Sick Discus?

[Mr Melt]

Allright lads;

I've been firing out threads on this forum like its no tomorrow ¬_¬

I just bought a new Discus to accompany my current one living in my tank; the original Discus has been in there for well over a month now with no problems. I should note that both are tank bred (as I made sure to ask before purchase!). Anyways the newcomer got off well at 1st, but now all of a sudden its gone very dark in colour, almost a shade of light black even!

Heres a pic (the best I could take unfortunately):

If you compare it to his tankmate (who is also a turquoise discus) you can tell that theres a problem (PS - both pictures were taken at the same time):

Hes also taken to hiding under my bogwood, and only comes out tentatively at best (and even then only with my other Discus).
My PH is 7, temperature is at 26; I know this isn't ideal for Discus, but it IS a community tank, and my aquarium setup isn't exactly fatal either....

So yes this is my question; is he in trouble, or is this just routine stress from a Discus in a new environment? I should add that hes only been in the tank for the past 2 days.

In the meantime, I think I will do a 20% water change and raise the temperature to 28 temporarily; will that do the trick? Or will I need some water treatments?

Thanks for your time.


PS - this is somewhat related; my original Discus (Nero) tends to display the same flushed coloration when I turn the tanklights on in the morning; I take it this is normal? Soon afterwards he clears right up again =)

 

[SaTiVa1984]

It is most likely stressed with the new home, discus can be finicky little buggers.

The temp is pretty low for discus tho, they prefer around 28-30oc, what was the tank temp he grew up in? if he was grown locally the water parameters will be pretty similar, so the hardness and PH of your water should be fine.

Best thing i could recommend right now is daily water changes around 25-30%, keeping your substrate free of poop, if its stressed it could weaken its immune system and cause all sorts of issues, also keep a close eye on it for any changes in behaviour.

What other fish do you have in there with em? they all might be well suited to higher temperatures.

 

[Mr Melt]

It is most likely stressed with the new home, discus can be finicky little buggers.

The temp is pretty low for discus tho, they prefer around 28-30oc, what was the tank temp he grew up in? if he was grown locally the water parameters will be pretty similar, so the hardness and PH of your water should be fine.

Best thing i could recommend right now is daily water changes around 25-30%, keeping your substrate free of poop, if its stressed it could weaken its immune system and cause all sorts of issues, also keep a close eye on it for any changes in behaviour.

What other fish do you have in there with em? they all might be well suited to higher temperatures.

I got him from the same shop (indeed the same tank) as the original discus.

He's in there with those listed in my signature; problem is that he's also in there with fish that can't tolerate very high temperatures (eg. the Moor and Dwarf Gouramis) =/

Is the temp really that bad (especially as the original Discus has been living in there for quite some time at that temperature)?

At any rate I'll do a water change ASAP; thank you for the feedback (and sorry to hear about your own Discus troubles; saw your thread =/)

 

[Mr Melt]

UPDATE - My God; halfway through doing the water change and I can actually see him physically returning to his normal colours as I fill the bucket! Take it thats a good sign? =P

 

[SaTiVa1984]

I got him from the same shop (indeed the same tank) as the original discus.

He's in there with those listed in my signature; problem is that he's also in there with fish that can't tolerate very high temperatures (eg. the Moor and Dwarf Gouramis) =/

Is the temp really that bad (especially as the original Discus has been living in there for quite some time at that temperature)?

At any rate I'll do a water change ASAP; thank you for the feedback (and sorry to hear about your own Discus troubles; saw your thread =/)

I guess the temp should be ok if they were brought up in similar conditions, It just their natural temperature above 28oc i believe so they will likely grow faster or show better colours at those ranges.

Yea my discus problems were due to stress of the total tank change, and the aggressive angels i believe, he is coming round slowly now, looks tons better from the beginning, i also kept my dwarf gouramis at my current temp of 30oc, they have been nesting but i rehomed them today, anything that even slightly shows aggression to my sick discus gets kicked out

 

[Mr Melt]

I got him from the same shop (indeed the same tank) as the original discus.

He's in there with those listed in my signature; problem is that he's also in there with fish that can't tolerate very high temperatures (eg. the Moor and Dwarf Gouramis) =/

Is the temp really that bad (especially as the original Discus has been living in there for quite some time at that temperature)?

At any rate I'll do a water change ASAP; thank you for the feedback (and sorry to hear about your own Discus troubles; saw your thread =/)

I guess the temp should be ok if they were brought up in similar conditions, It just their natural temperature above 28oc i believe so they will likely grow faster or show better colours at those ranges.

Yea my discus problems were due to stress of the total tank change, and the aggressive angels i believe, he is coming round slowly now, looks tons better from the beginning, i also kept my dwarf gouramis at my current temp of 30oc, they have been nesting but i rehomed them today, anything that even slightly shows aggression to my sick discus gets kicked out

I hear you!

Eugh; as soon as I began adding clean water to the tank he went all flushed again ¬_¬

Either way, thats my 30% water change done; got as much of the poop I could out (easy enough on a sand substrate - not so easy trying to clean carpet moss =P)

Could it be my dechlorinator? I use Interpet Bioactive Tapsafe if thats worth mentioning.....

 

[SaTiVa1984]

I got him from the same shop (indeed the same tank) as the original discus.

