Fungus / Cotton Is this Fungus?

Sorry for the poor quality. I'll try to get a better one...

 

Here is another pic I took with my phone...

 

I lost 2 today. I'm treating with Maracyn. I called the guy I got them from and he is replacing the ones I lost next week. He lost 2 also from the same shipment. At the rate this stuff was showing up on the fish I wanted to try and treat it as quickly as possible. My buddy at the LFS gave me the Maracyn packets. My temp is up. 86+ degrees. I have one of those long airstones that creates a bubble wall in the back of the tank. My pump is pretty large too so they should be getting enough oxygen.

Should i cut back on the feeding until I get them all cleared up?

 

Cool, 3 of the 4 are still eating. I pulled all of the carbon out of my filter before I started treating them. Only turned one of the lights on to check the fish out. Will keep the tank blacked out for the duration of the treatment.

I'm also taking the gravel and substrate out of my 20 gallon tank and making it a hospital/quarantine tank. I currently have 2 cory cats in there that I want to eventually move to the tank i'm treating. I will put the replacement discus in there for a few weeks to make sure I don't introduce anything else into my tank.

Thanks for all of the advice!

 

Found the fourth one dead this morning. I'm down to one now that looks healthy and is still eating really well. I am going to finish the treatment since it was exposed to the other fish. I got an apology email from the guy I bought them from. He has lost most of his shipment to it. He is replacing all of my Discus once he receives more from a different supplier. He is also going to QT the fish himself before he turns them over to me. He lost most of the Discus he had from the shipment. I have cleared out my 20 gallon. Down to 2 cory's in it to keep something in there. I will be putting the new Discus in there for a few weeks once I receive them to make sure they are healthy before I add them to the big tank.

 

i will pick up some maracyn 2 today. I'm three days in on a five day treatment. How long would you treat with the maracyn 2? I will also see about mixing some garlic in with the blood worms i've been feeding the fish.

 

The one I have left is not from the same shipment. I'm still using the Maracyn to finish the tank. Should I switch? The tank smells fine to me. I will be happy to change meds if necessary. The one I have left isn't showing any signs of having anything but I want to treat it anyway just to be safe.

Thanks for the info!!

 

They were eating a little bit. The one I have left is eating really well. Looks OK too! Hasn't shown any signs of being sick but I want to be safe and treat it. The ones I lost looked fine when I got them. The next day their fins started looking a little fuzzy. My buddy thought they were stressed and losing their slime coat. The next day I lost one and the others had fuzzy stuff all over their body's and fins. Fins looked all messed up too. Tails were damaged. Then I lost 2 the next day, and 2 the day after that!

 

This is what was sent to me from the guy I bought them from...

1. Asian discus being susceptible to infections or carrier of disease(s) Before we talk about suceptibility to diseases one should realize that all living mammals and fishes have in their bodies a mixture of faunas, that in simple term, meaning they have in their bodies a mixture of good and bad bacterias and other microorganisms. In the case of the discus the common microorganisms present are the cappilaria, spironucleuas (hexamita) and intestinal parasites like worms.
Aquarium fishes by the very nature of their environment is living under "stressful" conditions. However having mentioned this one, one must not forget that fishes raised in aquariums will generally be able to tolerate more of the "aquarium stress" compared to those caught in nature and then confined to the aquarium. Another point most often overlooked is that in the water itself there are bacterias and fungi & fungal spores unless one is using sterile water or water produced by very good filters or RO units.
Coming back to the balance of good and bad bacterias, a healthy fish will generally not exibit illness even when they have with them the bad bacterias or even other parasitic microorganism. However under severe stress like bad handling causing physical damage or poor water quality be it insufficient oxygen or chemical toxicity leading to deterioration of water quality, the fishes may succumb to the infections (both bacterial in origin or otherwise). Long transportation itself causes considerable stress.
Then there is the issue of different faunas in different countries. This means that for bacterias alone, the strains of bacterias (good & bad) found in a healthy discus in country A will probably be different in country B. Even in the same country the strains of bacterias in different locations may vary. This is why fishes from different locations and more so from different countries should NOT be mixed until a certain period of time. Quarantining newly acquired fishes is a habit aquarist must perform. It would be better to treat the quarantine fishes as a matter of routine practice and then introducing the new fishes to the water that is normally being used for the ither fishes. Only after a period of quarantine which we would propose to be at least two weeks (preferably more) can we mix the newly acquired fishes with the older fishes.
We suggest that fishes under quarantine should be treated routinely for a period of 5 days with metronidazole (preferably added into fish food), formalin, methylene blue and a wide spectrum antibiotic (like the later cephalosporins eg cefuroxime or the quinolones eg perfloxacin). We mentioned these group of antibiotics because the oral forms are available and are preferred to be added into the fish food. If antibiotics are not readily available, the the use of potassium permanganate in small amounts may be useful. After this period of quarantine the fishes will begin to adjust to the new fauna populations in their new set up.
If the fishes are not properly quarantined and prepared or worst still if the newly acquired fishes are mixed with the existing fishes, we are then mixing up the different faunas and exposing the fishes both the newly acquired ones and the existing ones with "new" strains of bacterias and/or other microorganisms. Depending on the health and resistance of the discus, and the "stress" conditions mentioned the infections may or may not manifest. Remember that infections generally means that there is an overgrowth of microorganisms. In other words there is an upset in the normal balance of good & bad microorganism with the bad microorganism gaining an upper hand.
This may explain why hobbyist who are purchasing fishes from other countries may experience infections problem with their imports. If more problems are apparently encountered with Asian Discus it is probably due to the fact that Asia exports a very large quantity of discus and other tropical fishes compared to others. There are so much more non Asian purchasing from Asian breeders than vice versa.