discus

I had 2 discus for 6months+ and were doin fine until i bought 2 more.After a couple of wks i noticed they were sick(not eating and off colour).They ended up getting hole in the head and all died.Does any1 know how long it is before i can introduce more into the tank or wud the host be still there its being at least 6 months since?

Very true John.Im sure the water was alright as i was always checkin it and my other 2 were thriving the only reason i got the other 2 was 2 stop the fighting(maybe thats what cud hav brought it on)or at least spread it around a bit but i noticed a day after i put the new 1's in that 1 of their eyes turned white and started peeling.I 100% agree wit u on the quarntine tank and will be doin that in future

Despite much that is written on the subject, I agree fully with JohnH on the comments on general keeping being the prime problem with Hole-In-The-Head.

Even if we look at the putative causal agent (which, by the way, I find no evidence for them being the cause !!!) then that is usually got rid of by things like Octozin. from Waterlife,(using a three day course). eSHA also produce an excellent medication. Both are very safe to use with Discus (although take care about using too much in case of any long-term effects).

Those medication are also good general treatments anyway.

A good clean of the aquarium is good practice anyway. You should not need to do an extended period before re-introducing fish.

But, you need to make sure that it doesn't occur again:.....

Hexamita (or even spironucleus) are not, in my opinion, the cause of H-I-T-H.
They may, however, be detected. Often, in a weakened state, Capilaria worm may compromise the gut....and hexamita and spironucleus (different animals, but very similar) may move from the gut to the rest of the body....including the head and brain region.

Once Hole-in-the-head starts, then there will be secondary bacterial infection that needs to be attended to.

In general, a good varied diet (with vitamins A, C and D...and B's for good measure) with calcium at the very least needs to be given.
The food should not be too heavy on the 'easily digestible' food...else that will cause long-term gut problems.

Clean water.....a must. Clean water beats attempting changing pH and hardness anyday for healthy Discus keeping.
I would advise NOT trying to over-soften the water with H-I-T-H disease; a medium hardness is best and most Discus will cope with that.

Keep the temperature highish (28 to 30 C) unless raising it higher for special treatment purposes.

Still, Hole in the Head is a matter of debate as to the causatuve agent...
but treatments against the 'so-called' agent are still, nonetheless, very useful in treating what is a sick animal.

Ian

Cheers for the info Ian just wondering whats a good varied diet apart from the norm e.g bloodworm and flakefood.I tried discus food wit lettuce or spinach in it but they werent bothered wit it.

patrick cullen wrote:

Cheers for the info Ian just wondering whats a good varied didt apart from the norm e.g bloodworm and flakefood

Discus can be fussy eaters at times…..from being very greedy-eat-anything to the extreme of refusing most foods and then only if you feed them wearing a blue t-shirt 

So, as varied as they will eat.

Uneaten food is often a source of problems in Discus (as any) tank. One nibble of a piece of food that has been left to get fungus on it can be fatally toxic to fish.
As Discus fish are grazers…they tend to be the type of fish that will stumble upon the mouldy food.

I would recommend getting some good quality spirulina flakes to go with the flakes at least. If they eat them, then that will be great.

Minced heart is a good food, but….BUT…BUT…it will cause gut function problems in the long-term as it is soft-easily-digested. That leads to difficulty in digesting it.
For growing Discus up very rapidly, beef heart is often used….but it needs care.

How about frozen brine shrimp? Or frozen daphnia? All good food.

Maybe even a variation on the dried food…something like a granular food maybe.

Unless you have a load of fish, buy smaller containers of food to keep it fresh (in the long term it is good economy).

Avoid fatty foods or high-carbohydrate content food.

And to go with all that food that Discus must have (10% of body weight per day for maximum growth rate), regular partial water changes.
Different people have different water change regimes, and there are many different theories:
10-20% a week is the absolute minimum….but you may wish to try 10-20% per day for young growing fish.
Some go for frequent massive water changes (maybe 90% once per week). That works fine….but needs care, and I would only recommend that method if care can be guaranteed.

One thing that is a real problem is, however, doing very little in water changes then suddenly doing massive water changes.
Use a vitamin B1-based chloramine/chlorine removing and heavy-metal chelating water conditioner on all water changes…eg Aqua-Safe.

Thanks for that some good info