Tankmates problem? Or ??

[DR.V]

Hi all, I just bought 3 Pigeon Blood on the weekend. They were nice and clean. Not a single black spot ! Just realised today, that the 3 PB are getting black spots on the head !!! Whats wrong ? Is is because of the tankmates? Because when i bought them, there were only discus in the tank( in the seller tank). At home i put them with :

6 other discus
6 rummy nose
4 flying fox
1 bristle nose

My tank is 4X2X2 and planted. Could the plant cause this ??

Please help. I dont like those spots.

Thanks

[goldenpigeon]

they should be find. it might just be they are a little stressed. got a photo?

[DR.V]

they should be find. it might just be they are a little stressed. got a photo?

you mean the spots will disappear later ??
should i add some sera aqutan ???
Its an antistress ....

[goldenpigeon]

before you go medicating the tanks and all just do a 30% water change and leave it at that for the day. unless they are covered in the spots i wouldnt worry. do the W/C and see how they r in the morning

[dreamer]

no qurantine for new fish is bad practice :þ

[Merrilyn]

If the spots are showing up now, it means they were always there, although perhaps not evident at the time you purchased them.

Now that the fish have settled into your planted tank, their true colours are beginning to show, and the spots are more obvious.

Spots do not alter the value or the quality of the discus.

[kkiu]

Spots add characters :)
Correct me if I am wrong, I thought discus tend to speckle more in planted tanks as compared to bare bottom tanks.

[Ben]

The spots are like freckles on people!

Ben

[DR.V]

So if i want to get a solid colour , i need a bare bottom tank ??
And it nothings to do with the tankmates ?

[kkiu]

It would be one step to minimising the speckles.

But it wouldnt be the one deciding factor.

[Merrilyn]

A light background and a light substrate seem to minimize the speckles, but NOTHING will take them away completely.

Just enjoy your fish as they are. Discus are magnificent, no matter what the colour.

For me, the shape and health of the fish is much more important than the colouring.

[DR.V]

Here is the pic of the PB, can u see the spots on the body and mouth ?
You can see my tank :
http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2637

Hope it helps
Thanks

[Mattzilla]

i can see faint stress bars which indicate to me that you should probably check your water quality. you should only worry about the tank mates if they are harrasing the discus on an ongoing basis.

more often than not stress is caused by poor water quality.
matt

[DR.V]

what does it mean by "high" water quality?
I change my water every week 40%,
When i do so, i added pH down, sera aqutan, sera liquid fertilizer. I also use a UV sterilizer. So my water is quite clear.

Thanks

[goldenpigeon]

if you use ph down make sure you age the water first. they are find by the looks of it. how long ago did you add them to the tank? are they being bullied?

[DR.V]

they're not being bullied.
I added those when i change the water.
Last time i changed my water was today.

[Mattzilla]

almost sounds like you are doing too much with your water...you know over doing the treatment bit

do you really need to add all those tings to your water? what are the peramiters of your water straight out of the tap and then again after 24hrs?

if you are adding so many treatments to your water you MUST add everything to your water when you are aging it....not when you do the actual w/c

[DR.V]

Hmm i added liquid fertilizer coz my tank is planted
I dont aged my water because i dont have space for the drum, so when i do w/c, the water directly comes from the tap into the tank.

[Mattzilla]

i would advise very strongly against not aging your water. by adding it straight from your tap then adding chemicals the water in the tank is changing a lot which your discus wil not like. discus prefer constant water conditions, not changing all the time.

all i can say is buy a large barrel or plastic garbage bin and age your water for around 24hrs. even if you have limited space i'm sure you can find a pot for it. ilived in a one bedroom unit for 2 years and managed to find a spot to age my water.

[DR.V]

thanks for the advise, yeah i already planning to buy a big drum this weekend... dont have any idea where to put it though, but i'll work it out when the drum is already at home ^^ (and my mum gonna complain for sure :p)

[dreamer]

i will say forget about ph down stuff, as for wc straight from tap ...i know everyone here suggested that ... but i've been doing so for 2 years and my fish are healthy and happy

[DR.V]

so u mean if i use the water straight from the tap, i dont need to use the pH down?? Anyway, in this tank, i got lots of driftwood. Does this help to bring down the pH ??

Thanks

[Merrilyn]

Okay, looks like a bit of an explanation needed here.

There will always be a difference in your pH of water that is straight from the tap, and water that has been aged for 24 - 48 hours. We would rather that drop in pH happened in the ageing barrel than in your tank, and stress your discus.

If, after ageing, your water has a pH reading of 7.5 or under, they you need do nothing to it to drop the pH. Your fish will be happy with a stable reading.

If you aim is to breed the fish, then you might want to drop the pH in your breeding tank to around 7.

[dreamer]

when i still used to aged my water the ph sit still around 7.5 after 24hrs+ and my tank ph also around 7.5. i will do a quick test by aging for 48hrs+ to see if there is any different :)

[leanne31]

My only problem is when I age my water the ph rises its a real pain in the behind even when I add ph down the next day its right back to where it was. :x

Leanne

[goldenpigeon]

leanne if u need to lower your ph use a ph buffer not ph down. ph down does not hold the ph down. u can use ph down and it will go to 6.6 (fr example) but it may rise up to 7.6 the next day! i dont know why that is but i know that is what happens

[leanne31]

Thanks for that David I might give it a try I didnt know what was going on I thought it was my drum but I left some water in a glass for a couple of days and it did the same thing. I'll get some ph buffer next week and see how that goes.

Leanne

[jim from sydney]

i agree with Mat. Firstly start from scratch, age your tap water for 24 hours. that means add a good quality de-chlorinator and heat the water to the same temp as your main tank. bring the pH in line with the main tank as well. let it run for 24 hours than take as much water out of the tank as you are re-plenishing with the aged water. I have bought a white plastic container 50 liters from Bunnings i think it was only $15 or so and use that for aging of the water. It even looks great in my bedroom. And the fish love aged water. I suggest you add nothing else. Your plants will survive but your fish should come first. By the way they look fine to me.
Try it, above all HAVE PATIENCE and ENJOY THESE MAGNIFICENT CREATURES. Jim.

[goldenpigeon]

yer i couldnt recomend anythin because i dont us any chemicals to alter my ph. my water is perfect :D

[DR.V]

Thats for all the info guys... i still looking for a barrel right now. Maybe big ones, coz my tank is quite big.

[jim from sydney]

how big is your tank, i have 460 litres and the 50 litres change over every second day works fine. depends ofcourse also on how many fish you have.
by the way where did you buy your discus??? Jim

[DR.V]

my tank is 450L, i bought my discus from moses, it listed on the classified thread.

[Blue]

I was reading on here only today that the dusting effect appears on the fish in planted tanks as opposed to glass bottom tanks because of the higher light intensity used to keep your plants happy.
So they was always there but not visible under the shops lighting.

Barry