Fresh Posted July 30, 2014 Report Share Posted July 30, 2014 One ooh my eight discus has lost a great deal of colour, is lethargic and I notice he's lost a small portion of his upper fin towards the back.... any ideas? Should I just do water changes or get him into a separate Q tank? He has gained some colour back and isn't hiding in the plants as much thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cullymoto Posted July 30, 2014 Report Share Posted July 30, 2014 It never hurts to water change your discus, so long as your new water perameters are the same as the old perimeters. As to what's wrong with your one fish, there's simply no where near enough information on your post to offer you any suggestions. I will say that if your I've fish is sick in the community tank, than all the others are exposed to the same conditions. No sense in moving it to a Q/t unless conditions worsen, or your trying to save money on medications in a smaller tank. For anyone to offer you help, you need to pay more information such as: How long has the tank been established? Do you age your water change water? PH? Hardness? Is your tank planted, bare bottom, graveled? Tank volume, and current stock list? Any medications used lately? Any new fish/plants added recently? Just to start Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fresh Posted July 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 Fair enough Here's the 411 Tanks is 5 months old 120 gallon planted Soil bottom PH 6.3 water is hard in Calgary but have a large driftwood piece plus i'm running peat No medications No I don't age but I should recently added 4 discus and 5 geo. tajopos total of 8 discus 10 various cories 5 clown loaches 1 rainbow 1 large angel 4 thai flying fish 1 spotted pleco 9 danios 10 albino tetras filtering with a FX6 and an Eheim Epro 3 2076 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fresh Posted July 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 not sure why the pictures are upside down....d'oh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fresh Posted July 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 He has actually gained some colour back....not so black.....plus he actually came out...sorry for the quality of the pics....you'd think these tablets would take better pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cullymoto Posted July 31, 2014 Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 That fish is dead. Put it down the most humane way you can think of. An Ice water immersion works in about 10 seconds. When they get that bad, there's no brining them back. Get ris of it before it makes the rest of your fish sick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cullymoto Posted July 31, 2014 Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 (edited) Also your extremely over stocked. My 120 gallon is very full with ONLY 8 discus in it, bare bottom etc. I have to do two 65% water changes each week plus a full filter cleaning every 7 days to stay on top of discus health. If your not aging your tap water, your not ready for discus. I know I'm coming down on you hard but, you might need to hear this. That tank will constantly kill discus the way it's currently setup. Edited July 31, 2014 by cullymoto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fresh Posted July 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 Excuse me? why so critical? what's the problem? I'd appreciate something constructive.....why would I continually kill discus with my setup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fresh Posted July 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 ok....saw the other part of your note.....the others are fine so far.....I do weekly water changes.....not to the extreme of you...... I appreciate the feedback Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cullymoto Posted July 31, 2014 Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 Here's something constructive. To keep your discus, first re home all of your other fish. They are not helping the situation. Get a water storage solution, like a large second hand tank and set it up with a heater, air supply and pump so that you can age your water in it. A minimum of 24 hours is required for tap water to de-gas. The waters ph changes, sometimes by quite a lot while it de-gasses, that's why it's important. Get rid of 100% of your substrate. The amount of garbage that gravel/ dirt etc holds onto is truly terrifying. It's disgusting really. Go bare bottom, or do some kind of epoxy and sand mix. If you go bare bottom you'll likely need to paint the underside of the tank to prevent the mirror effect. You can keep the plants but you'll want to pot them. Get some small clay pots put the needed soil in a filter bag with the plant sticking up out of it. This makes it very easy to clean the plants, around them, and underneath them. To keep discus there are things you really need to focus on: A very clean environment, if you wouldn't drink the water (I'm serious) it's too dirty for discus. Very consistent conditions. Hard / soft conditions really don't matter for domestic bred discus so long as it always stays the same. Discus are very sensitive to changes in their water conditions. Ph is another thing that can be high or low, it doesn't matter so long as it remains consistent. Quality food, adults need to be fed three times a day, baby's as many as 9 times a day, juveniles somewhere between that. They need quality food or they will develop hole in the head. I recommend freeze dried black worms, beef heart flake, mysis shrimp, bloodworms, and green seaweed. One more tip. Don't ever buy a discus from a pet store. 99% of the time they are not properly cared for and are already dying when you take them home. It's very very hard to bring a discus back from the edge. Discus can become stunted, want an 8" dinner plate sized perfectly shaped example of what a discus should be? You'll never get one from a pet store. For often less that the pet store charges you, you can get fish from a Canadian breeder or importer and a plane ticket. My fish come from wwww.canadianaquafarm.com I highly recommend him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.