Discus & angel disease (Discus & Angel Disease)

Symptoms

Fins rotting very quickly
Erosion of fins takes place within a day or so.

Cloudy Eyes
Total area of eyes becomes clouded.

Mucous comes of body in pieces
Large sloughs of mucous come away from the body of the fish.

Respiration rapid
Fish is breathing very fast, much faster than is normal.

Skin turbidity
Skin shows an over all turbidity or haze.

Dark body colouration
The colours of the fish are darkened beyond their normal shade.

Hyperaemia - fin base only
Excess of blood at base of fin.

Causes

Disease has been described since 1989. Has caused immense casualties in many countries, but now seems to be coming under control. Probably of bacterial origin, one investigator claims Pseudomonas aeruginosa is causative species. It has in recent years also been reported in other species such as Tiger Barbs, as well as many other species.

Prognosis

Very contagious and very difficult to bring under control. Best to avoid any chance of infected stock.

Treatment

Please login to see the treatment information.

Prevention

The surest way to avoid this scourge is to ensure that all specimens are purchased from reliable disease free hatcheries. Once the disease has entered a breeders tanks, it is very hard to eliminate, even if all tanks are taken down and sterilised.

DNA and RNA diagnostic references

Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces an extracellular
deoxyribonuclease that is required for utilisation of DNA as a nutrient source.

From Environ.
microbial 2010 June Mulcahy H. et al.

Editors note:- May 2017.

Because there is a good deal of uncertainty and even argument about the actual cause of this disease, this reference article could a good way to prove or disprove the assumption that P.aeruginosa is the causative organism.