Help With Discus

[sjolliff]

my reading have always been 0 but tested tonights and ammonia is between 0.25 and 0.50!!
no show of nitrite

also my ph has been dropping.
Has been 6.4 for ages now dropped below 6?

cant see no dead fish, few plants look a bit funny but nowt over normal

any idea whats could be causing it

doing a 50% WC to bring ot down to 0

 

[gregswimm]

It sounds to me like you are doing just fine. They like their water tannic. A 10-20% water change could help the ammonia.

What are your nitrates at? and GH?

 

[sjolliff]

Did not test them, but took a piece of bog wood up and underneath was full of rottening food and bits of poop and the bogwood smelt rotten

so iv gravel vaced and boiling the bogwood

 

[sjolliff]

Ammonia down to about 0.10ppm if not below

Will check 2moz morning before feeding.

i hope the sand vac and cleaning the bog wood has stopped it.

im leaving the wood out tonight,
but through all this my breeding pair of discus have just spawned lol

 

[gregswimm]

Spawning is a sign your fish are happy. Just keep on doing what you are doing. The wood is supposed to decompose, when it does so it releases tannins, incresing the acidity of your water. Just dont let your PH get below 5

 

[discus_lover]

for spawning the ph level will be 6.5..so no need to down ph level of your tank...

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Get that ammo out of the tank asap and monitor. You shouldn't have any ammonia reading... Did you change out any filter media lately? Add new fish? Wash filter media? Could be a mini cycle due to one of these reasons. Watch out for over feeding. How often do you do water changes and how often do you feed? The one good thing is that ammo is less toxic in a lower pH.

 

[discus_lover]

which tyupe of filter you have for discus tank?the best filter will always be eheim external filter and biological filter...

 

[sjolliff]

im using 2 tetratecs EX1200's i do a 50% on a wed and another 50% on a sunday, they get fed 4 times a day 2 frozen and 2 dry now and again fresh or frozen cockels.

the other day i replaced one of the filters whole main head/pump
got a reading of 025 today so doin another WC

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

the other day i replaced one of the filters whole main head/pump

Not too familiar with Tetratec filters. Was media replaced? If so, this is the route of your ammonia problem. Bulk up on water changes and have prime handy. Shouldn't take long for the bacteria to recolonize.

Good luck.

 

[discus_lover]

exactly discuskeeper403 whatever you said.to maintain a disus aquarium you may keep a biological filter,in the biological filter there are some bio balls which can produce good bacteria in your tank..

 

[sjolliff]

I changed no media at all, the main/pumo head is the top which has the impeller in and electrics.

after the 50% WC last night and missing 2 feeds my ammonia this morn is 0

PH after WC was 6.4 this morn its between 5-6?

Iv added no ferts this morn, the only other thing which could be causing the ph drop is a new piece of bogwood, it dint leak tannis when i soaked so i dont know how it affecting the ph,
but at the min there are loads of discus eggs on there

 

[sjolliff]

Just tested for ammonia and its got a trace but less then 0.25

when i saw 0 this morning i gave them a small feed

 

[coldcazzie]

Iv added no ferts this morn, the only other thing which could be causing the ph drop is a new piece of bogwood

I have the same problem as you - pH drops drastically through the week, the problem is that we are in a v.soft water area - my KH registers at about 4-5 degrees which is v.soft, and means tehre is nothing to buffer the pH. I have another friend in the area who has similar issues in her tank, her pH is at about 6.4 all the time. There's not much we can do about it, unless you want to start adding buffering agents like crushed coral or something into the tank, but as discus like softer acidic water I wouldn't bother incase you stress them. They'll probably be less bothered about the pH changing than they would be if you started to add more minerals into the water...

 

[discus_lover]

you use crushed coral for discus tank?