Worried Discus living in YUK tank at suppliers

[Jules]

As Explained previously i am on Christmas Island and the opportunity to get fish like discus is very rare. A local trader has 12 discus she is wanting to sell and has promised to hold them for me. I wanted to go look at the fish so i did and was :shock: shocked to find them living in a tank with slightly greenish water. I asked the hubby who does all the fish tendering what ph was and he said he didn't know he just added our tap water 50/50 with rain water and they fine. our tap water comes in at 8 so would he be correct in doing this? They are also going away in 2 weeks and said they want me to pick them up b4 they go but my tank will have only been going for 3 weeks should i risk this? I have 1 goldfish & 2 guppies in there to help start cycle. I have access to endless amounts of gupppies should i just wack a whole heap in tank to get it going or will this make no difference? The fish are about 2-3 inches in size and he fed them in front of me and they all looked quite happy. He has no heating and said the temp of the water here is fine as it is like their natural conditions. They have been bred at a fish farm in malaysia, this is a tropical island with wet and dry season. My tank is inside and he reckons i will not need heating. I am a little worried about the fish and if there is anyway to get my tank ready quicker please will someone let me know i know there prob isn't but i feel sorry for these fish and would like to get them out of there ASAP! he has many other tanks and fish but all tanks look green and yuk. The discus tank is also covered in black plastic on the top and halfway down the sides why is this? :? I am desperate for some answers please HELP.

[dandaman352]

Well first off from what I know, gold fish are pretty good for the cycle since they produce alot of ammonia. To boost the biological filtration you can always buy something like stresszyme that just puts the bacteria in for you. (thats a start). Its not that good to rush things with discus because they can break down you and die before you know what hit you (from experience I know). You will SURELY need a heater to keep the temp around 84-88 degrees. I would pass on it because its probably going to cost you a fortune and will be a big risk.

Also how big is your tank? 12 discus is alot. If you want send me a PM I'll do my best even though there are people here who can probably help you 10 fold better.

[Mr Discus]

Hi Jules.

Gee, what a pickle you are in hey!?!

Heres the thing. Your tank is cycling now which is good (if you could provide us with parameters of your tank it will indicate how well cycled it is to us so we can give a better answer).

Your question about adding discus after 3 weeks is a hard one. Yes, it CAN be done. But for the safety of the fish and your wallet it really should not be done if you can avoid it. I know for a fact it can be done because I have done it myself. I used a combination of plants, a few catfish and Seachem Stability to get my tank cycling faster, so I could add one 2 discus at the 3 week mark. They survived not a problem and it had no adverse effects on them. Although I must stress that this should only be attempted if you are an experienced aquarist (spelling?!?)

The main thing that worries me is that you want to add 12 discus in one hit to a tank that is not fully cycled. IMO that is basically suicide for the discus. There is no way that your filter that has barely even cycled yet, will be able to handle the bioload of 12 new fish, especially discus who love their protein rich foods.

My advice would be to let it go. Let your tank cycle properly for at least 6 weeks, and get discus then if you can. Don't go out and blow $$$ on 12 discus that are only going to die in your tank's current conditions. I would maybe say try it if you were only getting 2, and you told us what your parameters are, but 12 is just not possible really.

Good things come to those who wait Jules (however hard that may be), but trust me you will be happier in the long run and pull out alot less hair if you wait for a complete cycle and mature tank before putting discus in. If they are decent people they will understand your situation and sell you the fish when they return from holidays.

Hope that helps.

[Matt15]

MrDiscus is right about your tank and the effect of 12 new discus will have upon it. In saying that your tank might even be better then the current conditions the discus are currently living in. I would ask/check to see what conditions the discus are in atm and compair them.

And just to confirm Discus MUST have heated water of between 27-32 oC.
Hope this helps....;)

[dandaman352]

You can always order them online..

[Jules]

Still waiting for my test kits to arrive as my supplier sent them normal mail which means they come on ship takes 6-8 weeks so sorry can't give parameters yet. I am worried all these fish will be dead b4 they get back and i would say so r they that why they want me to take b4. I asked if supplier could test my water but he said he never tests his!!!! I don't think i can get them on-line as our flight situation. The supplier even said very hard to get cos you can only get them when they have a direct flight which doesn't happen very often but being a local trader she is advised as to when this happens so she said she took the opportunity on aspecial charter flight we had from malaysia for tourists coming to look at red crabs. So why his surviving with no heating and bugger all filtration. My Tank is 500 litres looks like a big one to me. She is only charging me $25 each and said i can have neon tetras for $2 each is this a good price. so still to my first ques. Why black plastic and does adding the rain water bring down PH it is wet season now so i could collect some and should i whack in more guppies as i have endless supplie only have one goldfish. yes Matt i was thinking my conditions would be better than what they are in. When they got them he said he took them from the plane and put them straight into tank i was thinking these guys must be pretty tough. I was only going to get 7-8 but i am thinking that it looks like i am going to lose some so that is what i am going to end up with at $25 each and such a rare opportunity i think i am willing to take this risk. He also told me they will never breed is this maybe he doesn't keep his fish in good conditions and if i do everything i can to make sure they are in good conditions they will one day breed? Thanks everone i am so glad i found this site.

[Merrilyn]

Hi Jules. I can understand why you think the fish are in dirty conditions, but the truth is that green water and green tanks, although looking terrible are actually quite healthy.

The green in simply an algae, and lower form of plant life, and helps to take the excess nutrients out of the water. If the guy is using half and half tap and rain water, then the pH is probably coming down to around 6, which is fine for discus.

Okay, let's tackle your problems one at a time. First is the problem with your tank being not fully cycled. You can't possibly add 12 juvenile discus to an uncycled tank without heading for a disaster. But there are things you can do to make your tank suitable.

What sort of filtration are you using, and is it possible to get some used filter media from the guy who owns the fish. You'd need at least the filter media from the tank filter where the fish are now.

The idea is that most of the bio filtration is housed in the filter media. We need this to convert the waste ammonia from the fish into nitrite and finally into nitrate, which is easily removed with water changes. Transferring that media into your filter will transfer the bio colony housed in there, and you could safely put the 12 new fish in your tank.

You would have to monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels in your tank carefully, and be prepared to do a water change whenever the levels show any reading above zero.

Have you thought about how you'll manage water changes. Do you have access to rain water, so you can match the water parameters that they're in now? You could change them over to all tap water (a high pH is fine for growing juveniles, so long as the water is fairly soft). If you can't get rainwater, then ask the current owner to slowly increase the amount of tap water and decrease the amount of rain water he uses in the water changes, over the next two weeks, before you pick the fish up.

Getting those fish into your tank can be done, and done safely, but it just depends on how much work you're prepared to do.

Juvenile fish are pretty demanding with the number of feeds and constant water changes, but watching them grow is very rewarding. :)