sick discus

[mikebuzz]

hi i am new to the forum, and just seeing if anyone can help

i have a discus in a mixed tank, with 10 guppies, 3 platy, 3 panda catfish, 1 brislenose catfish, 4 angels, 2 rock shrimp, oh yeah and 1 fighter

the problem is the discus has gone very dark around the fins, and yesterday i noticed a small white make on his side below the fins, it doesn't look like white spot, also today i have noticed that the fins are eroding slightly, what can i do to stop this?

i have checked the water and all seems fine

also i am looking to get a external filter and not top sure which to go for. was looking at the fluvar 405 which i would run peat in to soften the water, or maybe a ehiem, anyone recommend one for me?

oh yeah the tank is a fluval duo 1000

[ellwa]

How many discus?
how big is the tank
what are you nitrate, nitrite, amonia, ph, temp, kh levels?

[Merrilyn]

Welcome to the forum Mike.

Water for guppies is not really suitable for discus. Guppies like hard water with a pH of around 8 while your discus needs soft water with a pH under 7, so they're not really suitable tankmates.

I'm wondering if maybe the angels are nipping the fins of the discus. Either way, it's a good idea to get him out of the tank, into a hospital tank, gradually soften off the water and lower the pH to around 6.5. Adding cooking salt at the rate of 1 heaped teaspoon per 40 litres of water will help the fins to heal.

Not sure what the white spot on the body is. Are you able to post a picture of it?

[mikebuzz]

i am waiting for a new test kit as my old one seems to be showing strange readings, last PH test is was around 7.6, it has been the same since i have had the tank.

i only have the one discus, and have had him for around 2 months, the tank in 160ltr

[ILLUSN]

that sounds like a lot of fish for a 160L, could the white mark be damage from the angels or something in the tank, bad fins are usually sign of stress, maybe you should consider taking some of the smaller fish out and making the tank a little more discus friendly

[djceri_g]

I have had experience of my tetra congo's fins turning black due to high nitrate levels! Could this be the problem?

[MACCA]

At least a ph of 6.8, a temp of 30 deg. a KH of 4 GH, and a hardness of 100-120ppm.

[mikebuzz]

ph 8.2
po4 2.5
no3 10
gh 300
kh 170
no2 0
nh3 0

[Merrilyn]

Mike, you reall need to get that pH and hardness down. That water is more suitable for african cichlids. They like it hard and alkaline, which is what your water is now.

Discus prefer soft acid water, just the opposite to what you have. You may need to invest in an RO unit if you want to keep discus successfully.

Is the water out of your tap just the same as your tank water? If there's a big difference in the pH and hardness, then it seems that the substrate or maybe the rocks you have in the tank are making your water exceptionally hard.

[discus lover01]

Hi mike i would say that most of your problems are coming from the fact you have all the wrong water parameters a ph of 8.2 for discus your lucky they have not keeled over on you from the stress of being in such high ph all you would need to do is add aquarium salt and you would be running a marine tank.
Discus in thw wild live in around the 6-7ph range for the most parts but there are other wilds that will live happily in 4.5ph in the wild.
But being tank bred and raised they are not used to this either as a lot of africans are not used to being in the high ph as it's the wilds that thrive in this as there used to it i have found a ph of between 6 to 6.8 is perfect for discus and a minimum temp of 28 degrees i run mine at around 29 and if treating for any sickness i will raise temp to 32 and add medication.
i would be dropping the PH down slowly and also if your not doing so get a water storage barrell and age your water and adjust the ph in there to around the 6.8 mark that way when you do a change your not giving your fish a huge ph shock and SA tap water where i am is coming out at around 7.8 at present from tap so i have even had to go to aging the water and adding the ph down to adjust it and it's better this way doing in barrells as the discus are not getting the sudden ph jumps that can stress them out and possibly cause ph shocks.
Hope this helps also when i did keep guppies i used to run the ph at around 7 in there tank and they thrived and bred at a rapid rate.But as said if you took fish out added salt at the ph you have now you would have a marine aquarium as the ph for them starts at around 8 and up.
hope this helps any