How to Cure Discus Disease
Discus fish add beauty to any freshwater aquarium. However, their susceptibility to several diseases earned them a reputation of being difficult to take care of. Discus disease can strike your tank anytime, but by identifying symptoms at an early stage of the disease and by taking the necessary action, your chances of saving your fish are good. But the best way of reducing the risk of discus diseases is to keep your fish in an ideal environment, which usually means right temperature, suitable and correct water composition, low levels of nitrogenous waste and proper diet.
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Things You'll Need
- Metronidazole (usually sold under the brand name Flagyl) Extra aquarium Chloromycetin, powder form Chemical filter media (e.g., activated carbon and polyfilters, protein skimming, ozone and UV sterilizers)
Instructions
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Test the water quality the moment you see signs of disease or unusual behavior among the discus fish.
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Ask your dealer or a vet if the fish in your tank can tolerate the treatment, because certain medications may cause harmful reactions to a number of discus fish.
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Get the dose right according to the volume of your tank and seek the advice of a vet. Certain pathogens will develop resistance once you don't add enough treatment, thus making the disease more difficult to treat.
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Increase temperature of the water from 30 to 36 degrees C for the next two days, and keep it at 36 degrees C for the next eight to 10 days if the discus develops a hole in the head or if it has White Spot, Velvet or Costia. Administer Metronidazole orally once in three days when the case is severe or if the fish has internal parasites. Feed it with medicated food every two to three days for the next 10 days. Otherwise, force feed the fish using a syringe without the needle if it has stopped eating.
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Move the fry to another aquarium as soon as they are big enough to feed on something else so that they won't have to subsist on secretions from the parent discus fish that may have developed gill flukes. Do not let fry aquariums get crowded.
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Use Chloromycetin to eliminate bacterial infections. Buy it in powder form and put 1 tsp. of it for every 100 liters of water.
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Increase the aeration and add an extra airstone or two to increase the oxygen supply, as many diseases cause gill problems.
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Remove treatments from the aquarium using a chemical filter media. Remember to remove them or switch them off during treatment.
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Tips & Warnings
Keep testing the water during the course of treatment. Lower the water temperature and look for other ways of dealing with the problem once you notice that the high water temperature is highly stressful for your discus. Cut down on feeding the discus during medication, as the fish won't feed much at this time.
Never mix treatments unless you have been advised to do so by a vet or manufacturer. Take dead fish out of the tank as soon as possible in order to keep the water from being polluted. Treat the main infection instead of the secondary one; treating the latter instead of the former will just perpetuate the disease.
