Confident gone to shy..

[Jeckle]

Three weeks ago I bought my first discus. They have been great, eating, always at the front of the tank and coming out to greet me whenever I approach the tank. Over the weekend I bought two more discus and now its like I don't have any!
One of the new discus is a real bully, he forever chases the original two around and now it seems my original two discus hide as much as the new ones. Soon as I approach the tank, the four of them disappear and you don't see them for ages.
My ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates etc are all excellent, they are all eating, some more than others. I am so disappointed that the introduction of the new ones has made the original confident two scattery and hiding. Will they settle down eventually or will I barely see these magnificent fish?

[the german]

sounds like you didnt quarantine them mate.very bad :?
sounds like you get yourself a disease of some kind

[Jeckle]

:shock: are you serious? You mean to tell me that Im the first ever person to put new discus in with others??I have read heaps of threads on here where people have put new discus into an already stocked tank.. Can anyone else offer an opinion?

[ILLUSN]

I have to side with the german, Sorry Jeckle, have you got a hospital tank you can use to treat your discus?

watch them for shimmering and rubbing on objects if you see that treat for gill flukes.

if youe see long stringy stools treat for worms, if you see fluffy white stools treat for Hex.

till then try leaving the lights off for 24hrs and feeding from both ends of the tank so as everyone gets enough to eat.

add a bit of salt to the water as a tonic, 1 tsp/gal.

you'll just have to watch and wait, if the fish start to go dark get them into that hospital tank.

AND ALWAYS QUARENTINE NEW FISH!!

[samir]

:shock: are you serious? You mean to tell me that Im the first ever person to put new discus in with others??I have read heaps of threads on here where people have put new discus into an already stocked tank.. Can anyone else offer an opinion?

no you're not the first, I've done that and ended up with a lot of very sick fish, If you're positive that your ammonia and nitrite are zero then its probably something the new fish brought in. if you have a bit of ammonia ,could be a spike with the higher bio load, in that case change water regularly and feed less for a few days, what kind of ph is your tank at.

it can be very frustrating when discus start hiding but please remember people on the forum are volunteering to help , getting cranky will not get you good advice. assuming its not a water problem treat the lot with metronidazole, 800-1000 mg / 10 gallons every 8 hours with a 50% water change each time, for 5 days. that will fix them

[Jeckle]

Thanks for the advice.. I tested the ammonia this morning and it is sitting on .25 so it is up a bit. All the fish are eating, its just one of the new ones is constantly chasing the original two around, especially at feeding time. I bought the new ones from oakleigh aquarium and he did not say anything about quarantine, he asked if we already had discus and said that they will take a couple days to sort themselves out. My ph is 6.8 and the temp is 29.

[scott bowler]

hey there Jeckle
not to worry mate we have all done things like that , we think that the shop quarantine them . but some times there are some fish that can carry things and not show a prob , just bring the ammonia down with water changes and i would up the temp a little get up to about 32

[dntx5b9]

In my opinion, it's too quick to jump to conclusion that the new ones brought a disease. The new ones were bought over the weekend, if this is happening one or two days after the introduction of new fish, wouldn't it be too quick to be a disease from the new fish? However, if the ammonia is detectable, then that will cause the fish to be shy.

[samir]

Thanks for the advice.. I tested the ammonia this morning and it is sitting on .25 so it is up a bit. All the fish are eating, its just one of the new ones is constantly chasing the original two around, especially at feeding time.

good, is the ammonia, so no need for any meds. change water till you get rid of it and feed sparingly for a few days. keep an eye on the bullying.



In my opinion, it's too quick to jump to conclusion that the new ones brought a disease. The new ones were bought over the weekend, if this is happening one or two days after the introduction of new fish, wouldn't it be too quick to be a disease from the new fish? However, if the ammonia is detectable, then that will cause the fish to be shy.

please read my first post. :P i've seen discus fall terribly sick within 12 hours of introducing a new fish (i'm the king of bad quarantine)

[Mr Discus]

Don't shoot me for sounding stupid or anything - but I could have sworn that Jeckle was asking as to a logical soltion as to why his once confident discus are now shy after adding more?

I fail to see the link between discus being shy to disease?

I'm not saying that any members opinions are wrong, I am just confused as the same thing has happened to me, and I simply put it down to a new environment, the availability of new hiding places and the uneasy nature of a new discus being introduced.

If discus are all healthy and eating well and otherwise fine, how can it be a disease issue? I can understand a behavioural issue but not a health issue?

Can someone clarify why they would have thought that the shyness is caused by a disease?

[the german]

happens very often,they don't feel well mate so they tend to hide and are very spooky.
kind of a bad head after a night out :lol: :lol: :lol:

[samir]

If discus are all healthy and eating well and otherwise fine, how can it be a disease issue? I can understand a behavioural issue but not a health issue?

Can someone clarify why they would have thought that the shyness is caused by a disease?

we were trying to eliminate possibilities. in Jeckle's case it was ammonia. A discus with flagellates is very jumpy and shy. if its not a water problem (or sometimes a lighting prob) then its most likely a bug.

for example if you look at my heckel post, they were eating from my hands within a day. now according to popular belief discus are shy ? so why would wild fish be eating out of a persons hand within a day, if that was the case?

on the other hand if you add a bit of ammonia to the tank they will be darting all over the place.

[dntx5b9]

i've seen discus fall terribly sick within 12 hours of introducing a new fish (i'm the king of bad quarantine)

Wow! I had no idea. :shock:

[arjones]

if you introduce a fish with flukes will it infect all other discus in the tank? is it a good idea to worm new fish when you get them? is so how soon after introduction?

[ILLUSN]

If you introduce fish with fluke into a clean tank, they can infect the existing fish, I like to quarentine all new fish for 6 weeks to 2 months, for the first week i just observe the fish, if they show symptoms of flukes or worms i treat accordingly.

they dont go into the display tank utill I'm certain they are clean.

[Jeckle]

Thankyou all for the help :)

Ok the bullying is still going on, the original two are getting chased by one of the new ones pretty much all the time. The other new fish is fine, he does not bother anyone and the bully leaves him alone. The new ones were not housed together in the aquarium so Im lost as to why the bully is leaving the other new one alone but harassing the original two??
I am afraid that his constant bullying is going to cause undue stress. What can I do? I have another tank I can put the bully into for a few days if necessary...

[Matt15]

Bullying is part of "Gods pecking order" its just part of life.

Ideas to help stop/lessen this:
- Add more fish. Then the unwanted attention is divided up more.
- Add plants/decor/bog wood which the discus can hide around
- When feeding, try and do this at both ends.
(I have 7 discus in my tank and bullying still goes on during feeding so i added another bloodworm feeder at the oposite end of the tank. Problem solved...;) )

[Jeckle]

Thanks.. I can not add more fish as I am at my stock limit, I have plants and logs which they hide in and can escape from him most of the time. I have been feeding at both ends of the tank and everyone is eating fine. Will they eventually settle down? or is he going to always give them a hard time? I thought that once they established their pecking order they would be ok, or does it take them a while to work it out?

[Matt15]

There's no correct or specific answer to an animals behavioural instincts so I can't give you a time frame.

But i'm sure over time the relationship between your fish will change.
Over the past 12 months my tank bully has changed a number of times due to "adding different fish" "couples spawning/pairing off" & "age".
So there's lots of possibilities.