Hello! A friend of mine sent me this video: daten-transport.de . She has 2 young discus fish with infected gills, a third young discus has died suddenly. Could it have anything to do with the white worm in the vid? What is it? The video can be watched/will exist for about 6 days. One has to click the above link and then on "vid_20180614_170105.mp4" Many thanks in advance!
Video doesn't load. What size is the tank? Can we get pictures instead? What are the parameters? Does she use RODI water? What does this white worm look like? Are there any other symptoms? Kind of sounds like gill flukes, ammonia burn, or a possible parasite.
Thanks to both for trying. It takes my computer a few minutes after I click "vid_20180614_170105.mp4", but it does work. I cannot upload it from my PC, the site says it's too large. My friend sent me a picture but one does not see the white worm/parassite: in the video it can only be seen when it starts moving. She said it floated on the water - and caught and filmed it in a thin plastic container. According to her it made "convulsing movements" and "moved like a snake". Length: about 0.5 cm/0.2 inch. The picture does not copy and paste. I'll send a message and hopefully get something more useful tomorrow, now it is 22:50. She had two discus fish left after one died in a 120L/30 gal tank. Since a few days she has a larger tank for the Symphysodon. It came with other young discus fish, 5 if I remember correctly. I do not know tank size - she is some 1000 miles away, in Germany. I do not know if the new tank came with RODI, the old one had none. I'll ask about parameters. The worm is very thin but long for its diameter. White worms and grindals are sturdier. In the video it moves straight ahead like an earth worm does. Would you have the scientific name of gill flukes? That would make it easier to find the German name.
You bet! I write now, although I doubt that she is still awake. Not impossible, though. She is obviously very upset about the whole emergency in her tanks. Maybe she is in front of her computer trying to figure things out. Thanks to you both for your help.
Thank you. I forwarded your message. She has not answered yet. She mentioned how much this second tank would cost new. I did some googeling, assuming that it is the same brand as the 30gal, which seems to be common in Germany. It might be a 120 gallon. Daily 50% water changes is quite a couple of buckets..
New info: No other worms than the one caught has been spotted. The water seems to remain murky. She is about to buy a test kit for water parameters and did not specify what the test strips she used until now indicate. She uses distilled water to regulate pH. A reverse(d) osmosis water plant/apparatus is due next week. She is going to do another water change.
Okay. When you say murky, do you mean kind of cloudy and white? This may be a bacteria bloom, which leads me to believe that there's ammonia in the tank, it's not cycled, and the fish are suffering from ammonia burns. I would really suggest preparing for fish like these before adding them to a tank. They're very sensitive. I also believe they need a much larger tank, but maybe @75g Discus Tank can help with that.
Exactly, mildly cloudy and - I guess- whitish. The opposite of crystal clear. The ammonia thing sounds scary. As soon as I have more detailed information on tank size and water parameters I'll let you know.
All right. Tips for Cycling Your New Aquarium - The First Tank Guide - Getting Your Fish Tank Up and Running with Minimal Headaches https://www.liveaquaria.com/article/62/?aid=62 https://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=2303 Here's some more information on how to cycle a tank and what ammonia is.
Thank you. I just discovered this info in my inbox: KH: 5 pH: 7,2 NH4: 0,05 NO2: 0,1 - due to the food [overfeeding?] NO3: 80 - due to feeding bovine heart Tomorrow she'll do a water change. The tank is a 240 liter / 63 gal (my assumptions were somewhat too optimistic).
All right. The ammonia and nitrites are too high. They should both be at 0 ppm, meaning that the tank isn't cycled. Your nitrates are also way too high. They should be under 20 ppm. I would really suggest performing a water change today. Daily water changes, probably 50%. Use Seachem Prime to detoxify the ammonia and nitrites. I believe 63-gallons is okay, but hopefully the person I tagged can add onto that.
The water change will be done later today. It's 6 hours later here than in Florida. But I think many people do not work on Saturdays in Germany, so it could be a matter of not too many hours. It would be great also to receive feedback from an experienced discus fish owner.
I don't actually keep discus, my name is just a play on words Looking at the video, I believe it's too big to be detritus, which leads me to believe it's a fluke. Since they are parasitical, it would die without a host. Did it die in the cup?
