help pls

[duhgorski]

i am new with discus. i have only 2. since 3 days the 1 start to be very lethargic and is swimming with the tail 45 degree up. today the other hold also the same position but is not lethargic. the both are eating and fighting almost like before. but i am sure there is something wrong. 1 catfish died today and 1 rainbow fish had lose the tail. can somebody help me with advise?

[Inspiringfish]

Hello duhgorski and welcome,

Have you tested the water and what are the results??? This will help the forum help you.

[duhgorski]

yes,i had and the results are a bit strange..maybe. 0 ammonia,0 nitrite, 0 nitrate.the pH is high 8.0,but the water that i am using from the focet is 7.0. when i had put salt , on the top of the water appear something like oily. the very little boubles from the oxigen are stacking there. i had try to remove, but no success.

[Del]

Hello Duhgorski, PH of 8 sounds a bit high...

Are you ageing your water before adding it to your tank?

I let mine sit (for up to a week) with an airstone and a heater running, add de-chlorinator, then add to my tank.

The oily substance sounds a bit nasty though...

Also any reason why you are adding salt?

[samir]

do a 30-40% water change for 3-4 days. it usually solves most problems. you don't really need salt. how much salt did you add ? if one is getting bullied too much you may have to seperate it for a bit. what is your tank temp ? how old are the discus ? i suggest start on the water changes immediately till you get some better advice.

[Merrilyn]

Hello duhgorski, and welcome to the fourm.

I need to ask you a few questions about your tank so that I can help you.

How long have you had the tank set up. (the zero nitrate reading bothers me. A cycled tank should always have some nitrate)

How big is the tank, and what other fish do you have in there.

How often have you been doing waterchanges, and how much water.

Do you have gravel or rocks in your tank. If the water coming out of your faucet is 7, and the tank water is a pH of 8, then something in the tank is changing the pH and probably the hardness too. It's most often rocks or gravel that causes the problem.

What sort of salts are you adding to the tank water. Is it the blue crystals, known as aquarium salts? You don't need to add that with discus. They like the water soft and slightly acid. Can you test the hardness of the water.

And finally, food. What are you feeding the fish, and how often. Are they juvenile fish or adults?

[duhgorski]

i know about the agening of the water but am not douing always. here is a bit difficult with the water.the salt i had add because of the condition of the both discus and the dead catfish. and the rot tail of the rainbow fish.

[duhgorski]

the tank is 26 g(75x45x30 cm).before 3 weeks i had change the gravel. the old was withe and with sea substance. i had suspect that maybe because of the gravel my pH is 7.8 (before). i had buy new (almost black)and ask specialy to be from a river. but after the set up the pH goes even more high 8.0-8.2. i cannot check the hardness because no kit available. i experiance difficulties to make the people in the shops understand what is hardness, but i am still searching. in the tank are 3 little pc-s of rock and drift wood. the plants are the same. i am using filter with pump( sorry, but don`t know the name in engl.) and undergravel filter. i have 4 angel fishes, 5 danio, 2 moly, 1,5 rainbow fishes and 2 discus about 5-6 cm. i dont know the exact age.