My discus jumped out..

[nanik]

Hi,

Last night I did my water change at around 8pm. I changed only 50% of the water where normally I do 80-90% water.

After the water change everything is fine and the discus are happy and swimming around, then after 10 min all of a sudden one of the Marlboro Red swim towards the surface and jumped out of the water ??? ??? ???, luckily I was there, quickly put it back to the tank and added normal aquarium salt (0.3%) to the water.

Today morning I saw he is eating and swimming fine, why did it jump out of the tank ?

Thanks

[lesley]

Hi Nanik,

I've had three of fish jump out of a tank. It has only ever been in this one tank. For me, it has been when the water has not been quite right. Others in the tank have been okay but one fish has decided that things have changed and it doesn't like it. A lovely MB that I have didn't like the water after I had adjusted it (I use rainwater and am continually struggling to keep things stable) and for a couple of days he was actually swimming around at the top of the tank looking for a space out, which he found twice. The space was only about 2" x 4" and he actually positioned himself the right way to get out. He's fine now and looking magnificent! The other pidgeon blood had lost his mate, again same tank, water not quite right and this guy was unhappy for a week. He actually came out of the water the first time when everyone was out of the house. My son came home, found him on the floor, one side dried out and put him back in. For about five mornings I found him lying flat on the bottom of the tank, wedged in under driftwood. The first couple we shifted him, the next few days I thought it best to let him die in peace. Then he came back to normal and is looking as good as ever!

I don't know what others will have to offer, but I would be looking at the water. Discus like a stable environment and when you change the water they don't like it any different!

Lesley

[nanik]

I don't know what others will have to offer, but I would be looking at the water. Discus like a stable environment and when you change the water they don't like it any different!

Lesley


Hi Lesley,

The only thing that I didn't do the same like I used to is the amount of water I change. Usually I change 80-90% of the water but yesterday I change only 50% of the water, could this be the problem ?

Thanks

[RyanH]

Hey Nanik,

Discus do tend to jump when spooked or stressed. It's a good idea to tightly cover your tanks just in case. I've lost fish in the past due to this so I use Versa-Tops on all of my tanks now.

[lesley]

Hi Nanik,

I don't do water changes that large, unless I already have a problem, so I really cannot give any useful comment on the difference between 50% and 90%. If you are using tap water, possibly for that one day something was a little different.

I think that most people find that this happens occasionally, you would have a problem if it happens a lot.

HTH, lesley

[neo9]

hi nanik,
i would follow ryanh's advise, cover all the gaps on ur tank with something, i used a t-shirt for a while until i found some mesh. even if when they jump due to spooks or water parameters they will land bak in the tank. ur fish won't die :)
neo