White Patch - increasing - Discus

[soumendu]

Hi Carl and Devon and other group friends

One of my friends is having this issue and i am trying to help him out a bit (within my limited knowledge). It started with one Discus

1. not eating anything
2. hiding
3. skin peeling off
4. one white patch  

and he reported it after 5 days (as per him). I advised him to start with MB + Metronidazole bath and in tank treatment with Kanamycin and Metronidazole. Below is the image. Please notice the white (kind of bruised area). 




After treatment - the fish looks much better (it has yet not started to eat) , but is more lively , not hiding , and looks greatly improved physically - except that the white patch has increased. 

Here is the image which i got from him - the current status :



Please help or suggest as to what the infection is ? Is this a fungal or Parasitic infection ? I have asked him to add salt to MB + Metronidazole bath ..and in tank continue Kanamycin + Metronidazole. is that sufficient ? The Discus has not eaten yet. 

Thanks for all the help in advance as always 

[devonjohnsgard]

I can't tell if the white patch has fuzz on it, which would be a mold from bacteria. It looks like a dull sheen, which would actually be columnaris, which is from sort of stress. Another fish picking on the fish, poor diet, poor minerals, etc. I'd check this resource.

www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Columnaris.html

Not eating is concerning, but the columnaris could have warn immunity (lack of minerals doesn't help either), which brought on a secondary infection we're not seeing.

[devonjohnsgard]

remove the stress, or improve the conditions and the fish should recover.

[soumendu]

Thanks Devon - i will try to ask the person if it has fuzz ..i was not sure if it was columnaris. For minerals / cataions will try to educate the person. I think there might be less of minerals/water change etc ..all combining and adding up to less immunity. Also i will ask him to add nitrofurantoin to in tank treatment (Nitrofurazone is not available). I will follow the resource which you provided. Thanks again !.

[Carl]

Nov 29, 2016 16:45:11 GMT -5 soumendu said:

Thanks Devon - i will try to ask the person if it has fuzz ..i was not sure if it was columnaris. For minerals / cataions will try to educate the person. I think there might be less of minerals/water change etc ..all combining and adding up to less immunity. Also i will ask him to add nitrofurantoin to in tank treatment (Nitrofurazone is not available). I will follow the resource which you provided. Thanks again !.

Definitely add Furan 2 (nitrofurazone) to the treatment, including baths.

Definitely check for stressors of any kind.

If an extreme closeup picture could be obtained that would show whether this is more of a slime white mass or actually looks more like dandelion seed pods would help determine the cause (Saprolegnia versus Columnaris). Knowing this makes a difference in how it likely got started.



www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Columnaris.html#fungus

Carl

[soumendu]

Thanks Carl. Nitrofurantoin is what he can best get at hand. I am waiting on that person to get back to me - i have already passed on the information to him. I have used nitrofurantoin before with kanamycin (Nitrofurazone is not always available when u need them unless you have API Furan 2 or something of that sort). People are reluctant to buy costly "fish medicines" . Thankfully nitrofurantoin (100 mg) tablets are readily available in human medicine shops (no prescription needed). The only tricks is to how to take enough for a bath (maybe dissolve the tab in 100 ml of water and then calculate for 8 liters (double tank dosage) for a gallon of bath).

[soumendu]

I got some good news from that person - the Discus seems to have started pecking at food now ..he thinks it did eat as well. Fingers crossed !! . For how long can we continue Kanamycin treatment ? I think Carl once told me - 13 dosages....It just that nitrofurantoin was added late to Kanamycin - so was just wondering ...currently treating with 500 mg Kanamycin sulphate.

[Carl]

Dec 2, 2016 8:27:37 GMT -5 soumendu said:

I got some good news from that person - the Discus seems to have started pecking at food now ..he thinks it did eat as well. Fingers crossed !! . For how long can we continue Kanamycin treatment ? I think Carl once told me - 13 dosages....It just that nitrofurantoin was added late to Kanamycin - so was just wondering ...currently treating with 500 mg Kanamycin sulphate.

good news!!

Baths can be 7-10 days

For Kanamycin:
For in tank Use; Use 1 level measure (180 mg) to every 5 gallons (20 liters) every other day for 3 days. In severe cases every 24 hours and 6-8 doses can be used assuming water changes in between treatments.

Reference:
www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Seachem.html#kanaplex

Carl

[soumendu]

ok - so here is the confusion. Kanamycin in tank treatment was being done since Tuesday. Only yesterday we started

1. giving Kanamycin + Nitrofurantoin + MB + salt bath.
2. Giving Nitrofurantoin also in tank

So should i ask the person to stop in tank dosing of Kanamycin and nitrofurantoin after 3-4 days (dosing) and continue the bath for 4 more days ?

[devonjohnsgard]

I'd think that if the fish is still struggling after the 3-4 doses of Kanamycin and Nitrofurantoin, you'd continue it to the 6-8 doses. Along with the baths. So, it depends. Carl should confirm though.

[soumendu]

Thanks Devon. I feel we will wait for 2-3 doses more to see how it goes. The latest snap of the fish - seems to me like the patch got arrested and might be a bit smaller in size now. I felt as if the reddish area's are much lesser too. Attaching the snap

[devonjohnsgard]

Does seem like it's getting better. Best is to have a full dose then not have enough of a dose, so I would continue too.