Discus Journal...

[Jim Curtis]

Heres a close up of each of my fish. I feel like the two Red Turqs might be ok. The rest I agree look stunted. I guess thats what you get for buying online.

 

[rabbut]

If they are stunted, they aren't badly yet, as the shape is fine. The eyes are slightly large, but this is IME at least normal while small...

I've had mine about 9 months now. There are now 8 of them in my 83.2g and they are doing well, but still sorting out the hirachy...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Jim Curtis]

According to the breedeer I bought the Red Marbs and the Cobalt from the fish are only 3 months and 2 months old respectivly. So they are not stunted.

I think I spend too much time looking at my discus to notice them growing.. if that makes any sense..

 

[rabbut]

Sounds phesable to me. I haven't noticed any growth in mine, but house guests tells me otherwise... I assume that the breeder allowed you to view the parent fish? If so, then you have a feel for your target size and shape, unless the pair were small for adults Adults should be arround 8 inches SL (about 10 TL)

All the best
Rabbut

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

The Red Marlboros are stunted for sure. You can tell by the shape of the forehead and the mouth.

Others don't seem to be in such bad shape.

 

[Jim Curtis]

Well I guess only time will tell. Unfortunatly time is on my breeders side as he can always just deny it then blame it on me in 6 months if they havnt grown.

 

[mike os]

as a guide to proportion, if you "draw" a line from top to bottom through the eye, you should get 7-9 eyes into the line, less is probably stunted. ( jack watley, andrew soh etc)

melon = 5 so probably... but plenty of serious feeding may improve it

turk ditto, & shows a lot of colour for a 3 month old fish

it can be difficult to judge from photo's & even more important is if they are OK to you then anything else is irrelevant.


I have a bit of experience with discus lol...

350gal discus setup with 5 breeders..... not much stock at the mo though, too busy at work to deal with them. Been breeding on a moderate scale ( 200-300 quality 3-4" fish a year) for several years, & keeping a bit longer, one of the directors of the UK Discus Club etc....

I really only keep fish to breed, currently breeding Motoro rays, loads of corys & working on some etroplus canarensis.... well I like a challenge

 

[Jim Curtis]

Those are 2 different turks. They are both from my LFS. I have no clue how old they are. They are the biggest fish, around 4".

 

[Jim Curtis]

These guys are breathing super heavy. I dont think its a lack of oxygen. I have a HOB filter that agitates the water quite a bit. Its gotta be Flukes. I feed them Tetra color which turns poop red so I think that would cover white feces.

If its not flukes then I must be getting PH swings from my little diy CO2 Setup. This is a bummer.

 

[mike os]

how fast are they breathing?

& what is the Kh, & how is the CO2 regulated?


Also if you have a reasonable amount of surface agitition you are wasting your time with CO2 as it will outgas faster than you can add it.

 

[Jim Curtis]

My plants are growing like crazy compared to pre co2 days. I dont have a test for Kh. The C02 isnt regulated. Its a bottle of water yeast and sugar with a tube and a plastic ladder/diffuser on the end. I'll pick up a test for KH in the morning.

They show all the symptoms, just not constantly. I have no way of knowing if they are only breathing heavy when im near the tank or what. But they are breathing at least twice what is considered normal per minute. About two times a second, or 120bpm.

 

[rabbut]

That breathing rate may or may not be normal. Fighting, feeding and moving quickly use up oxygen and thus increase the breathing rate. If these fish have a fast breathing rate after a scrap or running from a scare or while feeding e.t.c I would not be too concerened, espessially if the breathing rate returns to normal within a few minuites. If the breathing rate is fast without due caurse, then there may be something else going on...

Those yeast based kits hold very unstable levels of CO2 in the water IME, so it is possible that too much CO2 at certain times of the day are caursing the greaf, espessially if the gasping is all the larger fish in the tank duing the time when lights are off, or shortly after lights on... Unless the mix gets warmer duing lights on? If so, this could increase the output of the bottle at certain times of day. Warmer yeast produces more CO2

For a Discus set-up pressurised CO2 is the only safe option IMO, as it can be regulated easily to reduce CO2 fluctuations and thus keep stats constant. Couple them to a pH controler, and the CO2 levels will never move, unless somthing increases the KH or lowers it

Are there any paticular times of day when they gasp, or any events that you can link the gasping to? If so, that may give a clue as to the problem. Also, what fish and how may do you have in the tank ATM, and what is the surface area of the tank. I would look at environmental conditions before disease with gasping. Also, Flukes will usualy start to knock arround smaller fish first IME, so I'd expect to see issues with any dither fish more prominantly than with the discus.

Just my thoughts
Rabbut

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

I used the same C02 kits and honestly, they didn't do much. I discontinued using them, as I got tired of having to clean them out, and then fill them up again with the right combination of sugar and yeast.

 

[Jim Curtis]

My tetras seem fine. I mean, they are 2 years old and I've had no deaths ever. All 10 are seemingly doing fine. They dont go to the surface and gasp with the Discus. In fact I havnt seen them doing that in a fews days. However, yesterday I noticed a few of my discus sitting still and sort of shaking their bodies which seemed strange. The sirface area of the tank is 36" x 16". The CO2 probably has a higher output during the day when I have my air conditioner off.

I had two plants that I thought were ment to be low foreground plants, in the first 3 or 4 months I had them they didnt grow at all. In the month since I've had this CO2 setup they have shot up leaves to the surface of the water. They have been growing like 3" a day which is something ive never seen. With that said, I have no problem ditching the CO2, id much rather have good looking fish than good looking plants.

 

[angelmouse]

i use diy co2 for my discus tank no probs. Fish breathing rapidly has to be oxygen or water problems. Check your nitrite and nitrate(important these are at acceptable level), and ph and kh in case the co2 has made ph drop, the kh should not be lower 3 and better higher to keep ph stable. Check your diy co2 yeast mix is not leaking in tank (with nutrafin co2 it is best to fill abit below line as they can leak easily) failing that are they only using one gill(sign of gill flukes)
hope you find the problem
regards Angel