i have 6 juvenile discus, 3 adophi corys and 20 rasbora in a 210lt heavily planted tank.
both the discus and the corys have very fast breathing rate (a few times per sec) and open their gills very wide, i've no idea why, one of the discus in particularly has declined to the extent that he hides near my air pump most of the time and fails to feed well except sometimes on heart. i lost a cory a few weeks ago whose breathing was also unnaturally fast.
0 ammonia
0 nitrate
50 GH (ppm)
pH6.8
temp@28c
i change the water 10% daily using dechlorinated tap water as the pH and hardness of my water runs low right from the tap. i don't feed a lot of heart so bigger water changes don't seem neccessary. two filters; rena filstar and an eheim classic, medium includes carbon+resin and phoszorb to control algae. i have an air pump, lots of thriving live plants, some thriving algae too (dammit) and bogwood/roots. the tank cycled sans fishes long ago.
the discus are around 3" now, they do not respond well to water changes at all, i did 25% yesterday and today they are not happy. they breath very fast the whole time and a few rub themselves against onion plants although i have previously treated for flukes or mites (i was never convinced it was parasites anyway, now i'm sure it's not as non of the fish responded to jungle parasite clear). could chemicals in the water be irritating them? aside from one fish the others are good colour, but seem a little stressed and although they don't inflict harm on one another (at least that i can see) they do fight quite often.
i talked to the breeder about this and he's sure it's a phosphate issue. i've never heard of fish being particularly concerned about phosphates, ammonia/nitrite/extreme pH/temp yes, but phosphate isn't something i associate with a decline in the health of my fishes. i replace the phoszorb regularly yet it doesn't have any impact, i'm not sure what else to do. RO is an option but with good pH/GH out of the tap the additional hassle and expensive isn't ideal. it's possible that my tap water is now being buffered by the water company to keep the pH up resulting in high phosphates too (i don't use buffer or pH down products myself).
anything spring to mind? bearing in mind that water changes are not the answer, as i've tried as much as 50% and the fishes just get worse. i don't really know what to do for the best and i really don't want these guys to die.
both the discus and the corys have very fast breathing rate (a few times per sec) and open their gills very wide, i've no idea why, one of the discus in particularly has declined to the extent that he hides near my air pump most of the time and fails to feed well except sometimes on heart. i lost a cory a few weeks ago whose breathing was also unnaturally fast.
0 ammonia
0 nitrate
50 GH (ppm)
pH6.8
temp@28c
i change the water 10% daily using dechlorinated tap water as the pH and hardness of my water runs low right from the tap. i don't feed a lot of heart so bigger water changes don't seem neccessary. two filters; rena filstar and an eheim classic, medium includes carbon+resin and phoszorb to control algae. i have an air pump, lots of thriving live plants, some thriving algae too (dammit) and bogwood/roots. the tank cycled sans fishes long ago.
the discus are around 3" now, they do not respond well to water changes at all, i did 25% yesterday and today they are not happy. they breath very fast the whole time and a few rub themselves against onion plants although i have previously treated for flukes or mites (i was never convinced it was parasites anyway, now i'm sure it's not as non of the fish responded to jungle parasite clear). could chemicals in the water be irritating them? aside from one fish the others are good colour, but seem a little stressed and although they don't inflict harm on one another (at least that i can see) they do fight quite often.
i talked to the breeder about this and he's sure it's a phosphate issue. i've never heard of fish being particularly concerned about phosphates, ammonia/nitrite/extreme pH/temp yes, but phosphate isn't something i associate with a decline in the health of my fishes. i replace the phoszorb regularly yet it doesn't have any impact, i'm not sure what else to do. RO is an option but with good pH/GH out of the tap the additional hassle and expensive isn't ideal. it's possible that my tap water is now being buffered by the water company to keep the pH up resulting in high phosphates too (i don't use buffer or pH down products myself).
anything spring to mind? bearing in mind that water changes are not the answer, as i've tried as much as 50% and the fishes just get worse. i don't really know what to do for the best and i really don't want these guys to die.
pls ignore this...im sry, was thinking of something else. 
)
Discus are particularly sensitive to metals and other toxins in the water, try getting a water report from your water supplier you'll be amazed at what's in there, this is why your discus are worse after a water change 
