help

[dismatt]

came home from work to find my lrg discus in the corner not moving at all its breathing very fast and has clamped fins all other discus in tank fine apart from one has a small cob web looking mucus on its side can anyone help. :D

[goldenpigeon]

what r the tank specs?

[dismatt]

tanks a200lt sand base few rocks couple plants temp 27.8 ph 7 ammonia oppm nitrites 0.1mg theres white mucus coming off one of the discus stasrting to stress me out nothing seems to go right for me. :cry:

[Merrilyn]

Matt are these fish that you recently bought, or have you added any new fish to this tank.

Have they turned very dark, especially the one with the white cobweb like film over it.

Do you have a water hardness test kit, and if so, can you tell me the hardness. You may have a problem with either the gravel or rocks in the tank.

[dismatt]

dont have a hardness nest kit but the ph seems to go up all the time the fish that are sick are two weeks old all others ok the rocks in the tank are coral peices and the plants are fake. :cry: :cry: thanks for all your help ladyred :lol:

[dismatt]

sorry the base of the tank is sand everything goes wrong why me. :cry:

[goldenpigeon]

problem found! take that coral rock out!!! shells and coral (all stuff that comes from the sea) make your hardness skyrocket up and they also buffer the pH up too. take it out imeadiatly and do a 50% w/c. only use clorine neutraliser (dont worry about any ph buffers to put it down yet). go to your LFS and but some triple-sulfa. this will stop them getting any infection. i think somehow the 1 with the white film has gotten damage to his slime coat or it has been burt off. also o to your grocery store and buy some NON-IODISED salt (pure salt). i can remember the dosage for salt right now but you will need it. i will try and remember and get back to you about it. the triple-sulfa will need to be in the tank for 3 days and then do a 1/3 w/c. then re-dose the AMOUNT OF WATER YOU CHANGED with triple-sulfa. you need to keep the triple-sulfa in there while they look bad.

hope this helps! :)

[goldenpigeon]

i also forgot to tell you:

while your fish are sick you need to slowly lower your ph down to atleast 6.0 DONT PANIC as i said SLOWLY!!!! lower is better. while the ph is so low 2 things will happen:

1. below a ph of 7.0 ammonia turns into ammonite (i cant remember what it is called). ammonia is 10 times more toxic than its form below 7.0!!!! this is why the ph must be quite low!!!!! so while they are ill they are succeptible to the toxicity of the water (as i said before i think the slime coat is burnt off of them). so try and keep it low if possible

2. with a ph so low the bacteria in the filter will start to die off! this will be a bit of a problem in the longrun. however there is a product called aqua cycle and it is made by science products. this product will restart your bacteria colony again. use the aqua cycle after you have completed the triple-sulfa course and you have brought the ph up again.



now i have just thought of something:

have u bin using ph down to lower the ph?

the coral has stopped the ph from going down and there might be a build up of ph down in there. if so it will bomb the tank after the coral is taken out and we have a problem.

do the 50% w/c and make sure you get the triple-sulfa!!!! if possible get the other fish into a different tank especially the black ghost knife fish because it is a scaleless fish.

it is imperative that you test the ph at least 4 times a day and if you notice any changes POST IT STRAIGHT AWAY!!!!!!!!!!

[goldenpigeon]

im remembering a couple of things that could also help you:

feed the fish very spaingly because any poop and uneated food will cause the ammonia to build up. the discus arent in any shape to fight very much right now so you need to do as much as you can to help them out

[dismatt]

when i got home from work thediscus with the slime mucus over seems alright its just the other which stays in the corner both of the lrg dicus fins seem to have frayed alittle what could that be also took out the coral rocks and did 50% water change check things after ph 7 ammonia 0ppm nitrite 0.1mg all other fish sem happy is the temp ok at 30 have cannister on and internal filter aswell as air stone have carbon in internal filter only is that ok. thanks heaps for all your help. :lol: :lol:

[goldenpigeon]

thats ok just keep a very close eye on them and keep us posted.

glad to hear the good news! :D

[dismatt]

i put some triple sulfa in and just turned the internal cannister pump with the carbon in off is that ok also brought a sera general hardness kit the one that say it gos from red to brown to green 1 drop at a time mine went to brown straight off added 18 drops the brown just got darker how do i lower the hardness and also find out what the hardness is not to sure onthe sera test kit. thanks again mate :D

[jim from sydney]

dismatt.......you got some TOPS advice from goldenpigeon.....one thing about that carbon,if you pre-condition your water then you dont need carbon in your filter. Discus HATE it. Carbon can leach compounds it has absorbed and re-cycle it back in the water, even unwanted bacteria. Discus may become jumpy and may develop erosions and even hole in the head symotons. I have taken all my carbon out of my filtrations as CLEAN FRESH water is the best at all times. Try it no harm will be done by taking it out...Jim

[dismatt]

how do i get the hgardness down and more to the point how do i test for it the kit seems strange to me the sera kit i mean maybe its just me.

[goldenpigeon]

do u know the hardness of the water out of the tap?

[jim from sydney]

Dismatt............I have just spend 2 weeks in Perth and i was shocked with the water quality. I made a few phone calls and was told that because of your terrible water shortage they are now putting ground water into Serpentine dam and mix that with the dam's fresh water. I didnt check the water but i think it is VERY HARD as soaps dont foam as well as with the sydney water. you may have a lot of calcium and iron trace elements in the water as your groundwater comes from limestone fissures coupled with iron compounds, the latter you can see everywhere by the staining of garden walls. my advice is get a professional body to check a few samples even if you have to pay a few bucks, it will be better for you in the end........Jim