Crazy discus

[oldschoolculture]

Hey guys,

my male discus is currently going a bit nuts. When I went to feed them before he did a big loop and tried to jump out of the tank. They were all fine yesterday, but now they are all a bit on edge. Could it be the water.......or do they not like the look of my face?

[Merrilyn]

Can you test your water, and post the results.

Temp
Ammonia
pH
Nitrites
Nitrates
Hardness

Usually when something bothers our discus, it has something to do with the water. How long since you did a water change, and how much did you change.

[oldschoolculture]

Hey,

water paramaters are as follows:

Temp - 29
Ph - 6.6
Nitrate - 0.0ppm
Ammonia - 0.3

I did a 50% water change yesterday

[Merrilyn]

After a 50% waterchange yesterday, I'd prefer to see no ammonia reading.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you only have two fish in this tank. Was the tank fully cycled before you put the discus in there.

A fully cycled tank should have no ammonia reading and at least some nitrate, which is the end product of the bio cycle.

Can you give me some info on how you cycled the tank, and what filtration methods you are using.

[oldschoolculture]

I am currently running 2 sponge filters and thats all. Please excuse my stupidity but what do you mean by cycling?

[Merrilyn]

Ahhhhh okay, we have a problem.

I'm gonna PM you my mobile number.

I'll talk you thru the cycle process.

[oldschoolculture]

Whoops,

sorry sorry. I just read what cycling is. Yep I have run this tank for about 2 months now with one sponge filter, heater and internal filter. The internal is now gone, but i have replaced it with another sponge

Sorry

[Shawnts106]

Ok, I keep hearing this Sponge Filter thing ... what is it? I have never heard of it, this is new to me!

[DR.V]

Ok, I keep hearing this Sponge Filter thing ... what is it? I have never heard of it, this is new to me!

Well sponge filter runs by air pumps only.

[Shawnts106]

AHHHH, so thats why we do waterchanges to much... DUH! ok, now I get it!

[Merrilyn]

OSC did you have fish in there while you were running in the new filter?

The bacteria colony need a food source to survive, either ammonia produced by fish in the tank, or ammonia added in liquid form.

If you ran the tank for a couple of months without any fish in there, the bacteria in your internal filter would have died off without a food source. If that's the case, then you have an uncycled tank, and that would explain the ammonia reading, and the absence of nitrate.

An uncycled tank is not a safe place for a discus to be.

[oldschoolculture]

Hi,

yep i had a couple of cichlids in the tank for the purpose of cycling. I recently moved them onto a 2 tier stand and now they are basically on the floor. Do you think that this might have caused them to stress a bit.....
I also checked the paramaters properly this morning and found normal readings.

ps sorry i didnt call, i have no credit and my home phone does not allow me to call mobiles

[Merrilyn]

That's fine. I'll send you my home number to call if you need help.

Are the fish looking better today.

Glad to hear that you do have a fully cycled tank, and that all your readings are back to normal.

Good luck with your pair spawning again. :P

[oldschoolculture]

Thanks heaps,

the fish are looking better today, i just guess they don't like being so close to the ground. Hopefully they will get used to it later

Cheers