# Discus laying down on its side



## abdulthekewl

Hello there,
I have a 70 gallon tank, 2 amazon sword plants, canister filter and a UV light, with 8 Discus fish,

One of them, started laying down on its side, although it can swim and breath normally,

It's been almsot 24 hours since it started acting like that,

Am really concerned about the fish, Is that some sort of a disease or is it just over feeding problems as some people suggested?

One more thing, fortunately, the other ones are doing really well in the tank.

Please heeeeelp..!!!


----------



## cichlidaholic

It's not a good sign, regardless of the cause.

Do you have a hospital tank to isolate the fish in? If so, I would move it.

It appears to be very stressed, but that may be just from the illness.

It sounds like either a swim bladder injury, or possible organ failure. When organs fail, the body cavity will fill with fluid, and the fish will be unable to keep themselves off the bottom of the tank for extended periods of time.

There isn't much you can do for either other than keep the water pristine with daily water changes and hope for the best, unfortunately.

In alot of cases, water quality can cause these type problems, or injury.

Your tank looks amazing, and your other fish look very healthy. I'm willing to bet you do some heavy duty tank maintenance on the tank.

How long has it been set up?

What are the current water parameters?


----------



## abdulthekewl

thanks cichlidaholic for your reply and for complimenting my tank 

More information about the fish, it can swim to the top of the tank when another fish i acting aggressive around it or something, i mean the point is it can swim away from the ground but it tends to stay on the ground all the time.

The tank has been set up for over a year now.

I am still doing water changes regularly.

Is there anything i can do at the moment?


----------



## cichlidaholic

You can move him to a tank of his own and do daily water changes. There are meds available for swim bladder, but I've never known any of them to help. They either recover on their own or they don't.

If it is organ failure, you should notice some signs of sepsis, such as red streaks on the fins, tail or body. Antibiotics would be in order then.


----------



## abdulthekewl

ok the poor fish appears to have this area in the middle of the body where its stomache is, it appears to be a little bit squished into the inside...
could it be from not eating for 2 days?
or is it an indicator of the disease it is having?


----------



## cichlidaholic

I wouldn't think you would notice emaciation after only going 2 days without food, but it could be that the discus has had internal parasites for an extended period of time, which have resulted in the fish not eating and becoming emaciated.

You could try treating with one of the bloat remedies linked below, but I would also feed medicated food to the main tank just in case you are dealing with internal parasites.


----------



## abdulthekewl

Sorry for the delay.
I had to travel and I just got back home.

Alot of my discus fish died already so I only have 4 of them left in the tank 
What's killing me is 2 or 3 of them are just shrinking in side, they are so **** skinny.
I worked on the maintenance part, partial water changes and cleaning filters.
Here's how they look like now:














































Any idea what's going on with my fish?
I can't afford losing more fish!!


----------



## cichlidaholic

This post is over almost a year old!

Have you treated them with anything during this time?

How is their care managed in your absence? Feeding? Water changes? Please be specific...

You've been gone for almost a year?


----------



## abdulthekewl

cichlidaholic said:


> This post is over almost a year old!
> 
> Have you treated them with anything during this time?
> 
> How is their care managed in your absence? Feeding? Water changes? Please be specific...
> 
> You've been gone for almost a year?


Yes I've been away from home for almost a year but I had the chance to come home in December and tried treating them for parasite.
Treatment has been almost the same as I am doing now, a couple of parasite medication.
Feeding is once or twice aday.
Water changes haven't been that great...
But even when I was present, I used to maintain the tank very well..
External parasite disappeared, but my major problem is internal parasite..!!!


----------



## cichlidaholic

Unfortunately (for the fish), I'm not really surprised that the problem still exists.

They aren't being cared for properly. :-?

The longer you let parasites go in a tank, the worse the problem becomes. I'm not sure at this point that there is anything you can do for them.

Discus are HIGHLY sensitive to water quality. Most discus keepers do 2 or 3 water changes a week. These sound as if they've been sorely neglected.

I understand that life gets in the way of taking care of things properly at times, but when it does, we need to show responsibility and get someone else to take over.

I don't know what medications you have available to you there, but I would pick up something for internal parasites and treat them extensively. This problem isn't going to be resolved in a month's time, and I'm not sure you can save them. If you don't want to make the effort, I would euthanize them at this point.

I would also get the water back in shape, so that this problem doesn't re-occur.

I'm not sure what you expected with your post.

Pets are a responsibility, and if we aren't able to take care of them properly, they should be rehomed with someone who can.


----------

