New Discus arriving tomorrow

[johnob]

Hi,
I have a Jewel Triagon 190 litre corner tank set up for the last few months. Up until last week I had 5 Angel Fish, A bali shark, A thick lipped gourami,a dozen neon tetras, an albino sucker fish and 4 corydorus in the tank. I have being planning for the last few weeks on converting my tank to a predominantly Discus tank as soon as I found a home for my other fish.
I have kept the Neon Tetras and the 4 corydoras. I have 4 or possibly 5 Discus ordered which I hope will arrive tomorrow.
My PH is 7, KH is between 5 and 7, GH is between 5 and 10, N02 is 0 and N03 is between 10 and 20. It is a planted aquarium.
I plan on doing 20% water change per week.

My Jewel filter contains a carbon filter, I am wondering should I remove this prior to putting the discus in the tank ?.

I would also welcome any advice on potential problems I may encounter, especially relating to how I should acclimatise them.

Rgds
John

[ILLUSN]

discus in a planted aquarium isn't always easy, your water sounds fine, id like your NO3 to be 5-10 but if you step up your water changes it shouldn't be a problem.


I plan on doing 20% water change per week

this is a problem aim for 30% 2x a week as a minimum and do a thorough gravel vac every change.

i'd also advise you to do a quick once ove every night to remove any poo or uneaten food you see (2-3% will be plenty)

[johnob]

Hi,
I received my new discus over the weekend. 2 Red, 2 Blue and 1 Turquise. They range in size from 2.5 inch to 3.5 inch. One died over night and the shop keeper I bought from imeediately replaced it.
I received them friday night but they have not taken any food yet. I have tried them with Frozen blood worms, Frozen Daphnia (I think I got the name correct) and Hikari flake food. Has anyone any ideas on how I might tempt them to start eating.

Rgds
John

ps:My tank is fully cycled and had a variety of species in it until the week previous to putting the discus in. All that I left in the tank were some neon and Rummy nose Tetra.

[ILLUSN]

lights off for 24hrs and no feeding, then offer a little blood worm to get them eating, if they eat lights on and your ok, if not lights off for another 24hrs and try again. if they still wont feed let the lights run their normal hours and offer food just after lights out.

[Merrilyn]

Welcome to the forum John.

Did you check the pH of the water before you added the discus. If they came from a very different pH, that would be enough to put them off their food, and it the difference is extreme, then it could kill them.

Can you let us know the paramaters of your water now, the pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. I'm sure you probably already know this, but it's important to have the water as similar as possible when moving fish from one tank to another.

Check what foods they were previously fed, and then try them on some of the same.

Otherwise, just give them a few more days to settle into the new tank. Sometimes leaving the lights out will help them settle into new surroundings.

[johnob]

Hi Merrilyn,
The PH in the shop I bought from was similar to my own (7). I had spent nearly 6 weeks setting up my tank similar to that of the shop.
They look quiet bad now. One is hiding behind plants all the time. The others are gone quiet dark in colour.
I tried feeding them both Blood worms and daphnia this morning before the lights came on but they were not interested.
How long can they survive without food ?. It looks like they are too stressed to consider food but I do not know what else to do. I did a 20% water change last night but I am not sure did this do more harm than good. Ammonia reading is 0, Nitrite is 0, Nitrate is between 10 and 15, Water hardness is 6 to 8.

Would it help to leave the lights off all the time ?

Rgds
John

[jesx57]

Nitrate is a bit high for discus, it'd be better to keep it between 0 - 10 if you can. It may be better to leave them be at the moment so they can settle in, don't be too concerned mine did the same thing at first. Showing their dark colours is just because they are a bit stressed. I would leave the lights off for a few days and just keep an eye on them. It might take them a while to recover their appetite. You should ask the LFS you got them from what they were feeding them. Try some brine shrimp.

[johnob]

Hi,
I am down to 2 discus now 3 of the 5 died. One started to eat about 3 days ago and looks as if it will be ok, The last one took a little food today but I think it is to far gone to survive, it is almost pure black and seems to be just about hanging on. Only for it eat a bit today I was considering putting it out of its misery. I talked to the pet shop owner and almost all of the Discus he ordered with mine have died or are still not eating. He has promised to replace the ones that died on me. I also got him to check my water as a sanity check and he says its perfect.

rgds
John

[ILLUSN]

sounds like you got some sick fish to start with, thats just bad luck, be carefull about putting new fish with your existing fish, it might be a carrier that will infect all your new fish, best let him settle for a full month before adding more.

[johnob]

Hi,
I ended up with 2 survivors after the christmas, one appears quiet healthy, the other looked as if it was waiting to die after 3 weeks not eating. Remarkably it has started to eat. I had to medicate for itch which I suppose was due to its weakened state and I also medicated for bacterial infections. It is now eating but is still only using only one fin on its side most of the time.
I got 2 smaller discus today from the pet shop owner to make up for the ones that died. The origional 2 discus and particularly the one that is/was sick are bullying the smaller ones. Is this normal ? Are they just determining the pecking order within the group or is there any thing I can do ?.
The discus are all quite dark in colour, especially the one that did'nt eat for 3 weeks. It is a planted 45 gallon aquarium with black substrate, could this be effecting their colouration or stress levels ?. My water conditions are as follows. PH = 7, Nitrite = 0, DH= 5-10, KH= 5, Nitrate = between 10 and 20

Rgds
John

[ILLUSN]

water looks fine, its normal for old fish to pick on the new guy.

[Tucson Reef]

What is your water temp? I have kept healthy Discus that I've acclimated and had for a while at 76 F, no problem. I always start new ones at 80 F+, These I just got a few weeks ago I'm keeping at 27.2 C and they are doing great. Did you mean Ick or itch, If Ick, it helps to raise the temp(speeds cycle). Keep an eye on them if Ick, the meds usually only kill one stage of cycle and can come back, another reason to raise temp.

[Hollowman]

Temp for discus is between 28 and 30 degrees C, any lower you risk illness and stress