Discus Help

[fillthehole]

hi all

i have 2 discus fish and a snowball plec discus are about 3" long and the plec is about 2". the discus is all over the tank and happy but one of the discus has gone dark for about 1 week now and the fines are flat.

PH - 7.5
Ammonia - 0.0
Nitrite - 0.0
Nitrate - 0.0

 

[rabbut]

The issue is stress, unless the fish is Flashing (flicking or rubbing itself on/off objects in the tank) and is likely to be being caursed by the small group size. Adults need a group of 4 minimum and 5+ is preferable. Juviniles under 4" reguire much larger groups, preferably arround the 8+ mark. This is why I recomend buying discus at the 4"+ mark assuming their tank is large enough (they need 50+g and 18" of height)

The waterstats are perfect for tank bred stock, so that isn't the issue. Assuming as above, no flashing or gill clamping, the issue has to be stress Stressed Discus fish will starve themselves to death quite happily, so the issue needs remadying, either with 4 new Discus fish, or by re-homing the 2 Discus you have

Can you tell us about the age of the tank, how it was set up and it's size (capasity and dimentions) so we can give more specific advise?

Discus are considered an "advanced" species, not because they are hard to keep, but because they have specific care requirements to do well. Research is needed into them to realise and understand these requirements. There are "rules" to keeping these fish, but different aquarists set different rules, and almost all of them bend their own rules at some point. There are lots of differences in opinion over how to keep Discus, so you need to read as many opinions of others as possible, and then form your own opinion of the "best way"

I consider there to be 5 key things for successful discus tanks;

Keep them warm (28-32c)
Keep them "overfiltered" (6+ times an hour turnover through the filters, preferably on exturnal canisters)
Supply lots of clean fresh water (50% weekly waterchanges minimum past 4", or 50% daily for 1-4" sized fish)
Keep them in groups of 5+ when starting, or 4+ for "experienced" keepers
Give them the correct diet. (good dry high-protien staple and a frezen veriety of foods, fed 50:50. I use Discusin and Ocean Nutrition Tropical Quintette)

Small fish under 4" will stunt without regular waterchanges, so at this point in your game, they are crucial to ensure long-term health. Stunted fish are generaly shorter-lived, and stunting is common in these fish because of keepers reluctance to keep the water clean and fresh at all times while growing out their fish

HTH
Rabbut

 

[fillthehole]

thanks for the reply the temp is 86f and i do 50 o60% w/c a week but thay are in a small tank 45l cos the pet shop i got them from had 10 to 15 discus in a tank that size and thay saide thay be ok till thay get bigger in a about 2 years time. one of the discus is doing fine he is a nice red and the other one shoud be blue.

 

[rabbut]

The tank isn't big enough for them now, let alone in 2 years time. You need an upgrade pronto, or the re-home them Your LFS clearly don't have a clue about Discus. They should grow an inch a month with the right care, to 6 inches in diameter, and an inch every other month thereafter to an adult size of 8 inches diameter Take their stocking advise with a very large pinch of salt from now on... Also, 50% weekly waterchanges in no where near enough for discus that size. They will stunt, if they aren't stunted already, under their current care. That is an opinion that is unlikely to be different across different Discus keepers

If one is going over, the other will follow shortly

All the best
Rabbut

 

[fillthehole]

the discus was from Wharf Aquatics the No1 fish place for 6 years so it saide on the tank and by the staff. the tests are all at 0 a week later so Wharf Aquatics told me that will be ok cos thay do them weeky to.

 

[rabbut]

Supprised me, Warf have a very good reputation for specialist fish knowlage. Must have been Saturday staff you spoke to? Despite being Saturday staff myself, I don't mind saying most are clueless, but not all...

Waterchanges aren't just for reducing nitrate, they reduce hormones also, which are what stunt your discus

This leads to another issue. Why is nitrate zero? It should be a readble ammount in a tank with your current load What filter media do you have? Sponge, Zeolite, Carbon e.t.c?

My place of work does waterchanges on their discus only when they go into strops. This does not make it right to do this once they are in a home system. Shops are short-term keepers. The fish are out of their systems within a few weeks at most. It isn't hard to keep a Discus alive and healthy for a few weeks, or any real skill for that matter, but long-term things are more difficult. Remember, just because it works in a shop doesn't mean to say it will work at home Shops keep fish short-term, we keep them long-term (usualy) so differnt rules apply to us than they do a fish shop

All the best
Rabbut

 

[fillthehole]

i only was told about Wharf Aquatics this year so i went for a look. over the year i got about 6 fish from Wharf Aquatics and all died now other fish shops saide Wharf Aquatics looks good but not good and i also have a c/tank with 2 4 year old elephone nose fish clown loach plec catfish severum and kissing g. the fish from Wharf Aquatics got white spot to my tank and i never hade that before.plus it was not on saterday all fish from there has been sick.