Discus Journal...

[Jim Curtis]

DIY Co2 is gone, I just did a 50% water change. They are using both gills. Ill give it a few hours and check them out again. I might buy a 20 gallon and put my plants and everything else in there, just leaving the discus in this tank.

 

[Jim Curtis]

Found a dead tetra when I woke up today. He was floating at the top and looked pretty bloated. I'm getting a bit concerned now.

 

[rabbut]

Bloating on one fish, gasping on the largers, hum..... Have you had a look at the gills yet? Are they red and/or inflamed? Are they white? or Pink? Any "Pineconeing" on the tetra body?

You grabbed my interest, but ATM, I'm not too shure as to whats going on...

You shure there is no pattern to the gasping, or any activity to link to it?

Can yo give a run-down on waterstats in numbers please? Also, just remind us of the test kit you use.

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Jim Curtis]

All I have is the API master kit which dosent include KH.

87F
0 amonia
0 Nitrates
0 Nitrites
PH 6.8

The fish are constantly breathing heavily, I now have seen stringy poop as well.

Heres a video showing them breathing. I was watching Entourage on tv in case you were wondering.

 

[rabbut]

Some fish (the Mabolos inparticular) look rather bloated to me from that video. Bloating can increase the breathing rate, as it increases pressure on the circulatitory system, and constipation caursing the bloating would also explain the stringy poo. Stringy poo is the fish equivilant of "the runs".

Waterstats are good. You shure the nitrAte is zero? With daily 50%'s it may well be, but it is an unusual reading to say the least.

What Veg is in their diet ATM, and when is it offered?

I'd flush with Peas once daily, offering no dried food for about a week to try clear any intestinal blockage. Discus need veg in their diet, and is something that is often left out. Without it, their short digestive tracts, can easily block. Peas are something I offer fairly regularly, but I keep forgetting them in lists of food for discus. Lettuice is apparently also a good one once choped up and boiled for a while. Not one I have tried mine on yet... You are using veg for it's fibre, not the other stuff it has

HTH
Rabbut

 

[Jim Curtis]

How to I prepare peas? Do I need fresh or are frozen/canned peas ok? Also, I assume that the Ocean Nutrition mix has some veg in it however only 2 of the discus seem to eat it. The clean small marb (who I noticed today is now the same size as the heavily peppered guy who was larger when I got them) and the larger of the Blue Turks. I feed them pretty well and that vid was right after they ate so that may well have been the reason for the bloating.

If Nitrate wasnt zero it was damn close. I did a water change about 45 minutes before I tested. I usually do them at night, my reasoning was that would give the CO2 all night to get back to its peak before the lights came back on in the am. I dont know if that had any merit to it but it dosent really matter anymore since its no longer in use.

Thanks Rabbut!!!!!!!

Spinach is a main ingrediant in that frozen mix I have. I havnt fed that in a few days Ill toss in a few cubes in a bit. I have a ton of that stuff in my freezer but the didnt really seem to like it so I dont feed it very often. I guess ill stop giving them that choice.

 

[rabbut]

Which Instant Ocean mix are you offering? Their Beefheart and Discus mixes are poor IMO. They are that bad that even the staff in all my local LFS's try to put people off buying them..... Their tropical quintete mix is good though IMO, and the only other one I know they do is the marine mix.

No frozen discus mix is any good IMO, you'd be better off making your own, out of a tropical quintete mix, marine fix, muscles, spinach, peas and mebe a bit of garlic. You want to avoid any frozen food defrosting for too long, as it will start to loose it's nutritional value of it is allowed to sit for long. You should apply a good frozen food vitamin spray to the mix before re-freezing. Buy frozen food in bulk for this, and you can make a years suply in an afternoon assuming you have the freezer space to store it. Essenitally, you are making a Beefheart mix without the beefheart

Any frozen food sould be supplimented with a dried food IMO, but made such that mixing of frozen and fried foods is slightly bias towards the frozen food.

Any pea would be good, just cook to soften, and then squish them to take the shell off before feeding

HTH
Rabbut

 

[Jim Curtis]

the discus mix.

