Twitching and shaking

[chrissyoscar]

Some of my discus have started twitching it's kind of like a shake. They have also gone dark in color and now seem to hide more often than usual. They still eat but I'm thinking it might be some sort of parasite on their skin. Has anybody experienced this before and what did you do to fix it?

Thanks.. Oscar

[Merrilyn]

Oscar,have you checked your water lately. The first thing I do when I see some unexplained behaviour is do huge daily water changes - then wait and see if anything developes. This makes sense when you think of where our discus came from. Amazon water is very, very clean. Also how long since you changed your filter media. Sludge build up is not out of the tank till it's out of the filtration system as well. Hope this helps.

[chrissyoscar]

Hi Ladyred

Thanks for the reply. The water seems ok I do 2 30% water changes weekly and have tested the water ph6.4, ammonia 0, nitrites 0 and nitrates 15.
I aslo cleaned the filter about 3 weeks ago.
I'm not to concerned any more as I now know the reason for the behavier. About 3-4 days ago she paired of with my male Spotted snakeskin and layed eggs 2 days ago. I've just checked on the eggs and there's only about 15-20 eggs left but they are all dark almost black so it looks like I have a confirmed pair which is great.
The only thing I'm confused about is that both fish are dark in color especially the female, she's very dark.
I know they darken up so when the fry become free swimming they can locate and attach to the parents but the female has been dark for about a week now.
They're in a community tank so I don't expect this batch to make it even if they do become free swimming as the other discus will make a meal of them :cry: .
I'm going on holidays in 5 weeks so before I go I'll get a breeding tank setup and when I get back I'll relocate them to that.

My website (http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/chrissyoscar)

Thanks.. Oscar

[weird]

I can't really help in regards to your problem as I am a 4 week past virgin with discus, but thanks giving us a link to your site ... i love it. I have it bookmarked, so I expect big things in the future !

Cheers.

[chrissyoscar]

Thanks Weird73 they're the nicest comments about my site yet.
I still have a fair bit of work to do on it. I need to take more photos and get the links page going. Might add a for sale page even though I have nothing to sell, yet!
Should be done in the next few weeks.

Thanks.. Oscar