What do you think?

[LizStreithorst]

perhaps by sticking a needle in the scales to create an injury (?)  I don't know really.  I've become leary of good looking Discus here lately.

[Mugwump]

perhaps by sticking a needle in the scales to create an injury (?)  I don't know really.  I've become leary of good looking Discus here lately.

I can understand.......but then it could be a blessing too....who knows?

[LizStreithorst]

It's funny with me and Discus.  I started out likening the flashy stuff like the swirl fish.  As my taste has gotten more refined I find myself headed to wilds.  They have a subtle beauty that takes a long time to appreciate.  They aren't perfect and they aren't flashy.  Breeding them is quite the challenge.

[BillT]

To mess up the lateral line in that manner by a physical intervention (needle), it would have to happen when they are embryos, before they hatch and before the eyes get pigment.

If it were a mutation, it would probably be at the same time, but of course would happen by itself.

[BillT]

I would guess it could have been from something like a non-lethal bacterial or fungal infection that messed up the embryo, in the egg shell, before it hatched. After overcoming the infection, that part of the body developed in a weird manner because there was a lot of messed up tissue there.
Wounding can mess up the orientation (top/bottom, front/back) of tissues (like the developing scales and lateral line).

[BallAquatics]

...  As my taste has gotten more refined I find myself headed to wilds.  They have a subtle beauty that takes a long time to appreciate....

+1  I find something lacking in man-made fish variations, (discus or otherwise)...  There's much to be said for natures own beauty.

Dennis