dark and a bit lethargic

[Megan]

Hi - I have 5 small to medium-size discuss in a 250 litre tank, about 2 cm of gravel on bottom, Amazon swords planted in there. Good filter system etc. Other fish all get along OK - angels, black ghost knife fish, guarami, congo tetras (but they keep dying) some small barbs, etc.

Ph is between 6-7 ie. pretty neutral. Temp is 29 deg. Feed is a mix of discus flakes, frozen bloodworm and some small pellety things the guy at the fish shop gave me (no name - he feeds this stuff to his discus.)

Over the past week or so a couple of the discus seem to be a bit 'dark' and lethargic and I'm not sure what is causing this. I have also noticed that some of the leaves of the swords are getting a bit filmy and speckled with green algae or something. I occassionally have trouble with the ph getting low - down to 5.


Can anyone give me advice? I want my discus to be bright and perky!

Meg

[sharn]

ok im no expert at water chemisty (confuses me something shocking hehe) but insane ph crashes can be due to a low kh (carbonate hardness) have you tested for that? you say you have trouble with getting it lower, down to 5? i dont think you want it that low or do you mean it crashes down? if its crashing i think that might be your cause of the darkness, ph swings can be pretty stressful. wait for more people to chime in though, im pretty new to discus myself

[Merrilyn]

Hello Megan, and a very warm welcome to the forum.

Sharn is right when he says that the fluctuations in your pH will be stressing your fish. To jump from 7 down to 5 is a pretty dramatic drop.

I think you need to do some more frequent water changes, and boost you KH by adding some shellgrit to your filter, or into the tank.

The dissolving calcium from the shellgrit will buffer your water, and keep your pH more stable.

Okay, now a few questions. How often have you been doing water changes, and how much do you do at each time. Discus don't really do well with angels in the tank, for lots of reasons. Do a search thru these forums and you will find lots of articles discussing that very thing.

Can you tell me your water parameters, like pH, KH, GH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

We may just be able to solve your problem with a few extra water changes. :P

[Megan]

Hi -

on the Ph front: I never adjust it quickly: I always do it one point at a time. I have some shell grit in there already and it seems to have helped. Nice to get some consistent advice tho!

things have moved on a bit: I visited my trusty aquarium dude on the weekend and he said it seemed like they would have parasites (I had photos) because they were very thin as well, and I have since taken the following actions:

- moved the 5 discus to the 50 ltr tank after I had:

- changed 50% of the water
- put in a salt treatment
- bumped up the temp to 32 deg
- added 2.5 pills he gave me (not sure what they are)
- took out the plant in that tank(would have died with the temp anyway) and now it's just gravel (and some cardinal tetras, emerald eye tetras and a bronze catfish)

They don't seem overcrowded in there.

I am under orders to change 50% again after 3 days (although it will be 2 as I have to go interstate . . ) and add the next 2.5 tablets.

The discus are still alive . . . they were looking pretty dodgy when I got home. I haven't noticed any startling changes although now they seem a bit more lively and some of their crests aren't clamped so tight. They seem pale now rather than dark. Not sure if this is a good thing . . . Am feeding them lots of small amounts trying to tempt them (a couple are not so interested).

I guess it's a waiting game now? I have been watching for poo (that's a first for me, by the way) but haven't seen any 'real time' - something to look forwad to, I guess.

they are, however, stressing out the tetras!

M