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View Full Version : New to board! Clamped fin, scared...



jasondai
03-20-2007, 10:05 PM
Hello everybody, I'm a newbie here. I'm super excited about discus.

Tank

To begin with, I have a 55 gallon tank that has been cycled for two months.
I used danios and barbs to cycle it for the first 2 weeks and then removed them and replaced them with glolite tetras (5) and albino cories (3) for the next 6 weeks. I have black gravel substrate, various plastic plants, and a potted amazon sword plant. The back and sides of the tank are covered.

Water parameters:

The water is at 86 degrees. Nitrites are zero, Nitrates are at 10 (the second lowest/ lightest color bar on my chart, Ammonia is at zero. PH is at 7.8. No carbon. I just did a 20% change today.

Discus:

Last Saturday I added 4 discus to my tank: 1 blue diamond, 1 snow white, 1 pigeon blood, and 1 melon. 3 of my discus are 3.5 inches and the melon is 2.5 inches.

Behavior

They are all eating. The snow white today has one fin clamped and has been super scared for the past three days. Runs away whenever there is any noise and hides. He also faces the other way. The others are fine. They shake their tails and ruffle their dorsal fins at times, however. Very little rubbing against objects. No white stringy feces.


Could the snow white be coming down with ick or have flukes? Should I quarantine it and treat it? :confused: Please let me know and what I should do thanks a lot!

Jason

dishpanhands
03-21-2007, 05:00 AM
I would up the water changes takes a while for the filter to grow to match the new fish.do atleast 50% a day. Do you age your water?.
You should put the discus in a bare bottom tank. Do large daily water changes and feed a bunch. They should be raised before going into a tank with anything in it...
You should alway QT new fish....
Check your test kit you should have alittle ammonia or nitrite until your filter has time to catch up if you just added them in the last week..IMO
HTH

Tropical Haven
03-21-2007, 08:56 AM
By doing more water changes it should help with the fish rubbing itself.

jasondai
03-21-2007, 09:28 PM
;) Thanks a lot guys! I'll change the water. I have a 10 gallon rubbermaid tube in which the water ages. It has a heater that keeps the water at 86. However, I need a larger tub to accomodate larger water change amounts!

I''l quarantine next time! These guys (and my new daughter too) make my work everyday bearable... I think about them a lot and enjoy observing them. Pets (and kids) keep us going!

Jason