Discus look ill after water change

[Ottoplec]

Hi everybody,
I did a 1/4 water change in my 6x2x1.5 aquarium on Sunday, and yesterday morning my adult neon turqs started looking very dark. By the afternoon they had what looks like a white film or mucus on their bodies. My other discus (2 x Red Melon, 2 x Yellow, 1 x Neon Turq and 1 x White were Ok until this morning. Now all the discus are losing colour and all are near the surface or on funny angles. Only the three neon turqs have the white film/mucus on their bodies.
I tested the pH today and it was bit high 7.0, so I've used some buffer to get it down. I will repeat the pH buffer tomorrow again if it hasn't come down enough. I don't want to stress the fish too much by making major changes in the pH.
I haven't done anything different when I did the water change on Sunday. I used water ager/chlorine neutraliser as per the instructions. 5ml per 20L. I usually use some aquarium salt with my water changes as well.
It looks like the fish are stressed and lacking oxygen.
Any suggestions... :(
I will take some photos tomorrow and upload.

[Hollowman]

SOUNDS TO ME THAT THE NEW WATER YOU PUT IN WAS NOT TREATED OR AGED ENOUGH. i WOULD NOT GO BUFFERING THE WATER IF IT IS ONLY PH7
sorry cap lock on

add an airstone immediately, check all the other water parameters, ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte.
How often are you changing your water? Did you disturb any substrate or are you bare bottom?

[Ottoplec]

I do water changes every three to four days. I usually clean the substrate when doing my water changes. I will test my nitrates, etc today

[Old Dave]

Ottoplec,

did you read this?? :oops:
http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20393&highlight=

Firstly, very frequent pwcs with good clean correctly aged/dosed water mixed externally.
Salt helps but is not good for rams etc. Not too much.
Do you add acid or chemicals to the water?

Did you add the new water to the tank and then add ager, or prepared the water in a separate container??
The ager bottles say you can use the water immediately after mixing.
I no longer accept this.
Do not add chemicals immediately after adding ager. :evil:
Don't add chemicals before the ager.

If you are doing an in-tank mix I suspect 10% pwc should be about the limit but the dosage of ager might then be too strong?

It could be that your tap water suddenly has an unusually high level of Chlorine or Chloramines.
Does it smell different?

hth,
I know how you feel,
Old Dave