INTRODUCTION
I have kept many varieties of ornamental fish in the past but yet discus is still the closest to my heart. Nothing can erase the love for discus from my heart, not even guppy or swordtail. Though I have gain some recognition for guppy breeding in the Ornamental fish industry and won numerous Grand Champions and have also created the famed ‘Koi series of Swordtails’, they are all to me more of a commercial interest than an indulgence out of love.
What is so special about discus? Among all the reasons that I could possibly share, there is one that still amuses me…even after more than 33 years romancing with discus. Have anyone given thought to the natural ability of discus to excrete food in the form of mucus from their whole body to feed their young, quite similar to our human breast-feeding? In fact, discus are more proficient than we humans because both the parents can produce food for the fry, while in human, only mothers can produce milk. I believe this is the only species of fish that is born with this unique ability…and probably the only living thing in this world of ours’ capable of doing that.
To be successful in your endeavor, be it as a hobbyist or as a commercial entity, there are basically three principles you need to know and equip yourself with, so as to have a holistic approach to discus keeping.
THE THREE PRINCIPLES
1) Water: Perimeter and Quality
Water perimeter is an important factor in discus keeping and also in general fish keeping. But discus is one of those aquatic animals that are more sensitive to water perimeter. Water perimeter can affect the discus growth and spawning potential. Also, wrong water perimeter can be rather stressful and under such condition, they may succumb easily to infection. Therefore it is vital that we must try to adjust the perimeter nearest to their natural habitat. Water perimeter covers things like the pH, total hardness, conductivity, and the natural trace elements and minerals in the water. To these, we can use chemicals or incorporate reverse osmosis system or de-ionizer and manipulate to produce the best condition for our discus. With the present knowledge, it is not a difficult task to create a similar requirement that of the natural habitat in our home environment.
Having said that, not all discus must be kept in strict water perimeter very similar to that of their natural habitat. Discus can be divided into two groups. One is the wild discus while the other group is the domesticated discus. As the wild discus were hatched and raised in the wild, it is only logical to presume that they will thrive well in an aquarium of water perimeter very similar to their natural habitat. But with domesticated discus, hatched and raised in an aquarium, they are more tolerable and adaptable to new environment, thus they can thrive well in most type of water provided for them, so long as there is no extreme, be it positive or negative, in any one of the factors.
Quality of water is an even more important issue than water perimeter though it basically focuses on variable factors like ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels; other factors like the temperature; and the amount of dissolved oxygen. Pathogen count is also part of water quality. Any undesirable change in one or in combination of these factors can lead to infestation, infection, deformity, retarded growth or mortality.
2) Feed: Type and Regimen
The Chinese saying goes, “Infection comes from ingestion” and is a true statement even in fish culture. Live freshwater aquatic animals like tubiflex, mosquito larva and bloodworms carry along with them smaller organisms. When these organisms are introduced into the aquarium setting, most of them become pathogenic to the discus. And because of the confined water volume within an aquarium, discus are under constant attack and once the water quality drops, a condition is created which favors pathogen proliferation leading eventually to infection and mortality. Therefore, type of feed is very important. As much as we love to pamper our little creatures in the water, it is always my conviction not to feed any frozen or live freshwater aquatic animals. Any food source derived not from freshwater and processed food that has gone through cooking are my choices.
Feed regimen is also an important factor in fish culture. Though the number of feedings per day has a direct relationship with growth, the wider the span of feed, the faster will your discus grow. In simple terms, a discus fed 1 gram per feed and fed 3 times a day at 6.00am, 3.00pm and 10pm will growth faster than a discus fed 1gram per feeding and fed 3 times a day at 8.00am, 12.00noon and 5.00pm.
3) Treatment: Diagnosis, Understanding and application
Diagnosis is the first step in fish treatment and after having diagnosed the state of the problem, the next thing we need is the understanding of the relationship between status of the fish and the prospective treatments. In other words, we must have full understanding of the cause of the problem and the condition of the fish; the tolerant level of the fish at that state to different treatments; the properties, strength and weaknesses of the pathogens; understanding the possible interaction among the different drugs and chemicals and their effectiveness on the pathogens and importantly, whether the use will be harmful to us and our family. Finally, before we proceed to make the treatment, we must decide on the best treatment regimen to follow. It must be a regimen that is the least stressful to the fish; one that ensures the highest chance of recovery in the shortest period with the least concoction or range of drugs and chemicals used; whether the treatment needs to be applied in water as well as in feed; and whether the fish will have side-effects or permanent damages after recovery. These are important considerations during application as it has been well documented that overdosing of certain drugs or chemicals, be it in quantity and/or duration may damage certain organs e.g. the swim bladder, the liver, and the reproductive organ.
