Concerned Discus

[shaz-killie]

Well as some may know I had a Krib that wasn't looking too well but last night I was sitting and noticed I couldn't see most of my discus so after investigation, they were protecting the Krib. About 6 small discus cramped into a corner facing outwards protecting the little guy. most fish would go for the kill if anything looked that ill but not the discus, they were mothering it.

moved him upstairs to lower temps but think he might die as his stomach is swollen

 

[rabbut]

That is rather unusual....

Were any of the kribs scales raised? Any loss of colour?

All the best
Rabbut

 

[shaz-killie]

just the one, it was one of two large males and the dominant one had been bullying it so it hid at the top of the water and gasping for air, still had some colour but only half of what it was, was very inflamed, like a heavy female about to burst with eggs and scales were slightly raised all over.

oh now he has been removed all discus are back to normal

 

[rabbut]

Raised scales, swolen belly and loss of colour..... That rings alarm bells...

By inflamed, do you mean you could see like blood vessles under the skin?

Could be nothing, or it could be Dropsey. The latter will require some treatment for both the Discus tank as a precaution and the tank the fish is in now

What are you're current water stats?

All the best
Rabbut

 

[shaz-killie]

far easier with pics, i'll run stats in a min, temp is between 28-30C

 

[shaz-killie]

Nitrite - 0
ph - 6.6
ammonia- 0.25ppm
nitrate - 7ppm approx

only thing i'm obviously doing wrong at the moment is over feeding as some discus still haven't started eating.

water change is 50% daily

 

[rabbut]

No raised scales, just bloating, so probibly just internal organ failure. There is no treatment for it, but it is not contagious

The pH is very low. Ammonia being raised is not good. Normal fish may tollerate it, but Discus won't for long. You need to nip the ammonia problem in the bud fast What filtration have you got and what's beeing fed? How often? How much?

A low pH can caurse a bacteria die-back, and an ammonia spike. The Discus you have a tank bred and are not used to that lower pH. That will likley stress them unless brought up slowly to closer to nutral Discus only *need* a low pH while breeding, and even then it's low hardness, not pH, thats the issue IME, a low ph will only stress tank bred Discus, though wild caught specimins will need it

All the best
Rabbut

 

[shaz-killie]

It's an external fluval filter i'm running which normally keeps the levels down, sponges were rinsed in tank water and filter cleaned two days ago so not sure if this could cause it?

feeding at the moment is frozen twice a day and flake once a day and there is some waste just for the fact i'm feeding for all the discus and only some are eating at the moment.

I kept this ph as this is what the fish I bought at the local shop and plymouth discus was running however the new stock was in tap water. what ph would you reccommend? I have ph up in the house so can easily increase it.

 

[rabbut]

You don't want to be using pH altering chemicals to move pH, it leads to instability and issues, which are more pronounced with Discus

I keep mine at 7.5, but anything arround 6.8-7.6 should be fine I take it you're using RO water to drop the pH now?

All the best
Rabbut

 

[shaz-killie]

nope straight out the tap. when I tested my tank before purchasing discus it was below 6 and increased it with ph up to current levels. I have tested my tap water and it was high can't remember how high but if you use the liquid tests the water was blue so was off the scale.

I really don't understand how it is staying this low as i'm doing 50% changes daily

 

[rabbut]

Are you using strips or liquid drops?

 

[shaz-killie]

Liquid drops

 

[rabbut]

Something has to be crashing the pH. You running any CO2?

How old is the test kit? Is there any chance of testing some water with a known pH?

 

[shaz-killie]

test kit is about a year old, but if the kit was at fault it would give wrong readings for tap water as well and thats reading the results it should be. whatever happens between the water going in and doing regular test I don't know. The tanks run as a planted tank with just discus, kribs and bristlenose at the moment. basic external filter and I did have an internal in as well which i removed thinking the external could cope, which with todays results i doubt, so it will go back in tomorrow.

I don't have a great grasp of chemistry but the basic maths suggest the level should creep up but doesn't

 

[rabbut]

Very strange...

Looking at it though, 50% daily waterchanges and the nitrate is on 7 and the pH low... What does the nitrate from the tap read? There could be a pocket of rubbish somewhere rotting away and caursing the low pH mebe? Can you get a KH (Carbonate or temperary hardness) reading?

This is very unusual...