tvo
02-17-2016, 06:40 PM
I finally committed to keeping discus after discovering the forum 3 months ago. Ever since, I started devouring information on the forum like going thru a GRRM’s book for the first time. I tear down the 55 gallon + 35 gallon sump planted tank with a few angels and neon tetras that had been running for over a year. All the plants and fish were sold off. My mind was set to having a discus only tank. The tank, sump and all equipment’s were disinfected with bleach and were left running as a fishless bare bottom tank. After a month, I was confident that the tank was ready for discus so on January 1st I placed an order with Kenny’s Discus for 6 (3.5 to 4 inches) discus. But I was wrong, the tank wasn’t ready because it wasn’t cycled correctly. I didn’t add any ammonia during the duration of the fishless tank to get the nitrogen cycle started. Worse of all was I realized my mistake only a few days before receiving the discus order. I panic and drove to PetSmart to buy one of the SafeStart bottles. I brought the SafeStart bottle home and wasn’t really sure if it was going to make a difference but I finally pour it into the sump’s poret foam anyway. I figured by doing so at least made me feel proactive that I did something. More research was done on the forum and I found out that doing large amount of water changes every day would reduce the amount of ammonia and nitrite until the tank is cycled. I was committed to do 80+% water change each day raising these discus anyway.
The 6 discus from Kenny finally arrived on January 20th, i was excited and worried at the same time. The discus were acclimated in their shipping bags to the tank’s temperature of 84C for an hour and then they were "drop and flop" in the tank. After that I let them be in the dark and left for work. I returned in the afternoon and tested the ammonia and nitrite level and as expected both were high on the scale so I did an 80% water change with extra Sechem Safe added to neutralize the Ammonia. On the second day, all 6 discus now started to come out more, responded well to the first feeding, though they get spook and hide, typical behavior of acclimating to the new tank. I continued my maintenance routines, 80% water change every day from an aging barrel with extra Sechem Safe added to condition the water.
After a week, the tank’s condition started to improve, ammonia and nitrite level begun to drop and all 6 discus were no longer spook every time I approach the tank. The discus now started to show some signs of aggression toward each other and to the smallest koi discus of the bunch but it wasn’t serious, at least I thought. After the end of the second week, i started to notice that the smaller koi discus had gone hiding and no longer interested in food. I wasn’t sure what to do with it then so I just let it be by itself. The other 5 remaining discus were fine, out and about, eating as normal on FDBW, homemade BH. After a few more days gone by and the smaller koi condition didn’t improve and I noticed it stomach had bulged up, like it was constipated. I figured it may be bloated so I treated the whole tank with 2 tbsp per 10gallon of Epson salt for 24hrs. The Epson salt treatment didn’t have any effect on the koi fish, though I did see some time after it was out swimming about with the group of 5 other discuses but it was still not eating. At that point I started to worry not only to the sick koi but to the wellbeing of the rest of group. I realized now that the correct approach then was to isolate the sick koi by moving it to a hospital tank but I didn’t have a hospital tank ready. It remained in the main tank for a few more days until it finally passed away on 2/15, almost 4 weeks after arrival.
What I gathered from my research thru the forum was the koi may have had dropsy, caused by stress, from shipping, being in an uncycled tank, being picked on, etc. It is now 2 days after the koi passed away in the main tank, all 5 other discus are doing great, showing no sign of sickness as of yet. My normal maintenance routine is still 80% water change each day. I hope they will remain healthy but just a precaution I am going to have a hospital tank ready and plan to buy some metro just in case.
The 6 discus from Kenny finally arrived on January 20th, i was excited and worried at the same time. The discus were acclimated in their shipping bags to the tank’s temperature of 84C for an hour and then they were "drop and flop" in the tank. After that I let them be in the dark and left for work. I returned in the afternoon and tested the ammonia and nitrite level and as expected both were high on the scale so I did an 80% water change with extra Sechem Safe added to neutralize the Ammonia. On the second day, all 6 discus now started to come out more, responded well to the first feeding, though they get spook and hide, typical behavior of acclimating to the new tank. I continued my maintenance routines, 80% water change every day from an aging barrel with extra Sechem Safe added to condition the water.
After a week, the tank’s condition started to improve, ammonia and nitrite level begun to drop and all 6 discus were no longer spook every time I approach the tank. The discus now started to show some signs of aggression toward each other and to the smallest koi discus of the bunch but it wasn’t serious, at least I thought. After the end of the second week, i started to notice that the smaller koi discus had gone hiding and no longer interested in food. I wasn’t sure what to do with it then so I just let it be by itself. The other 5 remaining discus were fine, out and about, eating as normal on FDBW, homemade BH. After a few more days gone by and the smaller koi condition didn’t improve and I noticed it stomach had bulged up, like it was constipated. I figured it may be bloated so I treated the whole tank with 2 tbsp per 10gallon of Epson salt for 24hrs. The Epson salt treatment didn’t have any effect on the koi fish, though I did see some time after it was out swimming about with the group of 5 other discuses but it was still not eating. At that point I started to worry not only to the sick koi but to the wellbeing of the rest of group. I realized now that the correct approach then was to isolate the sick koi by moving it to a hospital tank but I didn’t have a hospital tank ready. It remained in the main tank for a few more days until it finally passed away on 2/15, almost 4 weeks after arrival.
What I gathered from my research thru the forum was the koi may have had dropsy, caused by stress, from shipping, being in an uncycled tank, being picked on, etc. It is now 2 days after the koi passed away in the main tank, all 5 other discus are doing great, showing no sign of sickness as of yet. My normal maintenance routine is still 80% water change each day. I hope they will remain healthy but just a precaution I am going to have a hospital tank ready and plan to buy some metro just in case.