Ugh!

[strawberryblonde]

Welp, disaster struck tonight during my WC on my big tank. None of the new discus have shown any signs of being skittish around me, and they tolerate the WC's very well, so I got lazy and paid for it.

Tonight I was finishing a fill up on the 20g and decided to go ahead and start the siphon on the big tank... multi-tasking, it always gets me in trouble.

I took off the top on the right side of the tank and dropped in the siphon, got the hose outside to start draining and then, rather than walk back across the rooms to place the lid back on, the way I always do, I stopped at the 20g to turn off the waterl and remove the tubing.

(Normally I just set the top slightly askew over the siphon "just in case")

Next thing I heard was a loud splash and then a thud. I turned just in time to see my more orange colored Fire Red bouncing off of my step stool and onto the floor.

I scooped him up and quickly got him back into the tank, but he just laid flat on the bottom for the entire WC and remained that way for nearly an hour afterwards. I turned off the lights on the tank and did the WC in the dark just to keep everyone calm in there. Marlboro Man took up guard duty and hovered over him...chasing off all the other curious discus.

The orange FR is back upright now, but still listing slightly to the side and about 1/4 of of one side from his head back towards his body has turned black. I know it's a sign of nerve damage and that hopefully it will heal without any lasting effects, but right now I just feel awful about it.

The last time something like this happened I ended up culling my favorite discus because the damage was so severe that it affected his ability to swim and eat. I do NOT want that to happen again!

[Second Hand Pat]

Aw Toni, things are going so well. Sorry to hear but hopefully it will recover 100% over time.

[strawberryblonde]

I'm breathing a little easier now Pat. Just went out to peek at him in the dark and he's swimming in the middle of the tank with two of his buddies! Still looks horrible though, like he went 12 rounds with Ali. LOL

[dkeef]

hope he recovers fully...

[strawberryblonde]

Thanks Dave, I just can't believe I did that...grrrrrr.

And to think that I TOTALLY forgot to put the lids back on the tank a week ago. Left them sitting on the table all night long and saw them in the morning. No one jumped out of the tank and all was well for a full 10 hours, but tonight the lid was off for less than 5 minutes and out went one of the fish. The worst part was that he hit the step stool and bounced off of it. The sound of him hitting the tile is going to give me nightmares tonight.

Hopefully he'll be fine and dandy in a few days. I read all the time that discus make a full recovery, so why not my little guy, right?

[dkeef]

man didnt know discus are that much of jumpers. i leave my canopy door open quite some time after feeding. maybe i need to be careful too.

[strawberryblonde]

This is the first time I've had one jump out in over 2 years of discus keeping, so I don't think it's very common. But yep, better safe than sorry with the lids, huh?

My other discus (the one I had to cull) smashed his head against the glass and did the same kind of damage to himself, so even with lids on this stuff can happen.

[dash]

Thanks for sharing that with us. Will be very careful from now on. How high was the water level when he jumped? This will be interesting to know how high these guys can go.

When I remove 50% water I some times leave lid open to fetch pump etc. hope he gets well soon.

[strawberryblonde]

Hi Dash,

I had just started the siphon, so the water level was about 5" below the top lip of the tank. I'm not sure how high in the air he went though, but he didn't hit the light fixture, so figure no more than 22" plus the 5" in the tank.

Others may be able to tell you just how high they can jump since I know that a couple of people on these forums have had discus go flying out of tanks.

[sdrexler078]

They can get pretty high I had a quarter size discus jump 8 inches into my hand luckily my hand was where it was or he had good aim

[lipadj46]

I've had 4 fish jump on me 2 during the night that died. 1 adult jumped while wife and daughters were having breakfast, that hit the floor but survived. I had a 3" jump out of the smallest gap while doing a water change, went behind the stand and came out covered in dust bunnies but survived. I'm very careful now and always have full sized hoods with no gaps. Hope your fish makes it.

sent from an undisclosed location using morse code

[blueluv]

Aw sorry to hear I'm positive with your care, he'll make a full recovery. He's in good hands

[strawberryblonde]

Thanks Chris but I'm not so sure. He's definitely better today than he was last night, but still very lethargic and refusing to eat. I've got my fingers crossed that once the bruising starts to heal up he'll go back to normal.

[dash]

Hi. Have you added some thing to the tank to assist with the heeling process. Keep the water very clean or put him in a qt

[strawberryblonde]

Hi Dash,

Thank you for asking those questions! I should have mentioned in this thread that I currently do an 80% water change every day on this tank because I have 4 new 6" discus who are still eating a LOT and growing.

I don't add anything to my tank unless it's absolutely necessary. In this case, he doesn't have any open wounds, so there's really nothing to add that can help him heal. He just needs rest, a quiet corner to hide in till he's feeling back to normal and a big water change every day.