Discus Laying Down

[maxtcee]

Hey guys first post
Ok so I just set up my 180 gallon tank I got about 17 discus had it for 2 days now and they wont eat
They been real scared and really only come out when the light is off
Today I came home and saw them laying on its side
My ph out the tap is 7.0 so is my tank
water temp is 82 don't know nitrates and ammonia I don't have kit for that
The tank is heavy decor with live plants and drift wood
Do you guys think this is normal or is there something I should do

 

[boabmac63]

Hey guys first post
Ok so I just set up my 180 gallon tank I got about 17 discus had it for 2 days now and they wont eat
They been real scared and really only come out when the light is off
Today I came home and saw them laying on its side
My ph out the tap is 7.0 so is my tank
water temp is 82 don't know nitrates and ammonia I don't have kit for that
The tank is heavy decor with live plants and drift wood
Do you guys think this is normal or is there something I should do

Did u cycle the tank

 

[dh058977]

Was the tank cycled? If so, how? what water changes do you / are you planning on carrying out? Filtration? You should really have a full testing kit for keeping discus

 

[bluenoseben]

u need ur temp higher un to 29 c and how long have you had you tank maturing?

 

[maxtcee]

I've had the water cycled for about 1 week I'm using an eheim 2250
I've had the tank for ten years now had discus in before and Africans and angels in before but just getting back into it and never had discus laying down before
I usually do 15% water changes ever week
And never had a problem before

 

[onidrase]

I'm really confused

All I know is that this is troubling

You say the tank has been running for a long time, how long was it running without fish? The nitrafying bacteria needs a steady stream of ammonia to stay alive, if you ran it for a week with no fish, then it's most likely all dead by now.

Running the tank with no fish is pointless unless you add your own ammonia

If you have enough money for 17 discus and a 180 gallon tank, you have enough money to go buy a API Freshwater Master Test kit. It costs like 30 dollars at most and will give you all the info you need, ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite. pH is pointless to test unless you live in an area with extreme chemicals in the tap or have wild discus fish.

Chances are you're going through a fish in cycle. With discus. Things don't bode well in this case.

 

[maxtcee]

OK let me refrain I've had the tank for 10 yrs now but the last 3 yrs it was empty I recently set it back up and had water filtration for a week

 

[dh058977]

OK let me refrain I've had the tank for 10 yrs now but the last 3 yrs it was empty I recently set it back up and had water filtration for a week

Then your filter is not cycled and your fish are most likely suffering from Ammonia poisoning. You need to think about doing very large daily water changes and getting a testing kit. you should also seriously consider returning the duscus until you are cycled as personally I dont think they will make it in an uncycled tank, they can be very very sensitive.

Have a look in the beginners section, mostly the sections on cycling. I dont know how you cycled it in the past but there is some great info there.

 

[onidrase]

OK let me refrain I've had the tank for 10 yrs now but the last 3 yrs it was empty I recently set it back up and had water filtration for a week

so the tank isn't cycled. In my signature is a link to the beginners resource center, there you'll find info on the nitrogen cycle. I've never seen anyone complete it in a week. I'd take those discus back ASAP, I have heavy doubts they'll last through a fish-in cycle. Some common livebearers can't even take it.

 

[maxtcee]

OK let me refrain I've had the tank for 10 yrs now but the last 3 yrs it was empty I recently set it back up and had water filtration for a week

so the tank isn't cycled. In my signature is a link to the beginners resource center, there you'll find info on the nitrogen cycle. I've never seen anyone complete it in a week. I'd take those discus back ASAP, I have heavy doubts they'll last through a fish-in cycle. Some common livebearers can't even take it.

Ok so my ammonia is 0
Nitrite is .50
And nitrate is 0
I shut the light off and raised the heat up to 85 and there back swimming around
Seems like when ever the light is on there get scared and hide or lay down

 

[onidrase]

OK let me refrain I've had the tank for 10 yrs now but the last 3 yrs it was empty I recently set it back up and had water filtration for a week

so the tank isn't cycled. In my signature is a link to the beginners resource center, there you'll find info on the nitrogen cycle. I've never seen anyone complete it in a week. I'd take those discus back ASAP, I have heavy doubts they'll last through a fish-in cycle. Some common livebearers can't even take it.

