Discus Trouble

[cheesy feet]

Actually methylene blue and melafix both help with stress,and if there is a problem it will get rid of it.

 

[paul-discus]

Personally i would never reccomend that discus be kept in a pH of 8, anything above 7 is a no no and 6.5 about right though 7 will be tolerated, at 8 they are infact under undue stress. When a discus gets to the point mentioned it is often too late to intervene as they go over very quickly at that stage. They need to be diagnosed asap and then treat with the proper medication asap. It does sound like an internal problem but then often with discus there is a secondary problem. If i remember rightly this guy bought them in this condition and i wouldn't mind guessing that they are slightly razor back too. With discus my advice would be buy no fish under 3inch, always have odd numbers but more importantly buy from a discus specialist where the guy you are buying them from knows exactly how to look after his charges and only sells fish in tip top codition that will have already been wormed e.t.c. Ask what his water parameters are and adjust your's accordingly and also ask what they are being fed then gradually add new things to their diet.

 

[demonmagus]

Hi, I noticed you talked about pH, I've heard that if acclimatised well, discus can tolerate higher pH than usual

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

As people are saying on so far, it looks like it could be a couple of things. The Nitrates are very high, but so far I have hoped you have taken the adivce of the others and took some water out. Something else caught my eye while reading your first post. Flicking can be a sign of Ick, have you checked for little salt like specs on their body? A very good de stressing agent is Stress Coat, it helps with repairing of damaged fins and can help build back the slime coat of fish. You can add a little more then whats recommended, for this problem i'd proably do up to 15 ml per 10 us gallons of water.

Good Luck!

 

[cheesy feet]

My Tap water Ph is like 8.4 and my discus are fine..

 

[Marshall..]

Discus naturally come from acidic waters and although they may seem fine their lifespan will be shortened by keeping them in unatural conditions so why do it? It is not difficult to have the correct water paramiters for your fish!

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Marshall.. Can I ask why you are getting mad? Angels too come from acidic waters, and can be kept in very high Ph because they've had generations of tank breeding in diffrent water chemistries. Paradise fish can be found in places where the Ph is as low as 5! But they can be kept in waters up to 7.5+! So why wouldn't Discus stand diffrent water chemistry like all tank bred fish now days?

Plus your very new to this thread, i'm doubting you even own Discus so don't go around like your the king of the hill.

 

[demonmagus]

Discus naturally come from acidic waters and although they may seem fine their lifespan will be shortened by keeping them in unatural conditions so why do it? It is not difficult to have the correct water paramiters for your fish!

tell that to CFC, he keeps all his rays in his london water I believe

 

[FishRfine]

quarintine the aflicted fish immediatly.

 

[Marshall..]

 

[thegnu]

this pH thing is a very hot topic. years ago it was you had to get your water as close as possible to the discus's wild parameters. lots of discus were lost although i would never touch them then, believing they were very hard to keep alive. although things have improved and i now keep them, although i have only had mine for about four months, i keep mine as the old books use to tell us. i keep mine in ro water remineralized with either kent ro right or a liquid fert for plants as there is enough minerals/metals in this? and its beneficial for my plants. my pH is 5.8. KH and GH i have never tested for. my rams and apistos breed in the same tank, all my fish are thriving, thats good enough for me.
now for the hot bit.
i don't buy into this match your water's params to the water that your breeder/fishkeepers use. does this include the discus seller, who has obtained his discus from a breeder for re-sale? the breeders have to use ro water unless they have soft acidic water out of their tap other wise the discus will not breed/fertilize/hatch. so for the first six weeks of their lives the discus babies are kept in acidic, low GH water. when the baby discus are old enough to be taken from the parents to be grown as quickly as possible, and to do this in "not the best conditions" ie, alkaline, hardish tapwater lots of them do 100% water changes every day to compensate and keep the nitrates down to as near to nil as possible. then you get your beloved discus home and now have you got to match the breeders water? meaning you have got to put something into the water, possibly altering your water that might be nearer what is best for them before you start to alter it? why not alter it the other way which would be even better? breeders haven't got the time or the capabilities to do it better on such as large a scale as they would need so they change the goal post's to suit themselves. they sell more fish and ease peoples fears. when you get your fish home are you going to do 100% water changes everyday? no. things will look good, even easy. you believe every thing you are told. even get relaxed. and then the nitrates start to build with your confidence that they are an easy fish to look after (anything over 30PPM) and suddenly big trouble. they are open to all sorts of discomforts accelerated by not the best water. which i believe they do need. lots of people will disagree with all this and a very high percentage of those will be breeders.