I had a bit of a crisis last night after cleaning my canister filter (which ive always hated btw) for some reason all the stuff inside the tubes broke loose and started blowing into my tank. It took me about 2 hours to realize that was where it was coming from. At first I just thought it was loose stuff blowing off of the sponge that wraps around the canister holding the media so I threw that away and put on a new one. I ended up disassembling my entire filter and cleaning out the tubes, so much #### came out it was disgusting. I noticed during my water change that water was barly trickling out of it. It had been months since i cleaned it. Anyway, I ended up doing two more 50% water changes in the middle of the night to get rid of all of the crap and then I noticed all of my discus laying on the bottom of the tank so I did another water change. Today they seem better but still a bit stressed.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

the discus mix.

I had a bit of a crisis last night after cleaning my canister filter (which ive always hated btw) for some reason all the stuff inside the tubes broke loose and started blowing into my tank. It took me about 2 hours to realize that was where it was coming from. At first I just thought it was loose stuff blowing off of the sponge that wraps around the canister holding the media so I threw that away and put on a new one. I ended up disassembling my entire filter and cleaning out the tubes, so much #### came out it was disgusting. I noticed during my water change that water was barly trickling out of it. It had been months since i cleaned it. Anyway, I ended up doing two more 50% water changes in the middle of the night to get rid of all of the crap and then I noticed all of my discus laying on the bottom of the tank so I did another water change. Today they seem better but still a bit stressed.

I am surprised what I can get out of my sponges by just floating them in some tank water, every few weeks!

That heavy breathing is definitely abnormal. Maybe try discontinuing the C02 for a bit?

It doesn't really seem like the fish are sick. All the fish have nice color. They aren't lethargic and they seemed to be coming up to the front in search of food. This leads me to believe there is something wrong with the water...

 

[Jim Curtis]

The Co2 is gone. There definetly was something wrong with the water last night!

I had rinsed my sponges in old tank water. I wasnt sure what was going on. I thought maybe I had turned the sponge inside out or something. The stuff blowing into the tank looked nothing like anything inside the filter so I was pretty stumped. I think that my flow was just really bad since it had been awhile since I cleaned and just all the extra flow acheived by rinsing my sponge cause all the crap in the tubes to fly out.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

The Co2 is gone. There definetly was something wrong with the water last night!

I had rinsed my sponges in old tank water. I wasnt sure what was going on. I thought maybe I had turned the sponge inside out or something. The stuff blowing into the tank looked nothing like anything inside the filter so I was pretty stumped. I think that my flow was just really bad since it had been awhile since I cleaned and just all the extra flow acheived by rinsing my sponge cause all the crap in the tubes to fly out.

Could be, but how are the fish breathing now?


I am talking something wrong with the water from long before last night.

How long has the C02 been out?

 

[Jim Curtis]

Its been out 2 days. Could it be possible that they breath heavy only when im near the tank? If there is definatly something wrong I hope its not the water because I do everything I can to keep it clean and dont want to have to get in to altering things there but I want my boys to live!!! You guys are 100% sure based on the video that it isnt parasites or worms?

Theres more on the line than just these fish! If they get big I have the ok from the woman (like that matters, ill do it anyway) to get a big ass tank and an aquaterra background and more discus!

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Its been out 2 days. Could it be possible that they breath heavy only when im near the tank? If there is definatly something wrong I hope its not the water because I do everything I can to keep it clean and dont want to have to get in to altering things there but I want my boys to live!!! You guys are 100% sure based on the video that it isnt parasites or worms?

Theres more on the line than just these fish! If they get big I have the ok from the woman (like that matters, ill do it anyway) to get a big ass tank and an aquaterra background and more discus!

I am just thinking it might be too much C02 in the water. Maybe try increasing aeration with an air stone?? Although, if it's been two days and they are still doing it then it might not be...


There is a possibility that it might be parasitic. You might want to try some General Cure (good for internal, external parasites, and more.) Para/Poly Guard by Seachem are also really good for curing general illness too.

 

[Jim Curtis]

I have prazi pro is that for internal parasites as well? One site said it was another didnt mention it.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

I have prazi pro is that for internal parasites as well? One site said it was another didnt mention it.

Yeah, that will work. It is good to de-worm your Discus on occasion anyways, so this won't do anything but benefit them.

Do a big water change (50%) and add 1 tablespoon per 20 gallons of water. As it says, leave it for 5 days and do another big water change. If the fish are looking better I would follow up with another 5 days of treatment, if they are looking exactly the same we will need to do think of some else.