Clarification of Products to use for Discus...

[pink66]

I currently use (and have on my africans for a long time (but I do buffer that tank with shell grit)) a total water conditioner..with every water change.. It is described as "an advanced water conditioner/declorinator, which quickly converts soft water supplies into safe aquarium or pond water" it says that 1teaspn per 10 ltrs of water will increase the water hardness by approx 120ppm. does not say it does much else.....

the water down here in sunny Crib Point is stable at 7.2ph (so at this point i will not play with trying to lower it - unless it is imperative that I need to) and it is very very soft..

so my question is.. is this blue crystal stuff suitable for my discus tank or should I be moving across to something like seachem prime?? I am looking at protecting my discus as much as possible.. (Finn does not count, could not kill her with a stick!!!! :lol: )

Also while I am here, I have read many posts and some say use it and some do not.. I use melafix for new fish and bumps and scratches & bacterial stuff (africans again) with great success. Is this suitable for discus or should I be looking at another product?

Thanks again for your help.
regards, Sharon

[Merrilyn]

Two very good questions Sharon.

First of all, you don't need to add the blue crystals to a discus tank. They love their water nice and soft.

The pH of 7.2 won't worry them. Just use Prime to remove the chlorine and chloramine. That's it. No need to add anything else. If you find that your pH is dropping too quickly, as mine does, then add some shellgrit or coral pieces to your filter of increase the hardness. That will help to keep your pH stable. Very soft water has no buffering capacity, so pH drops can occur quite quickly. A handful of shellgrit will stop that happening.

Melafix is an excellent product. I've had great success using it on other breeds of fish, just not discus. Must be something to do with their unique slime coat, anyway, just doesn't seem to work the same.

I find that adding cooking salt or rock salt to the discus tank to treat minor wounds works better than Melafix. But only use it as a medication, not all the time.

[pink66]

thanks Merrilyn. does marine salt work as well?

[Hollowman]

I agree with Merrilyn too. I too find no benefit to using Melafix, and even though many use it, I am not sure if it really has any effect. It smells nice though.
As for salt, marine salt is fancy and expensive. Normal cooking salt is fine and cheap.

H