soft1]

Our fishy friend didn't make it.  The whole thing lasted about 45 minutes and then it went quietly.

We're now in the process of doing a large water change in the discus tank and going to triple dose Prime and hope we don't lose any more.


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We did a partial water change earlier this week in our Discus tank and everything looked fine.  Nitrate, Nitrite, Amonia...all was spot on!

We noticed tonight that one of the Discus was swimming near the surface - so we tested and noted a sudden Nitrate spike of 40!  We immediately added Prime and did another partial water change.

The Discus is almost jumping out of the tank and sticking its head part way out to gasp at air.  Suddenly it dropped to the bottom and is lying on it's side gasping for air.  We moved it to the hospital tank where the nitrate is 0 and no change.  It's struggling and I have no idea what else to do!

[Aquaviewer]

Sorry to hear about your fish.  Was it just the one fish that was affected?  If so, how are the other fish behaving? Are any other fish missing (I'm thinking dead fish in the tank as a source of the Nitrate??).  When was the last time you cleaned the filter?  Others have suggested that long term buildup can lead to elevated nitrates( I have not experienced this myself).

Also, check the nitrates in your tap water. 

Just thoughts...

[fishycanuck]

I'm sorry to hear about your fish. That's tough.

I don't know the history of your tank - how long it's been running, usual parameters, stock, etc. I could help you better with more information.

I see more problems related to excessive filter cleaning than to inadequate filter cleaning. A weekly swish in used (read: dechlorinated) water will rinse off debris, but anything more will flush away your helpful bacteria.

Is it safe to triple-dose Prime?

[RossW]

Is it safe to triple-dose Prime?

The bottle says you can dose up to 5X.

[PaleoFishGirl]

Sorry to hear about your fish, discus are *so* sensitive... I hope you don't lose any more!

Whatever you do, don't flush the discus!  >>>speaking from experience here unfortunately

[Soft1]

thanks all!

The tank's been up and running since July '07.  We had it going nicely then went through a rough patch for a few days...lost two Discus suddenly.   For the 'history' bits... http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=19785.msg142041#msg142041

Since Sept we've not had any problems...  Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia all 0, PH is around 6.2 - 6.5, etc.  Everyone's been looking good - haven't added any new fish.

So, it's a 55g with (now) 5 juvie Discus, 4 juvie clown loaches, 2 Columbian Sharks (who are very happy and not aggressive in this tank...grins), 10 serpae and long skirted tetras and 2 female mollies - 1 pregnant molly with her mate. (I know it's not typical to put the mollies in there but they are doing well...always have, have babies and they make it too - e.g., we just collected 25 fry from that tank a week or so ago).

We did a 50% water change last night - dosed 3 x Prime (per instructions in case of emergency you can dose up to 5 x).  Only 1 fish was at the surface aside from the Discus we lost - a very very very preggy molly, and 1 bn pleco.  But we've noticed that she behaves this way when she's about to drop a load.  All the other Discus look fine - very colourful which had us concerned about the Nitrate poisoning.  Today, colours look fine - no fish loss during the night.  We would need to do some major reorganizing to look for the Pleco but we may just do that tonight if we get another spike.

We also decided to check our Angel tank and noticed the Nitrate had spiked there too (it was also changed earlier in the week).  It's been wonderfully stable and no fish loss or problems - surprisingly after we did a 30% change last night ALL the fish were gasping at the surface - so we triple dosed on Prime and this am it seems fine.  Some fish are still at the surface but not behaving abnormally - this 55 g tank has mollies, platties, tetras, 2 clown loaches, a couple of corys, 6 angels - juvies, and a pair of algae eaters.

[Soft1]

Don't 'flush' the fish?  as in the toilet flush or with a salt bath? or?

[PaleoFishGirl]

As in 'toilet'    Not one of my shinier moments 

[Aquaviewer]

If you are having problems in multiple tanks it points to problem with your source water.  Have you checked that?

[jodes22]

I am so sorry to hear about your fish... I have to agree that it sounds like it may be your source water 

[Soft1]

We suspect it may be amonia related...though the test showed 0 prior to the water change we did see it spike to .5 in one tank and a bit higher in the other. 

We live across from a cattle farm and we have well water...so that may be the source.  We did have the water tested for chlorine/chloramine and it's not showing any 'abnormal' results.  Nor did they find anything else 'abnormal' or above average.

The Discus tank has settled wonderfully back to normal...phew

The Angel tank lost 2 guppies and 1 tetra...1 guppy we can't see...all other inhabitants are accounted for except 1 guppy.  Nitrate is 10, Nitrite is 0 so we're making progress in that tank.  Amonia was just over 0 (don't recall the number right now).  Tonight, if the awol guppy has not reappeared we're going to remove all rocks, plants, etc. until we find her.