Is it just stress?

[happygirl65]

Well, I recieved my first order of discus and they did not fare well in shipping. 4 (of 6) survived the 2 day journey to me.

They have now been in the tank for about 24 hours. I turned the lights on and they started hiding again behind some plants. They were swimming out before. I tried to feed but they were not interested.

When I removed them from the bag yesterday they looked fine, stressed but fine.

Now upon closer inspection after 24 hours it looke like one is missing a large portion of its tail fin, one is missing a large part of one bottom fin, and a couple of them look like their top (dorsal fin?) looks kind of fuzzy and I am not sure if this is an ammonia burn or something else like a fungus?

I can't get a clear picture as they are hiding behind plants.

The temp in the tank is now 82 F and I am raising it slowly.

Can I add salt to a planted tank?

Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thank you

[ILLUSN]

could be ammonia burn, to the clear parts of the fins and tail look whiteish near the damage?

you can add salt to a planted tank but the plants wont like it too much, if you can keep the water quality top notch they should recover.

keep offering small ammounts of food regularly, they'll gain confidence and start to eat.

[the german]

they loose finage on long transport because the ph drops in the bag...
salt would be good but i have no idea how much your plants can handle,i have only bare bottom discus tanks.

loosing 2 out of 6 is not good,hope you got guaranteed live arival.
why they need 2 days to come to you??

[happygirl65]

It took 2 days to get here because the seller only offered express postal service, it is guaranteed 1 or 2 day service...for me it was 2 days unfortunately.

The seller did guarantee live arrival and said they would credit for the two DOA fish. I have not gotten a credit yet but it has only been a day. I am hoping it will be done this week sometime.

It is to the clear parts of the fins and there is some whitish parts outlining the damage. I think that is what looks "fuzzy" on their top fins, because there is a lot of it. One looks better now than it did this morning. I did a 60% water change today and am hoping they will continue to recover.

[the german]

the fins will be ok in no time,it happens even after a 24h trip.
a good week or 2 and you wont see anything :D

[Mr Discus]

2 days delivery is pretty ridiculous. The fact that they don't offer an overnight air freight for their fish makes me wonder how many DOA's they get with other customers!

[happygirl65]

It makes me wonder too. Before I ordered I inquired as to other delivery methods and they said they ONLY use postal svc but that they pack everything so well that the fish would be fine for a week. Now I know better. :(

They made me provide proof with a toothpick through the dead ones....it made me cry to do it. :( I understand that some people may try to defraud them but that was very disturbing for me.

[happygirl65]

the fins will be ok in no time,it happens even after a 24h trip.
a good week or 2 and you wont see anything :D

I am SO HAPPY to hear that :) Thank you for the words of encouragement.

[the german]

i guess that make you a happygirl :wink:

[happygirl65]

i guess that make you a happygirl :wink:

A very happygirl indeed ;)

Good news, this morning they are all 4 swimming out and exploring together. The lights in the room are on but in the tank they are off so I guess they are feeling a little more brave! :) One is still struggling though, he seems to be swimming sideways a lot and was breathing hard yesterday but seem more calm today. It is also the smallest of the bunch.

Maybe I can get a picture today...I tried a bunch yesterday but all I could get in the pic was plants..lol

[happygirl65]

Well I put the small one in a 10 gal tank by itself today with some salt. It just kept getting darker and hanging out away from the group.

It was struggling to stay upright as there was a lot of damage to its two side fins.

Also it seems to be laboring to breathe. I am pretty sure this is the one that laid on its side for the first hour or so after acclimating to the new tank.

One of the others was getting more aggressive today when they started feeding so I didn't want it to get picked on.

Hopefully this little guy will make it. I named him Rocky because he got off to a rocky start. ;)

[BSW]

I'm glad some of them are pulling through for you.
If you don't mind saying - Where did you order from ?
B

[happygirl65]

I am not sure if I am supposed to say....but...it is among the top web site searches for discus.....paid google ads show up on this site....and the name is more of a statement than a clever musing to me at this point.
I MIGHT change my mind about them if I ever receive my refund. But I wont order again. It has been 3 days since I provided proof.

[the german]

are your in australia?

[BSW]

Well, I understand about you not wanting to release a name.
These are the same fish you are asking about on Simply Discus also, right ? have you posted the pics you have on this forum also ?? If not, please do. It seems to me the eyes on the fish are extreamly large for the size of the fish. Maybe it's just the pic, I hope.
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?p=438601#post438601
While they are likely to make nice pets if you can get them straightened out, I'm shocked they would send those fish out for sale too. They really should of known better, Discus forums are either some of the best advertisement you can get or some of the WORST. News goes around fast if your selling bad fish. While all fish sold aren't show quality, they should of at the very least been healthy.
I hope they will fix this for you ....................
B

[happygirl65]

Yes they are the same ones I posted about on simply discus. I will post some pics here too. I don't beleive they have any intention of making it right as their guarantee clearly states that if your fish die after delivery for any reason there will be no refund. I have not asked them yet but I suppose I could tell them that another died and one more is barely clinging to life and see what they say. They have still not refunded me for the DOA fish yet either and I am trying not to be angry.

They did assure me before ordering that their fish were disease free and I would not need to treat them for any disease or worms. I guess I should have made sure that was part of the garauntee.

[happygirl65]

Here are some pictures of the discus I received. I am in the US and the place I ordered from is in Florida, and they seem to only do business via email/internet.

[happygirl65]

Here is one last picture. It is the best of the ones I was able to take today. This is of the only two that remain in the 46 gallon tank.

[BSW]

That's a real shame, I'm so sorry that you have lost most of them.
Ya know there are much closer fish to you than Florida.
I live in Utah, all my fish came from Utahdiscus.com just down the street from me. Great fish, great guy that owns the place, fantastic customer service, imports from all the well known breeders, Tan, Ng, Lip, Forrest. No sick fish, no stunted fish, no hormoned fish, just good healthy Discus ! And not nearly so long of a trip to MT., either. If you order again you might want to try there.
B

[happygirl65]

I will definitely be looking into breeders vs. high volume internet sellers. And closer is probably better although airport to airport would not be bad.

I am going to wait a while to get any more. The three that I have left are in a 10 gal tank right now being medicated for bacterial infections. :(

They are improving though so I am hopeful that they will recover and go on to live a healthy life. Time will tell.

[happygirl65]

I was able to save the three that remained. Healthy and happy now :) It took some meds for bacterial infections but they are all on the mend and gaining weight now. :)

I think I need to get more now because with the three there are already some aggression issues cropping up.

This time I will be researching till the cows come home before deciding on a dealer.