Misconception
It is funny how this hobby of fish keeping is turning into. You see people advising others to put this and put that without even viewing the fish in print, let alone firsthand. Even if they did view the affect discus,, do you think they can diagnose just by looking at the discus superficially? Do you think most of them ever looked through a microscope? Have you? One thing I am pleased is they are all trying to help, intention that deserves praise. At the same time, I am displeased because some of these advices might do more harm than good?
Have you ever wonder how could the many so-called ‘Experts in the discus field’ diagnose a particular infection without even doing a basic body swoop to find out which parasite is responsible? Most claimed that with their years of experience, they are able to identify the cause just by looking at the body tone, the swimming pattern and the excessive mucus secretion of the discus. Is that an accurate diagnosis? I doubt.
Let me put it this way. Whenever a discus has a serious infection, heavy infestation or in extreme threat, the pigments close and hence the body darkens, regardless of the cause. Even the vertical stress-bars will appear. In fact, it has been noted that multiple infections are common sight in sick discus and to confirm the strain of parasite responsible, autopsy and bacteria culture are both basic necessities. Do you know that parenting discus will at certain period of the day darkens its body tone while nursing their fry?
The activity of discus’ color-pigment and the stress-bars work quite similar to the way our human sweat glands work.
- When discus is frightened, the body darkens and stress-bars appear. Humans will perspire when frightened.
- Most discus when stressed, the body tone darkens and stress-bars appear. When we are stressed, some of us get ‘cold-sweat’.
- When a discus is suffering from constipation, it darkens and stress-bars appear. When we humans have stomachache or constipation, we perspire.
- When discus has a chronic infection, the body darkens. When we get a serious cut or are involved in any serious accident, we perspire. We perspire when we exercise. Even when we tell a lie of serious consequences, we perspire. We perspire after heavy exercise.
Above are some of the examples of similarity we can chew on. To make the whole issue more exciting, assume that we are similar to discus and are unable to talk and unable to show sign language and we are now perspiring very heavily. What kind of help do you expect your caretaker or guardian to do? Give you antibiotic after heavy exercise? Give mefenamic acid for cuts? Keep us cold in an air-condition room for constipation and diarrhea or flagyl for lies?
As you can see from the above, it is very hard to diagnose just by looking at the discus superficially. Many ‘experts’ claim of ‘Past treatment successes’, thus recommending the same administration for future cases just because they witness similar scenarios. Could they have been plain lucky to hit the ‘Jackpot’ the first time round? Therefore, it is important to know the culprit but is it possible for all hobbyists and professional breeders to acquire the knowledge and autopsy skill? Yes, it is an asset to acquire the skill but no all are prepared to reach that level of seriousness in their hobby.
Common accusation
Another common phrase or term coined by many breeders and hobbyists back in the 80’s is ‘Discus Aid’. This refers to a condition where all the discus within the same tank darken and hide together in groups in corners very near to the water-surface and at the same time secreting excessive mucus. If it goes untreated and the infection being very virulent, most of the discus may die in less than 2 weeks.
Having said that, is it really ‘Discus Aid’? If it is confirmed an ‘Aid’ pandemic, then we might as well give up, as we all know, there is no known cure for such a virus. I do not know who started to call such a condition ‘Discus Aid’ but one thing for sure and that is, it is not a viral infection. Through my experience and experimentation, it is a ‘Multiple Parasite Infestation’. Interestingly, a few years later the same symptom was no more referred to as ‘Discus Aid’ but as ‘Discus Plague’. Whether it is ‘Discus Aid’ or ‘Discus Plague’, it is an overstatement. From what I can decipher, such a name was given because the disease was so virulent, general mortality range from 10% to 90%. And to any amateur, this is a nightmare. Even well known Asian breeders gave up their hatchery after losing their battle to this pandemic.
Ironically, spending tons of money getting all kind of drugs from the local fish shop and throwing into the tank whatever you think is the most suitable only complicates the situation. Without good sanitary practices and appropriate treatments, it can destroy your hobby or the whole discus hatchery in days. Through my years of experience and out of more than the thousands of discus I have performed autopsy on and the amount of discus sent for bacteria culture and histology. I am pleased to confirm that virus was not found responsible for this pandemic. In fact, this is not a very difficult infection to treat. Of course, the treatment system or process is fairly costly and time consuming, but recuperation is within days of treatment. All the different treatment methods are explained in my book ‘Discus, The Naked Truth’ but here, I am going to share with you a method from my book.
