geleen

I am interested in female turquoise rainbows J

"We always used the rule that 1mL was always equal to 1gram." With water yes,but I can't agree otherwise. try 1ml of mercury and weigh it :shifty: Likely Sodium bisulfate is a crystal powder that needs to be put into solution before titration; so you may as well add it to water directly at IMO. J

I just new it wasnt as easy as that... Thanks for the info For the record... what kind of a KH reading were you getting with 20-80 mix....? I have been mixing mine more like 40-60 .... I have just started taking KH readings after I noticed a swing I didnt like and noticed my KH is somewhere between 3-4 Good observation;guilty as charged. I did not measure KH! :shock: I used this mix for about 4 month's, breeding cherry barbs. Worked well. I did not worry because of the (assumed) buffering capacity of Edmonton water. Lesson learned (again and again ) Never assume. Next time I will measure KH. J

Thanks //// Not a chemistry major here. But unfortunately that is not how it works. You can only substitute 1ml for 1 gram for water at sea level at 20 degrees C. It depends on the amount of grams you can put into solution....for instance 1 cubic cm (1ml) of water may hold in solution more or less than 1 gram of sugar depending on elevation and temperature and the ability of water to hold sugar. So it is best to add x grams to water and try it out. Be as accurate as you can (use the same amount of water each time) FYI I have mixed Edmonton water at 20 % with RO 80 % and achieved a PH of 6.8 J

"I have been running 75% water changes straight from the tap for 2 months (with prime) and seeing no negatives. But I am in Invermere and the water seems to be slightly more stable (.2 change in PH vs .4 in Calgary). My opinion is that do whatever you can to change the water. What is imperitive is that the water termperatures stay the same (within 1 degree F)." Unfortunately not so in Edmonton grrrrrrrr!!!!!!! Ph is stable enough, but too much compressed CO2 The dissolved gases will strip the slime coat while refilling;it comes off in large chunks. Aging is required here. J

Sorry to hear this. I agree with Kevin. large daily water changes for at least a month are likely the only way to save these fish. I would start out with 25 % twice a day for 2 day's then 50% for 2 day's, then as Keven suggested;DAILY 75% for at least a month Later on you can do a little less. Please ensure aged and same temperature water! PH changes for domestic fish are not required. Twice a week 50 - and -75% is an absolute minimum as far as I am concerned for healthy adult fish. If you have a substrate, bi-weekly, deep vacuuming is a must. Wipe down the glass on the inside weekly. The reason I have for the slower start is to let them get used to the lower levels of dissolved solids gradually. Also I have found that PURIGEN in the filter makes a difference for me. I would not treat with drugs until the water has stabilized first. You can try digging up a few earthworms, rinse and chopped a bit and see if they eat live worms. I feed live,red wrigglers weekly. Success . John

Looks like a bit more patients is required. This can take several more weeks. J

The nitrite cycle can take a while longer and will eventually get there. Your fish is in a lot of trouble. If you can not move the fish out of there you could do this. 1./ pick up some seachem stability to help the tank cycle 2./ pick up some bacteria from me to help the filter. 3./ add 5x the dosage of Prime with every water change it will neutralize the nitrite help your fish but will hurt the cycling. 4./ add salt, google salt nitrite koi for dosages involving Koi J.

Agreed! 0 Nitrate indicates a tank that is NOT cycled. Your fish are in grave danger. Other than getting them out of there you could try Seachem Stability after a 90 % water change. J

I have read somewhere that they thought it is a result of overfeeding or tank maintenance? A search on simplydiscus resulted in a lot of treads discussing this. J

May sound silly but I distrust anyone that has to shout or scream how good the product is they are selling. By shouting I mean the loud and aggressive colors of the web site, this is an immediate turnoff to me. (IT IS LIKE TYPING CAPITALS ONLY, IN A MESSAGE.) J

You could check out http://www.uppercanadadiscus.com/ Stendker is only available in the states at the moment as far as I know. Many good people @ simplydiscus.com in the sponsor section.(OK, see you posted there after I wrote this.) J

OK, so now if I get an oscar it is YOUR fault :smokey: J

I can recommend www.simplydiscus.com there is a lot of good information including breeders and importers. J

Coming along very nicely. Great job. :thumbs: John

Very nice! :thumbs: I am in the Netherlands right now and went to look at a discus specialty store with a lot of "bred in Germany" discus. Well........I guess the nice ones go elsewere. I have seldom seen such poor quality fish. Of the 150 or so fish in the store there were a few, perhaps 10 decent (not great) ones! I did not expect this, as even 16 months ago the quality was very high. I believe this hatchery is now exporting to the U.S in very large numbers, and they seem to be quite succesful in penetrating the market there. The result here is obvious. :boxed: J

Glad they are eating :thumbs: Sounds like you are giving this a lot of thought. Kevin gave insightful input, a voice of experience. To add; if, once settled in,you have too much infighting among the discus you may have to get one more :smokey: As you know they do better in a larger group. In response to your question re. a 55 gallon... IMO, you can put 5, maybe 6 full grown discus in a 55, with 1-50% and 1-30 % water change a week. With 5 you could add a small shoal of, for instance, cardinals or rummynose or harlequin rasbora's. This is what works for me. I usually change water 2 times per week, as above, and once every 2 weeks make an 80 % change, always with aged, preheated and aerated water. I also vacuum the gravel deeply, once a week. Clean the filter once a month. I recently started using Seachem Purigen. It made a positive difference in their behavior (calmer,) and the water is absolutely clear! I don't know how often I will need to regenerate the stuff, perhaps (hoping) only once a month. Good luck with them, if I had more tank space, and possibly a divorce :boxed: I would want them. J

Frozen bloodworms are a hit! J

I like them Look nice and round. :thumbs: J.

This is normal in the beginning. Give them time, they should come around in a few day's..... check out SIMPLYDISCUS forum for lots of good advice. Discus like a minimum of 83F better @86 for the young ones. The rainbows might be happier @ 75F-80F J

With these fish I would try a little cooked spinach chopped very fine, the barbs and rainbows will likely eat that. I blanch 3 peas and crush them fine with a fork my rainbows eat them before it gets halfway to the bottom. J

mops.ca OOPs listed already

No offence meant. If they have conditioned them to local water in the 2 weeks quarantine, then it would mean an additional switch to R/O mixture would cause more stress. I don't think the Alberta water will kill them once conditioned, but they may not thrive or breed. IMO R/O is expensive for such large quantities ( replacing filters and membranes) and unless you want to breed probably not required. I use one for drinking water, etc and for small tanks where I am breeding fish,) I have seen them (the wilds) kept with peat packs in the water storage barrel, worked fine, but the water was yellow As you know.....the advise on simplydiscus has 2 main points over and over: water changes and quarantine. These folks are very experienced. Where I am not. J

If they are nice sounds like a steal. I would do some reading at www.simplydiscus.com From what I have read it seems they only do well very soft water and need PH 6 -6.5. Where domestics easily tolerate Alberta water conditions. Mine certainly do well in ph 7.6 I would keep them separate for at least 3 months then introduce one of yours for a month. You want to rule out diseases that could wipe out all of your discus. J