Hematomas My Golden had one once, a big one, from shaking her head because of her ear condition. My Vet says a hematoma can turn into a very serious condition if not treated. My golden had to have an operation for it. Hematomas are collections of blood. They are common in ears because there doesn't seem to be anything in ear to generate enough pressure to stop bleeding until ear swells enough with blood. Ear infections, ear mites, fly bite irritation, mosquito bites, allergies and immune mediated diseases have all been implicated as underlying causes for this problem. Anything that causes dog to flap its ears can make this happen and it appears to occur spontaneously in a number of dogs. Large hematomas should be treated surgically or medically. Surgery usually involves making an incision on inner aspect of ear and draining blood, removing any blood clots that are left and then suturing two sides of ear together by putting sutures all way through it, in a "mattress" pattern. Sometimes it is possible just to place a drain and massage blood out of ear daily until it heals. If you use a commercial ear product please make sure it is of good quality and please make sure it is proper product for condition. So many dogs have had tremendous ear pain and complications because of wrong product, or wrong use of a product. An educated dog owner is best kind of dog owner.

They can be kept in bare tanks but benefit from bog wood and plants as these help discus feel safe knowing they have some where to hide. If they get stressed and scared in a bare tank they can dash around and damage there selves.

Ideal tank mates for discus include small tetras from South America i.e. neon tetras. They are also ok with various cat fish and plecs but please make sure discus is largest fish in aquarium.

Discus can be fed on most aquarium foods and practically like sinking pellets. They also like frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp. Young discus should be fed 3 times a day and adults just once.

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