Resistant Pathogens
I am very sad to say this ‘The world of pathogens is triumphing over the human race’. Pathogens regardless of whether they are protozoan, worms or bacteria are getting more and more resistant to certain chemicals, drugs and certainly a wide range of antibiotics. Who is at fault? It is 100% ours’…the so-call “The most intelligent beings on this planet”. Humans keep making mistake after mistake because many breeders and hobbyists lack the necessary treatment knowledge to handle a discus crisis, thus allowing microorganisms to survive through the treatments, adapt and mutate into more resistant strain and eventually outsmarting us. Below is an example of an investigation by scientists where the insect became resistant by the end of the experiment.
Example: An experiment was done on ‘Insect reaction to constant treatment with chemical’.
The insect used for this experiment: Housefly
The chemical used was: Diptrex, also known as Masoten, Dylox, Trichlorfon or Neguvon.
Day one: A lot of houseflies were put into a clean empty glass container. Diptrex at lethal level was sprayed into the container. All the flies died within seconds.
Day two: A similar amount of flies were put into the same container. The container was later sprayed with the same concentration of Diptrex. All of them died within a minute.
Day three: Same amount of flies were again put in the same container, and half an hour later, was sprayed with the same concentration of diptrex. Some of the flies died while others struggled and finally survived through the treatment.
Day four: The surviving flies that were still in the container were reused for the next experiment. This time, higher dosage of diptrex was used. All the flies did not die.
Day five: The concentration of diptrex was again increased yet not a single fly died.
This experiment gave us a better understanding of insect’s ability to mutate and become resistant. Where is the loophole of the above experiment that has given a chance for the flies to adapt? As you can see from day three, the new flies were put into the container but there was a grace period before the new treatment of diptrex was given. During that period, those survivable flies must have consumed the low potent or the inactive diptrex from the previous days and found a way to go around it. It is a known fact that too frequent use of diptrex or some other chemical without proper dosage or without 100% clearing off all the remaining inactive residues in the tanks will give rise to the establishment of resistant pathogens.
I have many personal experiences and have experimented with many drugs and chemicals and I regret to affirm the opinion of other professionals that among all the drugs and chemicals, antibiotics are the most misused. Though unable to diagnose and not having a full understanding of the problem are two contributing factors to resistant strains of pathogens, application know-how is the major contributing factor.
Many hobbyists, breeders and even biologists pay attention to the recommended dosage and the treatment regimen. Just browse through all the related books on fish culture and you will sure to agree with me that not a single author, beside myself, emphasizes on the need to have a strict and controlled application system to prevent development of resistant strain of pathogens.
Application Mistakes
The following are common everyday mistakes. I may sound overcautious, but it is my hope that, after reading the following points, some corrections to their daily treatment method could be implemented.
1) Buy a packet of ‘Japanese powder’. Without understanding a single Japanese word written on the packet, sprinkle it into the tank and stop dosing only when the yellow coloration in the tank looks convincing.
2) Buying medication manufactured by unscrupulous dealers who do not even have the experience of keeping fish, less treating them.
3) After putting in the recommended dose, got worried because they discus look stressed. Immediately made a 50% water-change hence indirectly reducing the therapeutic and effective level of the medication.
4) Buying expired treatment products.
5) After one or two days’ treatment, the water looks clouding. Make partial water-change. Forget to add medication back to strength.
6) After one or two days’ treatment, made 100% water-change and waited for the water to refill 100% before adding the medication back to therapeutic level.
7) Before treatment, remove sick fish and treated it separately in a hospital tank. After that fish has recuperated, put it back into previous tank.
8) Got hold of a tin of antibiotic. Put it under direct or indirect light or did not cover it.
9) Use a spoon to scoop the drug from the container, submerse the spoon into tank water to stir and loosen the content, and then use the same spoon to scoop another round.
10) Make wrong treatment and wrong judgment.
11) After the course of treatment, make 20% change daily.
12) After the course of treatment, make a 100% water-change.
13) Using whatever drugs you can get your hands on to treat the discus.
14) Putting in recently sick fishes into an on-going treatment tank.
15) The sick treatment tank is situated just next to a healthy tank or sharing utensils.
The above practices are very common, yet they are all unacceptable. Some selfish people may be unconcerned because they think that once the fishes are treated and sold, their responsibility is over and have not effect on their own hatchery. Let me remind them that the bacteria present during the previous treatments will develop resistance and once new discus are put into the same tank and succumb to infection, the same treatment may not work at all. And if these practices continue, there might not be any more cheap medication around effective enough to save our discus. It is common to hear breeders telling their agonizing story about using a wonderful drug that worked well in the past but now it is not effective anymore. So, what is the proper method and good husbandry practices with regards to treatment?
