My discus jumped-out of the tank!!! (horrifying!!!)

[jeddah]

Dear all,

Yesterday night when watching T.V. i heard something fell to the floor, when i looked down...OH MY!!!...it's my favorite young discus sprawled on the floor and I almost stepped on it (could have been more horrifying). I quickly pick him up and returned to the tank.

He seems to be OK, but shocked. he stayed at the corner and breath heavily. Let me tell you all that before that incident happened I noticed some of my discus is behaving differently, one of them has darted like lightning in every corner of the tank, even jump high on the surface (my tank has no cover coz my lights are hanging).

The only tank parameters I know are this:
Water temp=84F
PH=7.5
W/C=30%/day
Tank=BB

What could be the reason for him to jump like crazy???
and for other to dart around (not playing).

By the way, they are not eating well this days, they will just look at their favorite beefheart menu.

Any suggestion is very much appreciated.

Jovel

[nicholas76]

Hi Jovel,

that happened to me many years ago when i was first learning about discus. there are several things I would look at.

My first major concern would be to look at ammonia? whats your reading? Ph? your water appears fine ph wise, but i found with mine the fish became skittish when ph fluctuated to acidic.

shadows and reflections also freak fish out? whats your lighting like?

feeding? do they still eat? do they show any signs of disease?

mate send us all a pic

[jeddah]

hi nicholas,

thanks for your reply.

frankly, only ph tester is all i have. I'm doing 30% daily water changes(aged). I siphon the bottom twice a day. Do you think ammonia can rise that fast?

my lighting is a 20w flourecent. they don't look sick but are picky w/ food this days.

anymore comments? anyone?

jovel

[jeep]

I'd pick up some additional test kits for Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite.

They're probably ok with 30% daily changes, but sometimes when the filter gets dirty the nitrates spike and discus will dart around.

Do you have chloramines in your water?

I'd put a cover on the tank as well...

Brian

[henryD]

Even with a hanging light you can go down to the local glass place and get a piece of glass cut. Go with the heavier pieces if possible. I just got a piece cut for my 55 gallon and the cost was about 12.00. 3/8 inch thick. This way you would have a cover and not interfere with the lights.

[brewmaster15]

Hi Jovel,
Glad the fish is okay.

I was recently entertaining a discus friend when to my embarrassment he noticed one of my prized discus between a book case and my tank. ...it was dead. But not by too long a time--maybe an hour or two. :'(This tank was equipped with a commercial glass hood. The space the fish jumped out of was about 6 " X 2 " :-\

Moral of the story. Discus sometimes jump out of the tank ! In my case something probably spooked the fish as the tank is in the living room, but theres never been a jumper in there for the year the tank has been set up there...

My advice... cover any areas that are big enough to fit a fish with mesh or plastic anything. The areas where this fish jumped in my tank is where I usually have pothos.

Its always scary when it happens and you see it.

a while back I had an adult jump out of a 75 gal tank while I was cleaning it, land in a 30 gal fry. The splash scared the heck out me ...you should have seen what it did to the fry!

-al

[discuskrib]

other than a glass cover if you want to let light in you can always use egg crate and window screen. i prefer the glass top since it reduces evaporation.

[jeddah]

many thanks to all your reply.

my discus are ok now.

I increase the temp to 88-90 and given them salt they seem to relax.

ok guys till next time.

jovel