Finatic
12-13-2009, 06:10 PM
First off, I kept discus about 15 years ago, and did so without any real problems. I kept them in a bare bottom tank, and gre them from 1 inch fry all the way up to 5"-6" adults. Needless to say, my wife and I started having children and I lost the time I needed to keep my discus thriving. I gave them to a LFS and abandoned my tank.
So all of these years later, the itch to do discus again couldnt be subdued. All of the great videos of planted discus tanks got my juices going, and here I am today. Where exactly is that? With a shipment of 10 beautiful fish from Mike at Central Ohio Discus, and well, one Blue Sapphire in the med tank, and me in a dilligent anti-ick routine in my main tank.
Yes, I learned the hard way, QUARANTINE ALL NEW FISH UPON ARRIVAL. I put my discus in my display tank, and 2 days later, they started to show some ick. I immediately ramped up my water changes to 20%-30% daily, added salt and raised the temp to 88. The good news is, the ick already looks under control, and the fish look no worse for the wear...for now.
Im keeping my fingers crossed that my timely action and Simply Discus (I love search)advice got me through this. I have also learned that i will continue to do daily water changes even after this is all done. There is no substitue for clean water when it comes to discus.
So all of that being said, in summary:
1. quarantine all fish. This gives both your main tank a chance to make sure it is 100% healthy, and that you both protect your new arrivals, and the eixisting inhabitants.
2. do daily water changes! To see improvement from ramped up water changes alone is encouraging!!! (I had planned on only doing every other day, not not now)
3. Look to Simply Discus for help if anything should go wrong!
I have been holding off on pics until I get everything under control, but hopefully that day is soon!
So all of these years later, the itch to do discus again couldnt be subdued. All of the great videos of planted discus tanks got my juices going, and here I am today. Where exactly is that? With a shipment of 10 beautiful fish from Mike at Central Ohio Discus, and well, one Blue Sapphire in the med tank, and me in a dilligent anti-ick routine in my main tank.
Yes, I learned the hard way, QUARANTINE ALL NEW FISH UPON ARRIVAL. I put my discus in my display tank, and 2 days later, they started to show some ick. I immediately ramped up my water changes to 20%-30% daily, added salt and raised the temp to 88. The good news is, the ick already looks under control, and the fish look no worse for the wear...for now.
Im keeping my fingers crossed that my timely action and Simply Discus (I love search)advice got me through this. I have also learned that i will continue to do daily water changes even after this is all done. There is no substitue for clean water when it comes to discus.
So all of that being said, in summary:
1. quarantine all fish. This gives both your main tank a chance to make sure it is 100% healthy, and that you both protect your new arrivals, and the eixisting inhabitants.
2. do daily water changes! To see improvement from ramped up water changes alone is encouraging!!! (I had planned on only doing every other day, not not now)
3. Look to Simply Discus for help if anything should go wrong!
I have been holding off on pics until I get everything under control, but hopefully that day is soon!