Trying hard and fast

[Susie-Q]

Hi, my first post, I'm very new to Discus.

Here's my story. I was browsing e-bay fish section, when I noticed Discus fish for sale in my area. Though I knew I could not afford so many nice fish I wanted to document my dream of owning them by making a small bid just to put my name on the bid list.

Well, turns out the guy selling them remembered me (I bought a tank from him a while back) and agreed to sell them to me for far less than his asking price if I would come get them right away. (He's turning his tank salt, :roll: go figure)

So, without research or adequate tank prep, I went and got the fish.

Here's what I got: 4 1/2- 5 1/2in. nhamunda brown discus, second is a beautiful 3-4" blue discus, third and fourth are what he believed to be red dragons, but I'm not sure, and last of the discus is a beautifully marked pigeon blood, plus assorted other fish including two german blue rams, 1 blue apistogramma, 1 skunk cory cat, an albino bristle nose pleco, and last but not least a hammers cobalt blue lobster.

I can't be sure his knowledge of the care and keeping of discus was any better than my own. He mentioned loosing 2-3 discus during his endeavors, and when I asked about pH, he tested his water and showed me it was at 7.8.

I divided the occupants of my 55gal to other tanks and spent hours acclimating my new fish to my well established tank. My pH was 7.8, though I know that's too high for discus it wasn't anything different than what they had. I added peat to my filter which has dropped the pH to 7.0.

They all seem a bit stressed, hiding behind plants etc., but the one I was told was a pigonblood is really bad off. At first I noticed one pectoral fin clamped to his body. The next morning noticed small white fluffs on that fin and that side of his body. Know the spot on his body is more like an area.

I did two 20% water changes the first day I noticed something amiss and another every day since.

I have come to like these fish very much already. I need to know general care for them all and urgent care for the pigeon blood.

Thanks

[ashley]

Susie
I am only a beginner with discus myself, and Im just setting up my tank. Im on this forum quite a bit, even though I hav'nt had many posts, just reading all the information, on here you will learn a lot about looking after your new friends.

There are so many people that have had years of experience in the hobby that you will be well looked after. I know I have been.

So hang around and enjoy.

Ashley :D

[FishLover]

Few things you need to post before people can help you:
1. Tank temp
2. Ammo reading
3. nitrate/nitrite reading
4. feeding (what how often)
5. PH (how often do you monitor it, any big swings?)
6. W/C how often, how much
7. Any plants in the tank?
8. Any graval in the tank?

I'm no expert here. It looks like you are having fungus problem.

[Susie-Q]

The Temp of my 55gal tank is 79-80f.
Ammo-0,
Nitrite-0,
Nitrate->10,
pH-7.0,
KH-89.5ppm,
GH-125.3ppm

I feed twice a day
Morn-Fro. Delph and JW discus formula
Even-Fro. Brine And Bloodworms

They don't seen to be eating too well, I'm not really sure I've only had them a week and I don't know what is normal.

I've been doing 20% water changes at knight, vaccing any excess food.

The tank is well planted and has pea gravel and drift wood.

[Bill T.]

What is normal is that the discus fish greet you in the morning and yell at you to feed them. Then, after a while, they yell at you whenever they see you, so you end up overfeeding them, even though you know you shouldn't.
In your case, it's also normal for them to be very shy after a major change.
Discus like very soft water, so you should bring the water hardness down - nice & slow.
How fast did you drop that pH? 7.8 to 7.0 could be enough to seriously hurt them if it happened in say one or two big steps.
I measure kH in degrees of kH & keep mine at about 2 or 3, so I'm not sure how this compares with your kH reading? Do you add something to the water, or is this how your local water is?
If you haven't already got one, I suggest a U.V. steriliser, which will help to keep pathogen levels low & reduce the incidence and severity of fungal and bacterial infections.
If you can post a pic. of your sick fish, people will find that helpful.
You can take the sick fish to a fish friendly vet for a proper diagnosis if need be, so you know what your dealing with and the correct treatment.
IMHO, don't use melafix - not suitable for discus.

Good luck & don't give up on the discus. Many of us have suffered with infections and fish deaths & have gone on to live happy lives!

[FishLover]

I would increase the temp to 84F (in few days). Discus like at least 82F. I keep mine at 86 but other people have different settings.

When do water change, make sure the new water ph and temp are the same as in the tank. Monitor the PH few times per day for the first few days till you get a good understanding of your PH swings

[Susie-Q]

Well, I'm sorry to say that it is too late for the pigeonblood. I just scooped his lifeless body from the bottom of my tank :cry: :( :cry: :( :cry:

I don't want to have to do that again, except do to old age.

[Bill T.]

Sorry to hear that. It's a heartache when these magnificent fish suffer and die, for sure.
I think you may have inherited someone else's disease problems.
If you can take the dead fish to a fish competent vet, you could perhaps get a proper diagnosis.
At one stage I had to completely sterilise my whole system and start again because some terrible disease disolved all my fish - now I have four health discus that I have had for about 2 years, so please don't give up hope!

[sammigold]

Sorry to hear about your Pigeon Blood... :cry:

How are your other fish looking?

As the guys have already said Discus prefer fairly soft water.
Ph of 7 will be fine...

Give them some time to settle in and if you are worried about them not eating you could try feeding them some brine shrimp as they love that and it may encourage them to start eating a bit more...

It can sometime take a couple of weeks for them to settle into new surroundings and start feeding properly...

Good luck and if you need anymore help there are heaps of very experienced (much more than me) wonderful people who are always willing to help!

Enjoy the Forum and more importantly enjoy your new fishies!!! :D

[sammigold]

Oh and your KH at moment in degrees is about 5 so if you aim as Bill suggested to get it to about 3-4 which is between about 53.7-71.6ppm HTH