Outbreak

Hello I have a 55 gal Community tank water parameters are all in acceptable range water temperature is 80° I had recently added 2 new fish to my tank and lazy stupid me I did not quarantine them as I usually do because the redline shark and big red discus. Looked good very active. Now as soon as I added them the redline went to the bottom and stay there died three days later. Now I have lost 1 fish a day from that day to today. All showing no signs of any problems until death. Using metro flakes and metro powder for the water. With no effect. Lost about 8 fish so far.
Now 2 rainbows are not eating and one has something on his back as shown in the pic. Any advice will be appreciated. Plan on doing a 50% water change ASAP.

 

Do you notice any aggression? What is your GH and KH?

 

Looks like columnaris, drop temp. 7 degrees and medicate fast

 

Water temp is on the high side. Like bam said what's your GH and KH and how did you acclimate them? Discus like RO water and brackish water, what's your salinity? The picture almost looks like it's an injured fish. I would put it in your hospital tank and treat it.

 

Water temp is on the high side. Like bam said what's your GH and KH and how did you acclimate them? Discus like RO water and brackish water, what's your salinity? The picture almost looks like it's an injured fish. I would put it in your hospital tank and treat it.

RO water and brackish water? That's a borderline oxymoron.

Discus are not brackish fish. They're from acidic tannin-stained fresh water.


It does look like columnaris, and as mentioned above you need to lower the temperature and medicate quickly or your tank will be wiped out.

 

RO water to remove heavy metals and tap water toxins, and adding marine salt to 20ppm to make a brackish water (the same as you do with salt water aquariums); sorry for the confusion and seeming oxymoronish.

I believe the discus thrive in the southern Amazon rivers where it mixes with the salt water of the ocean making it a brackish water environment as far as I remember but please correct me if I'm wrong as I don't want to give false information.

Discus
Discus originate in the mixed tropical waters of the Brazilian Amazon River of South America. The Amazon and its tributaries contain water described as either white, clear or black. It is in the areas where these waters "mix" that Discus are found. Today, the Discus is a favorite among experienced freshwater aquarists and does very well in planted aquariums.

-From liveaquaria.

I've only had a few over the years and they seemed to do fine in ro brackish planted tanks for me but switched to mollies for the larger bio load.

 

Liveaquaria is a garbage source, but it still mentions nothing about brackish water. White water is fast moving water, clear is self explanatory, and black refers to a a build up of tannins and sediment.
Disc61 will know for sure.

 

What is columnaris and how is it treated? Just curious as it sounds quite scary!

 

RO water to remove heavy metals and tap water toxins, and adding marine salt to 20ppm to make a brackish water (the same as you do with salt water aquariums); sorry for the confusion and seeming oxymoronish.

I believe the discus thrive in the southern Amazon rivers where it mixes with the salt water of the ocean making it a brackish water environment as far as I remember but please correct me if I'm wrong as I don't want to give false information.

Are you sure you meant ppm? I think you're talking about ppt. In ppm the amount of salt in a brackish environment would be somewhere around 0.0002 rather than 20.

 

Lol yes aquaphobia I'm just use to typing ppm I guess it's a habit

Edit- I did call my buddy who has several discus fish and confirmed its not a brackish fish although mine did survive in a brackish planted tank

 

What is columnaris and how is it treated? Just curious as it sounds quite scary!

Bacterial infection usually infecting the fins and gills, in severe cases the scales and flesh.

Melafix and a temperature no higher than 75f should clear it up. A friend uses melafix/primafix mix just incase it isn't for sure columnaris.

 

Oh my.... it's a rainbow fish that has columnaris!!! Forget about salted discus..

 

Thanks MikeRad89. I think I need to keep some Melafix on hand JIC. I just have paraguard on hand. I think I need to start a separate thread about what meds to have on hand in the first aid kit!

 

Melafix is useless.. go to petsmart and get some furan2

 

Thank you all.

Columnaris is correct or saddle back! Thank you all.

 

Piggybacking here because I also have a fish with suspect columnaris infection - Will furan2 harm inverts or the beneficial bacteria? Will I have to re-cycle? Thanks

 

Probably, may leave some of the cycle in tact but it will kill everything In your tank if left alone.

 

Any fish with visible signs of infection of any kind should be removed and put in a sick tank and treated there. But all odds are the entire tank is infected.

 

Any fish with visible signs of infection of any kind should be removed and put in a sick tank and treated there. But all odds are the entire tank is infected.

Not really, tank is infected and moving will just add further stress. Best route treat entire tank volume