Discus Discolouration

[aquafrogstuff]

I recently (2 weeks ago) bought two turquoise discuss. In the store’s tank they were stunning. I live near the pet shop they were purchased from so transport time was short. I followed the usual procedure for introducing new fish in a tank and they were clearly distressed by the move. I left the tank light off for a day and kept an eye on the water quality which is still stable. Both of them have become really skittish and gone brown (i.e. their native colours). They seem to feed reasonably well (blood worm) and share the tank with a black ghost knife, long nose elephant fish, bristlenose catfish and three serpae tetras.

I’m aware discus tend to be shy, but I’d like to get their colours back. Any ideas or comments welcome. Have any of you been through this yourselves with new fish?
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[Merrilyn]

Can you give me some more information about your tank, like the size, lighting, plants, and all the water parameters. The colour of the gravel and the colour of the backdrop can also make a difference to the colour of the fish. Lighting can also play a big parrt.

Yes it is fairly normal for discus to lack some colour when first introduced into a new tank, but I would think that by now, they should start to settle in and begin showing their real colours again. Do you just have the two discus in the tank. They actually do better in small groups, three or more.

[oscar]

Ladyred,


They actually do better in small groups, three or more.

This is something that is said often, and as you indicted is used a s rule of thumb. My question is, how do they go singularly e.g. in a community tanks of tetras etc and one discus.

Reason, i ask is that we say three or more to stop fighting. If there is only one, there will be no fighting, but do they need a friend (obviously minimum of two) to grow up happily?

[mistakes r crucial]

Discus are a schooling fish so my opinion would be yes, the more the merrier. I have had Discus that are quite skittish on their own or in a pair but put them in a 6x2x2 with 10 others and they're as happy as Larry.
MAC

[aquafrogstuff]

ladyred

The tank is a 150L triangulated tank established about 8weeks ago. Lighting comprises a single fluorescent tube and a 12V halogen lamp in the back corner. Plants all plastic and some driftwood in the tank. Only two discus at this tage. Wood has been in since beginning. Water slightly orange due to ageing. Substrate is gravel. Background is darkish but I've been thinking of changing to something with more colour. Filter is internal 1500L/hr. Tank photo below.

Seems from other response I may need to:-
change background;
add more discus (always open that :o) );

[Merrilyn]

A couple of things come to mind. That's one powerful little filter you have there. If it's pushing out 1500 LPH then that's ten times the volume of the tank per hour. Usual rate is 4 times the volume of the tank for discus. They come from calm still waters and don't do well with a lot of turbulance in the tank. You may need to find a way to slow down that flow.

If your water is discoloured from the tanin in the driftwood, do a couple more waterchanges per week to keep the water crystal clear, and the other thing is lighting. I find that a light positioned forward on the tank, throwing light towards the back, seems to pick up and reflect the blue colour of the fish more.

Lovely looking tank. Congratulations.

[Darth_discus]

i'm taking a wild guess and trying because i remember a breeders premium post that was posted about colour. When the fish are feed food the has a colour enhancher that is not natural then it blocks the colour of the fish that eats it for a very long time because it doesn't have to produce the colour, and it takes a long time to fix the fish to normal colour, i learnt this the hard way.

i was just wandering if you could post the food you feed your fish plz.

[aquafrogstuff]

firstly thanks for the feedback.

The 1500L power head was a problem in the early days. In fact my wife and I thought of using it to run a small outdoor spa at one stage (LOL). I've managed to extend the discharge from the head through some Eheim pipe that splits and extends down each side of the back of the tank. The pipe has small holes that run down its length so the net effect is negligible turbulence. The tank, pump etc all came as a kit. In the days before the pipe system, the discharge from the power head forced the fish I had in the tank at the time to conjugate to one side of the tank. I discussed it with the pet shop that supplied the kit in the first place. They had a fairly extensive range of powerheads so they could've included a small pump but seemed addiment that pump was appropriate for the tank.

BTW, how’s that gigantic tank going? Dying to see some pics.

Darth, I’m feeding Hikari blood worm (one block per day) and Wardley’s shrimp pellets for the bristle nose. I went back to the same pet shop again yesterday and smoke with the guy who runs the store about the colour issue. He seemed to think it could take a few weeks for the fish to get over the stress. He also seemed to think different lighting would help. They simply have standard shop fluorescent lighting in the store and bare tanks with fish. He also mentioned one or two more discus might help. I got the impression he was genuinely trying to help.

[piranha-discus]

for that power head u use too high flow i would use a garden 3 way T conection and flow some water back to the filter u buy that connection in bunnings cheap enough and the hose goes back to the tank input but a flow control tap in the garden fittings area the flow tap is green and black made out of plastic and u reduce the flow that goes into the tank, cos of the T connection the rest of the flow goes back to the filter, this is a cheap way i do but the cost to run that pump if u use lower wattage lowwer volum water flow pump it will lower your power bills!!! i experence all this. another thing dont use standard fluorescent light in some shops i see they use power glow as i use i figure its better for plants, and i try life glow , also good for plants but my fish gain thier colour back, i recon cos the life glow is more like sun spectrum etc ,,,ben

[Benny]

what brand is the sponge?

I would consider a smallish canister filter, to more effectively filter both mechanically (suspended particles) and biologically.... Just for the long run, to keep the tank more stable....

Regards,
Benny