baby discus struggling

[n.hanke]

Hi Everyone,

I have baby discus that started feeding on their parents on the 6th of Jan. I have been losing one everyday and noticed that some are struggling on the bottom of the tank, darkish in colour, panting etc. I do 25% water changes a day, pH is 6.8, 0 nitirite, 0 nitrate, 0 ammonia. I also feed them baby brine shrimp.

I plan on doing larger water changes i.e. 50% and lowering pH to around 6 to stimulate the adults slime production.

I have installed a uv filter today and was wondering if I should treat them all for fluke and tapeworm? If so, what rate should I use for baby fish?

[Mr Wild]

darkish in colour, panting Do you have the tank aerated?

Do you aerate your water prior to it being added to the tank? I say this because if you do not degas your water before you add it to the tank tiny bubbles can fix to the gill filaments (like you see on tank walls occasionally) and that can block respiration.


I do 25% water changes a day,Higher wc are necessary 100% daily and wipe down all surfaces of the tank as well. Better if this is done an hour or so after their last feed of the day.

How many times are you feeding them each day?


should treat them all for fluke and tapeworm I doubt tapeworm would be an issue but flukes can if the parents were infected. Did you clean the parents before spawning? I would try the above first before resorting to adding chemicals.

[boxters]

what size is your tank?

[n.hanke]

Hi,

I have a two foot tank... 90 litres. Another baby died today. Just went dark and was panting on the surface. The water we use for water changes does not contain any air bubbles. We are using a box filter which gives off bubbles. The parents were treated prior to breading so they should have been clear of nasties. I will try and do more water changes and clean all surfaces.

Thanks for your help and keep you posted.

[boxters]

How old are the fry? What are you feeding them?

[Hood]

I am having similar problems to this...
What would you suggest is the best food at this stage?

[boxters]

a 2 foot tank is too big for fry in the initial weeks. also i imagine the sides are clear. They should realy be painted. In most cases fry die because people put them into tanks that are to big and thus they struggle to find the parents, or run out of steam before they reach their parents. Also in some cases people remove the parents too soon. Also they are sometimes fed the wrong mix of food, or even not fed often enough

[Rossco]

easy way to find out how much to feed the fry......look at there belies and make sure there full as much as u can. Good luck wish you well

[n.hanke]

The babies having been doing well but the biggest and strongest ones are starting to die one by one. Again they get dark, are panting and can't seem to swim properly???

[BigDaddyAdo]

Flukes????