Help diagnose white worms on skin of Discus

[estrump]

I've attached pics of a discus with white spots and some kind of thread like substance on the skin. This discus is acting like it is going to spawn (I have two other breeding pair and familiar with the behavior) but I've never seen anything like this. The other of the pair has no white on it, and it's only on one side of this one. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[bigspizz]

Looks like the on set of HITH, as well as LLE. I think you need to get your water under control. Tell us more about the tanks size, and all of the other factors that we would need to diagnose. Like prams, WC schedule, Kh, gH, pH, How long you have had them..Etc....

 

[estrump]

ok. It's a 90 gallon planted community tank with 7 discus, 6 cardinals, 6 rummy nose and 2 plecos. Two external filters an XP3 and eheim pro both filled with biological media using foam "socks" on the intakes washed out with tank water weekly. Ammonia, Nitrates, nitrites, phosphates all zero, tested weekly. Hardness 90 ppm. pH 6.4. I do 30% wc 2x week using RO matched for hardness and pH using RO right and Discus Essentials. Temp 85. Main diet is frozen bloodworms with some Discus Gold pellets both Hikari. I've raised these fish from 2" purchased last August and BTW they spawned the next day and ate the eggs within hours. I have treated the tank with Fungus Cure and it seems to be clearing up the white stuff. It was their first spawn and l will set them up in their own 28 gallon breeding tank later this week and should have better luck with more spawns. Can you confirm it was fungus or suggest other causes? thanks!

 

[TwistedPenguin]

I sound like a broken record (sorry) but do you use the liquid test tube kit for checking water quality? The strips are worthless.
Also, there's no way your nitrates are zero. Not with those fish plus 2 plecs in there. A couple things come to mind right off-could be what Spizz said, the onset of HITH/LLE. Or also it could possibly be planaria. LIttle tiny worms that sqiggle all over in the water. If their population is high enough they'll attach to fish in addition to attaching to glass. Just some possibles, not saying that's what it is.

 

[estrump]

I use the API liquid test master kit + phosphates before wc and yes I wait 5 minutes for the reading. Checked it just now and nitrates still zero (pure yellow with not a hint of orange). What is HITH/LLL?

 

[dwilder]

nitrates can be 0 in a planted tank the plants use up the nitrates it kinda looks like some type of fluke or other parasite

 

[Smertrios]

I was just searching the forums for an answer to what a small white worm like critter sticking out of my fishes gill flap could be and that last pic of your discus is what it looks like on my fish (my fish is a green sunfish from the platte river).

I have no idea what it is and there have been no new additions to the tank in 3 years. In fact the only thing that has changed is the use of a water conditioner. I am thinking that since the water conditioner has had such a dramatic effect on the health of my fish that the parasite is also doing better thus the reason I can now see it. Feel bad for the fish I would not be surprised if the parasite is as old as the fish.

 

[estrump]

What you see in my pics is a fungus and from what you said, yours most likely is too. Very easy to fix and at low risk to your fish and plants if you have a planted aquarium. I used Jungle Labs Fungus Cure. Worked like a charm. Repeated it in 4 days like the instructions said and so far there have been no recurrences and I got a good spawn the next week. I did dissolve the fizzy tablets in a glass before I poured it into the tank. The green color goes away in about a week.