Advice Needed

shane

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Nov 29, 2006
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I noticed one of my discus had a white excrement today. The discus hasn't eaten the past few days.

Anybody have any advice on how to tackle this? Take the fish out into a hospital tank to treat? Then add a UV sterilizer to make sure nothing will spread to other fish?

Anybody who have discus know a good treatment for this?
 

Carissa

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Jun 8, 2007
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Sounds like internal parasites possibly....I have no experience with discus, but normally the treatment is to feed the fish an antiparasitical food. Adding medication to the water usually won't fix an internal problem like this and will just cause stress. I would feed it to all the fish since it's very possible they all have or will get it.
 

shane

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Nov 29, 2006
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I never heard of antiparasitic food. What is it called?

Will it cause any harm to the plants, filter, etc?
 

orion2001

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Mar 27, 2008
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Hi Shane,

I think Jungle Labs makes some antiparasite medicated food. However the problem is that it apparently tastes nasty as fish will rarely eat it. I've had very little success trying to get my fish to eat it when I've had trouble. The other option is to research what medication is good for internal parasites (I can try to look it up for you later today) and then soak regular fish food in a solution containing the medication and feeding that to the fish.
 

shane

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I am going to take the sick discus out into a hospital tank.
 

Carissa

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Jun 8, 2007
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A UV may reduce the possibility of the parasites migrating to another fish, if they haven't already.
 

shane

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Any recommendations on a good UV sterilizer? How many watts, etc?
 

Carissa

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Jun 8, 2007
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I don't know a whole lot about them, but I was doing some research a while back and one important thing is that the flow is not too high, because if it is too high it won't be as effective. Also an old bulb will not be as effective as a brand new one. I got an internal filter with UVC led's in it for a lot cheaper than a regular UV light, but I'm not sure that the effectiveness is as high as the fluorescent ones. It was made by Aquael. It did stop my recurring bouts of ich and parasites though and it was only $40. Unifilter, I think it's called.
 

shane

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Would you say your fish are healthier because of the ultraviolet? I do have a discus that scratches on the driftwood alot.
 

trd1

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Jan 14, 2008
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Hi, I have been running a DeBary UV steriliser 15w (made in Germany) on a 100g tank that is 7 months old. So far so good, though if I had not run one would it have made a Difference? It does tend to slow the water flow a little (not that noticeble though), but I would rather be safe than sorry.

I know that Pentair make modules that include UV sterilisers. My friend bought a cheaper Chinese made one & it has already cracked. He is having trouble getting spare parts & it is just sitting under the tank gathering dust. I had no problem getting spares with mine, though they are a bit pricey & you have to shop around. You get what you pay for I suppose :D

Eventually I would like to get a smaller unit for my 10g quarantine tank (the big boss likes them, so it shouldn't be too hard to convince her we need one for the QT ;) )

Hope this helps

Cheers
 

shane

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Nov 29, 2006
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Thanks trd1,

I am on the fence about putting a UV on my planted discus tank. I have (2) discus in a hospital tank right now. Both of them werent't eating and one had white poop. Medicating the tank and now one is beginning to eat. Just wondering if I should UV sterilize the main tank just to make sure there isn't anything bad flating in the water.
 

Carissa

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Jun 8, 2007
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Before I got my UVC light, I had constant issues with flashing and occasional random deaths, besides a recurring bout of ich that wouldn't seem to go away. Since I got it, I haven't seen any of those problems. I don't think it just went away on it's own - I had problems for months prior to that. However, internal parasites probably need to be treated with antiparasitical food, besides the UV light. I don't know of any reasons not to run a UV light, besides the expense.
 

Carissa

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Jun 8, 2007
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It quickly rubs against a surface in the tank, a plant, rock, or whatever, usually due to irritation of the skin due to external parasites. It's called flashing I think because the sudden movement will look like a light flash in the tank as the fish rotates it's body and reflects the light.