Now that I have enlightened on the everyday mistakes we tend to make, I would like to explain and suggest the proper practices we should adopt.
1) The Japanese powder is a mixture of chemical and antibiotic. The main ingredient is Furnance, an antibiotic. So, if you are not clear of the dosage, have it translated. Under-dose will result in resistant pathogens.
2) For the very reason that drugs for fish seem not to be under strict regulatory body in some countries, the little value placed on the life of these animals and the impossibility to accurately ascertain the relationship between the death of the animals and the medications, some unscrupulous manufacturers capitalize on this gray area and just produce whatever you want regardless of safety factor. To them, the most important thing is that the description on the label must be convincing enough to make you part with your money. Some medications are manufactured or bottled without knowledge of and the sensitivity of the compound and even dilute to have higher profit margin. This may result in shorter shelve-life or causing the drugs inside to breakdown or become toxic. Therefore buy medication produced by manufacturers that indulge in R&D and are reputable in the global market.
3) Many hobbyists pamper their discus too much. With initial dose of certain treatment, many ornamental fish do get stressed…especially discus. Let them adapt to the treatment. Make 200% water change only if the stress problem persisted for more than 6 hours or if the discus are dying across the board. Whether the situation is due to poisoning or not (This is very common with expired drugs or a wrong mix of chemical with antibiotic, chemical with chemical and antibiotic with antibiotic), never make 50% change... If you reduce treatment unnecessarily, resistant will build up. So, know your dose and have faith in the treatment.
4) As have been mentioned, expired products can be toxic. If you have no means to find out, do not buy.
5) During the first day of treatment, the bacteria will be fighting very hard to survive. In the process, bacteria keep multiplying and also dying due to the treatment. This leads to the water turning cloudy. Use a sponge filter. It is better not to change water but if there is a necessity to do so, make 100% change and re-dose to strength. If you make water change, do not forgot to re-dose to strength. If you forget, the therapeutic level in the tank being low may allow the bacteria to adapt, revitalize, become more resistant and fight an even more fiery war when you finally remember to re-dose.
6) My advice is not to change the water unnecessarily. But if you have to, for whatever reason, to prevent resistant, after siphoning out the water, put back the same dosage of drug immediately before filling up the water and not after the filling is over. As water flow rate is different in different premises, some may need more than half an hour to fully fill up a tank. By then, there is ample time for bacteria to adapt and mutate during the sub-lethal or sub-therapeutic level.
7) This is a very bad practice. Never remove sick fish to hospital tank as that may stress it further. My suggestion is, treat the fishes in the existing tank as a whole because the rest in that tank should be infested too.
Secondly, assuming you have moved the sick fish to the hospital tank and after a few days, you thought the discus had recovered (Visual judgment but what happens if the discus is not fully recovered?) and put it back into and mixing with the ‘healthy ones’ that were without treatment. The illness may re-laps thus affecting the others. Not only that, the bacteria you brought along could be more resistant and the same drug applied earlier may be ineffective this time round.
8) Many chemicals and drugs are sensitive to direct or indirect sunlight and also oxygen. Most of them will breakdown. Some become toxic, while others decomposed or oxidized. It is common for antibiotics to be very effective against an infection in the past and suddenly became useless no matter how much the dose is increased.
9) Drugs, especially antibiotic and diptrex are easily oxidized, thus breaking down their properties and rendered useless. Always use dry spoon when handling drug. Never dip your spoon from one tank to another or wet spoon into the drug/ chemical container.
10) Many people use antibiotic freely without understanding whether it is truly a bacteria infection or not. It could be protozoan or worm infestation, right? Or could it be water quality? Be careful, you may be causing drug resistant. Discus could not breathe, antibiotic. Discus refused to eat, antibiotic. Discus look sickly, you give antibiotic. Discus stare inward and do not look at you even when you dance in front of him, antibiotic. Is it not crazy? Please do not do it anymore!
11) Making 20% water change daily after full treatment course is a grief mistake. Everyday you take off 20%, the drug concentration lessened but is still present even 30 days after treatment? And do you know that after 5 days, a 50% concentration still remained in the tank? Do some mathematic calculation and you will know what I mean. The next application becomes useless due to resistant. The correct method is 200 percent water-change.
12) Making just a complete 100% change is also wrong. To ensure the same drug could be used in the future, the tank needs to be scrapped and water-changed 100%. After which, fill up to 100% again, scrap and brush again all surfaces. Siphon all out and refill again. This is what we call ‘The 200% water-change’.
13) Don’t just use whatever drugs or chemicals you can get your hands on. It may not work and may even worsen the situation and kill your discus. You must have a plan… and a plan comes from knowledge.
