torren

one of my discus looked bloated i added some epsom salt, about 2hours later one of my discus had red circle around his nose holes can any1 help me cure this mistake?

Shawnie

I dont know how to help other than asking what are the water parimeters for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? how old is the tank? are there other fish in there? putting those up will help the discus members have a starting point...I hope some members have some answers and things get better soon!

aquarist48

Molly with popeye! will epsom salt help?
Check out this thread and go to #4 post. Sorry to hear you're having problems.

Shawnie

im not a fan of salt either but not sure how discus can handle it either way ....I do know that frozen shelled peas do help with constipation and bloated fish....feed a piece the size of its eye and it helps alot....fish will also look "bloated" after they have just eaten...but if its dropsy, thats an entire other issue and depending on how bad it is, ive read that aquarium salt will help in severe cases and I dont think epsom salt and aquarium salt are the same..but im not positive..usually prestine water changes and the pea will also help in beginning stages of dropsy....we have a few discus owners here and I hope they see this thread !

Fish_wise_man

Have you done any water changes at all? Did you do a water test too? Like checking with the water parameters. There might be a problem in your tank because you:

1. Haven't done a water change or siphoned the gravel in a long time

2. You didn't put a lot or enough dechlorinator for the tank.

3. You have been using too much salt.

Epson salt isn't good for the fishes. Aquarium salt is the salt for the fishes NOT epson salt as so I've heard.... and I think that you shouldn't be putting in anymore epson salt because Discus are from South America, and just like Angels, they don't like aquarium salt.

Aquarium salt is good for Guppies, Mollies, Platy fishes, and possibly Danios. I've known about this because I had salt poisoning in my tank before because of too much salt in the water, and my fishes were suffering except for my guppies, mollies and platies.

Try doing more frequent water changes and then you should be fine. Also, put some Aqua Plus and Cycle if you have it. Or any de-chlorinator stuff that people use to treat the tap water so it is safe for our aquarium fishes.

I hope this helps.

PS: Discus are very delicate fishes and they need to live in soft water conditions along with NO SALT. EVER!!!!!!

torren

i have a 125l tank and i do a 23l change every 5-7days, amo and nit are at 0.
red marks are still their to me they look like the fish has a cold lol dunno if the salt has damaged its nerves around the nose but the other fish are fine other that the bloated discus been told by the pet shop if i have tried all the treatments and nothing work it most likely cancer =(((( btw my fish are tank breed Discus not wild so are more hardy

Butterfly

Epsom salt isn't salt it's magnesium sulfate. It can be used in extreme cases for bloat(it's also a laxative) but all other solutions need to be exhausted first.
discus are very sensitive. I would suggest a large water change as first line of defense when a problem presents it's self.
First off- what are your water parameters ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates?
How long has the tank been set up?
If I'm calculating correctly that is a 33g tank.
How many discus and other fish are in it?
Carol

torren

their all 0, i have 7 dicus all around 2-4 ICH in size 5 neons 2 plec 2 cory. well i have try putting a breeding cone in and nothing so i guesting its cancer

penuinzorr

try feeding them brine shrimp. i've heard that is a natural way to get their bowels moving. there should be no adverse effects of using epsom salt on discus. got any pics?

cerianthus

Wondering how long you had this discus and where the pH is kept at? Is the one that is having problem a locally bred or imported captive bred specimen? If imported, how long did LFS had it before purchasing? Any Pics?

Although Aq Salt (Sodium Chloride) can be used for therapeutic purpose even for Discus, would not use it directly into tank with other healthy discus. Rather would do so in Q/T when necessary.
I dont see the reasons to expose healthy specimen to treatments or changing environment.

Can not recommend what to do or what possible illness this particular Discus is going thru at this point, not that i'll have answer for sure later but Q/T and observng until you can positively diagnose the problem might be good practice when dealing with unknown illness.

It is true that Discus are from very soft (very low dissolved mineral contents) water thus would avoid using salt in normal dscus tank, be it wild or captive bred, IMO.

BTW, Epsom Salt is a salt, Carol. Different kind of salt with different properties but still a salt.

Hope all goes well!

Butterfly

I respectfully disagree. Epsom salt is Magnesium sulfate a totally different mineral than salt which is sodium Chloride. It is called salt because of it's appearance.

There are alot of fish is a small tank. 33g is not really enough space for 7 Discus. How are your fish today ?
Are the discus gulping food from the surface? Could they be swallowing air? If you moisten their food before feeding it will fall instead of float and keep them from gulping at the surface. The tenth line down is why I asked about the food
http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/...beginner.shtml
Just some thoughts. Keep us posted as to how their doing.
Carol