He's in there with those listed in my signature; problem is that he's also in there with fish that can't tolerate very high temperatures (eg. the Moor and Dwarf Gouramis) =/

Is the temp really that bad (especially as the original Discus has been living in there for quite some time at that temperature)?

At any rate I'll do a water change ASAP; thank you for the feedback (and sorry to hear about your own Discus troubles; saw your thread =/)

I guess the temp should be ok if they were brought up in similar conditions, It just their natural temperature above 28oc i believe so they will likely grow faster or show better colours at those ranges.

Yea my discus problems were due to stress of the total tank change, and the aggressive angels i believe, he is coming round slowly now, looks tons better from the beginning, i also kept my dwarf gouramis at my current temp of 30oc, they have been nesting but i rehomed them today, anything that even slightly shows aggression to my sick discus gets kicked out

I hear you!

Eugh; as soon as I began adding clean water to the tank he went all flushed again ¬_¬

Either way, thats my 30% water change done; got as much of the poop I could out (easy enough on a sand substrate - not so easy trying to clean carpet moss =P)

Could it be my dechlorinator? I use Interpet Bioactive Tapsafe if thats worth mentioning.....

He is still probably getting used to the new environment, when i got my last discus it would not eat for 4-5 days, it just takes them a while to come round, maybe try dimming the lights and coercing it with some beefheart see if it comes out.

Has it ate anything yet? any signs of damage on it or white stringy poop? its eyes look ok from the picture.

 

[Mr Melt]

I got him from the same shop (indeed the same tank) as the original discus.

He's in there with those listed in my signature; problem is that he's also in there with fish that can't tolerate very high temperatures (eg. the Moor and Dwarf Gouramis) =/

Is the temp really that bad (especially as the original Discus has been living in there for quite some time at that temperature)?

At any rate I'll do a water change ASAP; thank you for the feedback (and sorry to hear about your own Discus troubles; saw your thread =/)

I guess the temp should be ok if they were brought up in similar conditions, It just their natural temperature above 28oc i believe so they will likely grow faster or show better colours at those ranges.

Yea my discus problems were due to stress of the total tank change, and the aggressive angels i believe, he is coming round slowly now, looks tons better from the beginning, i also kept my dwarf gouramis at my current temp of 30oc, they have been nesting but i rehomed them today, anything that even slightly shows aggression to my sick discus gets kicked out

I hear you!

Eugh; as soon as I began adding clean water to the tank he went all flushed again ¬_¬

Either way, thats my 30% water change done; got as much of the poop I could out (easy enough on a sand substrate - not so easy trying to clean carpet moss =P)

Could it be my dechlorinator? I use Interpet Bioactive Tapsafe if thats worth mentioning.....

He is still probably getting used to the new environment, when i got my last discus it would not eat for 4-5 days, it just takes them a while to come round, maybe try dimming the lights and coercing it with some beefheart see if it comes out.

Has it ate anything yet? any signs of damage on it or white stringy poop? its eyes look ok from the picture.

As far as I can tell theres no damage; added bloodworms earlier to try and coax him into eating - I saw him start to edge towards the worms and I think he had a wee nibble; other than that nothing else occurred. Haven't seen him poop but I'll keep an eye out to make sure everythings fine that end too.

As of bedtime the next day hes still flushed, albeit not as badly (you can start to see a bit more colour on him) =)

 

[Mr Melt]

UPDATE - as of today my Discus appears to be getting worse. His colours haven't improved, his fins are clamped and now he has White Spot #63###......

All I can think of is to to another 30% change and then add Anti-Ich treatment......

 

[SaTiVa1984]

UPDATE - as of today my Discus appears to be getting worse. His colours haven't improved, his fins are clamped and now he has White Spot #63###......

All I can think of is to to another 30% change and then add Anti-Ich treatment......

Ouch!

On the plus side at least you can easily diagnose the issue with this one (white spot).

 

[Mr Melt]

UPDATE - as of today my Discus appears to be getting worse. His colours haven't improved, his fins are clamped and now he has White Spot #63###......

All I can think of is to to another 30% change and then add Anti-Ich treatment......

Ouch!

On the plus side at least you can easily diagnose the issue with this one (white spot).

Aye I put a dose of anti-white spot in earlier; will continue treatment for the next 2 days.....

I honestly have no idea whats causing such stress in my Discus =/

 

[Mr Melt]

Update-ish: Tried feeding my fish earlier - the sick Discus was hesitant but he did eat a few mouthfuls of Tubifex and one or 2 Sinking Pellets, so I'm a lot more optimistic =)

 

[Mr Melt]

Heres a picture of him at the minute:

You can clearly see the white spot and flushed body, especially when compared to his tankmate Nero (seen above him).

At least he's looking a lot more colourful than last night - he ate a good bit of food today too =)

White spots seem to be going away too.

 

[SaTiVa1984]

He's looking much better than the first photo

Fins aint clamped, and he has some colour, i bet he will be a very nice addition to your tank once the ich has cleared, man i love discus lol

 

[Mr Melt]

He's looking much better than the first photo

Fins aint clamped, and he has some colour, i bet he will be a very nice addition to your tank once the ich has cleared, man i love discus lol

Well I'm not so sure; I saw him swimming with only one fin clamped for a while the other day - but now hes swimming as normal.

As of now he's still quite flushed, but I tried feeding them bloodworms there and by God he near ate my hand =P

Fingers crossed he perks up =)