Ok so my ammonia is 0
Nitrite is .50
And nitrate is 0

I'd say the nitrIte is doing them in. Ammonia and nitrIte are both lethal to fish in low doses, and are best kept below .20, preferably at 0 at all times. At it's current dose, it's not coming as a surprise some of the discus in your tank are dying.

Discus are even a bit sensitive to nitrAte, which is pretty much harmless to most fish in doses below like 100, but with discus are best kept below 20.

Like I said, do yourself and your fish a favor and take them back asap.

If you can't, go around and beg everyone you can for filter pads, filter wool, anything, and stick it in the filter, and hope it'll instantly cycle your tank. But it'll have to be quick.

And if you can't do that, I'll be #40## surprised if you have even 1 discus left in the next month or two, to be blunt.

 

[maxtcee]

OK let me refrain I've had the tank for 10 yrs now but the last 3 yrs it was empty I recently set it back up and had water filtration for a week

so the tank isn't cycled. In my signature is a link to the beginners resource center, there you'll find info on the nitrogen cycle. I've never seen anyone complete it in a week. I'd take those discus back ASAP, I have heavy doubts they'll last through a fish-in cycle. Some common livebearers can't even take it.

Ok so my ammonia is 0
Nitrite is .50
And nitrate is 0

I'd say the nitrIte is doing them in. Ammonia and nitrIte are both lethal to fish in low doses, and are best kept below .20, preferably at 0 at all times. At it's current dose, it's not coming as a surprise some of the discus in your tank are dying.

Discus are even a bit sensitive to nitrAte, which is pretty much harmless to most fish in doses below like 100, but with discus are best kept below 20.

Like I said, do yourself and your fish a favor and take them back asap.

If you can't, go around and beg everyone you can for filter pads, filter wool, anything, and stick it in the filter, and hope it'll instantly cycle your tank. But it'll have to be quick.

And if you can't do that, I'll be #40## surprised if you have even 1 discus left in the next month or two, to be blunt.

Ok so here's an update I took some floss from my pond which is cycled for about 3 years with about 15 koi and put it in my eheim
and a 20% water change waited about 4 hrs and ran a water test again
Ammonia 0
Nitrite .10-.15
Nitrate 0
Ph is about 70
Water temp 85
Fish look better swimming around but still some arent eating and a bit scared when I turn on light
one thing that got me confused is how can i have nitrite in just 3 days

 

[garyspence84]

Hi maxtcee and welcome.

If your discus arent settling, just leave the light off for a good while, so that their only light is natural daylight, and set up a timer for your actual light for just a couple of hours at night time for a few days, and gradually increase the time on the timer so your discus get used to it.

Thats what I done with mine and there all ok now, and I still do this if/when I get new aditions to the tank.

Hope this has helped some.

And good luck, keep us posted

G

 

[DevotedToDiscus]

Can you post some photos of them? It will help a lot with diagnosing the potential problem.

 

[Primous]

Hi maxtcee and welcome.

If your discus arent settling, just leave the light off for a good while, so that their only light is natural daylight, and set up a timer for your actual light for just a couple of hours at night time for a few days, and gradually increase the time on the timer so your discus get used to it.

Thats what I done with mine and there all ok now, and I still do this if/when I get new aditions to the tank.

Hope this has helped some.

And good luck, keep us posted

G

Beside the point really. It's not that they are not settling in his problems stem from the fact that he hasn't cycled his filter.

@maxtcee You can not cycle a filter in 1 week. Getting some wool from your pond does not to begin to address the issue. You need to have a large colony of bacs in your filter should you wish to keep discus. Ammonia burns (literally burns like acid) your fish from the outside. Nitrite damages their internal organs and at any measure above 0.00ppm can and will damage your fish.

You need to cycle your filter or the fish, if not already deceased, soon will be.