Discus KO

[aloha_discus]

Aloha Everyone,I have a problem and I know someone can give me a sugesstion on this subject. Lastnight before leaving for work, I did 50%w/c and left for work. Eight hrs later I came home and found two 4 incd b/d that appeared to be dead. They were lying on bottom of tank. After seeing this I went to get dip net to remove them, to my surprise when i came back they were swimming fine but breathing rapidly. I started to think I was seeing things.

I then started my daily water changes and again I was surprised when I got a splash. I turned to look and the two b/d were just ramming themselves into the sides of the tank and everything else that is in the tank. Then they went for the tank lid and K Oed themselves. Has anyone ever seen this happen? I talked to the wife and she told me that this happens everytime I go to work. May be I should just stay home ;D and be mister mom, nah I need a life I guess.

Anyways does anyone have an idea or solution? Ph is 6.0 to 6.5, water is out of R/O D/I unit, hardness? w/c everyday in growout tanks 50% each time and have seven 4.5 to 5 inch discus in 75 gallon tank only b/ds are doing this routinely says my wife.

Mahalo in advance for help, Ike & Anne ;D ??? ;D

[Ryan]

Well, the first thing I do when my discus get jumpy and start crashing is to look at the water. Have you checked ammonia and nitrites? Did you recently squeeze filters or anything that might have led to a small spike?

Also, is there anything in the tank that might be emitting an electrical current?

You said the water was out of your RO unit... some people here have problems with keeping their pH buffered. Is it possible that you are having pH crashes? In other words, have you tested the pH in the tank when all this is going on, or did you just test the actual RO water to determine your pH?

You may also want to look into your water supply and make sure there's not something that's getting past your RO unit. Do you have chlorine/chloramine in your water? I don't remember if this can get past an RO unit or not...

Do all the fish act strangely or just two of them?

Ryan

[jeep]

I'm having a similar problem with one of my females only. All water paramiters are fine and only one fish is affected.

After searching around the forum it seems that higher temp and salt may be a good place to start but I've never seen a definitive answer.

I also have friend in another part of the city that is having the exact same problem and, again with only one fish.

Anyone else have similar experiences or recommendations?

[RAWesolowski]

Ike,

I think that Ryan may be on the right track. If you are using RO water, you may want to temper it with tap water. If you measure GH and KH, you want 3 degrees of each at a minimum. If you're using a conductivity meter, I think 150 microsiemens for breeding and 300 for growout should be good.

My RO is 0 degrees of GH and KH and about 30 microsiemens. Fills require about half tap water to maintain 300 microsiemens.

[Denny]

ike,

just for reference, what do you feed your fish and how many are in the tank?

denny

[April]

yeah id say ph drops.
they go into panic mode and lay flat for a bit.
id keep an eye that its not dropping rapidly .
hope you figure it out.
let us know.