14) Never put newly found sick fish into an on-going treatment tank, thinking that this will save some drug cost. You might just worsen the situation and may even kill some of the discus in the on-going treatment tank…if not all. This is because the drug level is already low though it is still working against the existing bacteria, but suddenly the new pathogens from the newly introduced sick discus join in the war, needless to say, should have a better fighting chance, thus resulting in new infection. And to those already very sick and stressed fishes in the tank, they may not have a chance because they do not have the immunity to fight a new war.
15) It is advisable to partition the space between the healthy and sick tank. This is to prevent cross-contamination through airborne or water-droplets. Never use the same utensils.
We have covered most of the malpractices in discus breeding resulting in so many treatment problems and resistant. For your information, common bacteria are getting resistant to more than 20 types of antibiotics. Worst of all, it sadden me to inform that these common bacteria had been found to be resistant to some of the newest and most expensive antibiotics under the Quinolones and the Cephalosporins groups of antibiotics.
Solution
It is always my conviction that short-term treatment is a better option. Imagine trying to treat a discus with a method that takes 2 weeks for it to recuperate, and a method that is compact and intense, but takes only 4 to 5 days to recuperate? Which do you prefer?
For the first method, it is presumed to be slow and steady but more stressful and mortality is high as the discus may lose the battle halfway during the two weeks’ period.
The second method is tough, expensive, extremely stressful short-term but starts eating in 2 to 3 days and possibly zero mortality. In fact, I believe the second method does less harm to the discus and you can find that in my book, Discus, The Naked Truth.
My Treatment Method
Steps:
1) Maintain the same water level.
2) Find an anti-parasite drug or chemical that is effective against most of the possible ectoparasites. Use formalin @ 36ml to 100liters of water for 25 minutes short-bath. Give strong aeration during treatment.
3) Make complete water change after the short bath.
4) Follow by 2.5 hours short bath with antibiotic. Dosage is 2.5x the normal recommended dosage for 5 days. Make sure that the antibiotic is one that is of wide spectrum...much better if it is bactericide than those antibiotics that just block protein absorption. I cannot recommend any specify antibiotics because it is not right. A certain antibiotic may be good against the bacteria in a hatchery because it has never used before. While the same antibiotic to the same problem, to the same strain of bacteria, but is applied to another hatchery that frequently used it, it may have resistance and may never work. So, those writers who recommend usage of different antibiotic to different bacteria strain is only giving you options and enlighten you on the possibilities, but their recommendations may not necessarily work. Make very sure that the antibiotic you intend to apply is not frequently in use, better if never at all. Therefore, it is important that the antibiotic used is a personal secret and not to be shared among friends. It is not a secret weapon to triumph over your friends but a weapon against bacteria. Used correctly, accurately and privately, it would definitely be your hobby’s lifesaver. Please bear this in mind: No drug is definitely and forever effective. Once the drug information is shared, it is as good as gone.
5) Change 100% water after 2.5 hours (min), maximum 3.0 hours. Some antibiotic are more stressful than others. Always maintain strong aeration and observe the behavior of the discus.
6) Once the tank is drained, remember to add the same antibiotic at a dosage of 1x normal for 5 days before you refill with water. This is to prevent development of resistant strain.
7) Add the commercially prepared copper sulfate (chelated), dosage as recommended by manufacturer together with your antibiotic treatment. Duration of both treatments: Twelve days. The discus should start to recuperate by day two. If by the third day, the discus is still very sick, there is a possibility that your antibiotic is inappropriate. Change drug. Repeat treatment from No. 1.
8) If by the third day, they showed sign of recovery, but not fully, repeat the whole treatment from No. 1 again with the same drug. The discus should recover within the next two days. Remember not to change water during the whole therapy. Only change after every four days and re-dose to strength before filling water.
9) After the discus had fully recovered, remember the recommended cleaning method…200% water-change.
10) Even if the drug proved to be effective and you now have confident in the medication, promise yourself not to use the same antibiotics again for the normal prophylactic treatments. Only use it again when another serious infection strikes.
Further to that, a good diet with a well-balanced combination of carbohydrate, proteins, fiber, vitamins, and mass, together with good water chemistry and no contaminated frozen or live freshwater aquatic animal are assurances to healthy discus.
Conclusion
In discus breeding, ability to treat and save your discus is vital. For the good of all breeders and hobbyists, I urge all of you to be careful with the usage and handling of drugs and chemicals. If used correctly, it should not cause resistant. I really do not wish to see the day where, because of our carelessness, all chemicals, drugs, or antibiotics are unable to solve the spectrum of problems they are supposed to……losing the battle to our micro-friends.