Project Log - Discus Take 2 (Active)

[kris2341]

After the failure of my first attempt at keeping discus, and the success of my tank rack, upon coming across Mishka's thread of things for sale, I had decided that this was the time to reattempt keeping discus and this time do it right with gently cared for little babies.

I wound up coming home the other day with 8 little babies, 7 nice looking discus and a funny looking runt that she was planning to cull.

They were merely obtained on 10/15/2014 and are still new, I have been feeding them Cobalt flake and recently my newly made ground turkey mix with some questionable results.

Feeding them flake yielded good response in activity by the fish, feeding them pea sized pieces of turkey mix caused 1 to headstand today, 10/18/2014, with suspicion of bloat and I was recommended to grate the food in next time to avoid having 1 overeat.

The tank was treated with 6 tablespoons of epsom salt and I hope for the recovery of the fish, so far it is looking good!

This is my 2nd attempt at discus and I am only just getting started! So far so good!


Tank maintenance summary:

• Tank has 95% of its water changed daily, utilizing tap water that has been treated and aged for 24 hours or more and pumped from one of the vacant holding tanks to the discus tank.
• Tank water is at 82F
• tank bottom is siphoned twice a day and water is replaced accordingly.

Current Course of Action:

1. continue maintenance routine.
2. dose epsom salt with each water change.
3. observe recovery process of discus.
4. seed sponge filters using ammonia and tetra safe start in a vacant tank.
5. avoid feeding turkey mix until certain of discus recovery.

[kris2341]

As of today, the discus have been doing well for quite a while. Though i have to really get used to timing how long i let my fish eat, the turkey mix fouls the water FAST, much faster than i am used to seeing so i essentially cannot let it sit in the tank for more than 20 minutes, when the water fouls, the fish feel it pretty quickly and become sluggish.

I may also need a new grater that is more coarse because the fish do not eat the pieces that are too small to sink, this is probably where all the fouling comes from.

To do list:

1. get coarse grater to produce more edible chunks
2. purchase methylene blue for ammonia poisoning emergency precaution
3. get blackworm cubes to add to my array of foods.
4. find a better siphon for the tanks
5. effect water change after turkey mix feeding

[musicmarn1]

looks like you really are doing fantastic your second time around !!! ill let the experts chime in on feeding, but can we have some close up pictures of your fry now and when you first got them for growth comparisons?

love that you got such a great set up! only thing i would have done is paint the bottom and sides of the tanks

congrats and best of luck i want to see them grow big and happy you deserve it so much!!

[kris2341]

So far, I have only had them a mere 12 days and it is hard to show on my blurry phone pictures, but they seem to each have put on weight ever so slightly.

I will probably buy a simple camera to take pictures as a grow.



I merely tap the glass when i walk up to get a group shot!

[John_Nicholson]

Looks like you have it going on now.

Good luck.

-john

[kris2341]

To do list:

1. get coarse grater to produce more edible chunks
2. purchase methylene blue for ammonia poisoning emergency precaution
3. get blackworm cubes to add to my array of foods.
4. find a better siphon for the tanks
5. effect water change after turkey mix feeding

Thank you all for the kind words, without guidance like this, i probably would have given up right away!

the above items have been ordered.

4 bottles of methylene blue heading my way
4 different siphons for the aquariums too
50 grams of freeze dried blackworms with biopigment from Al's company coming in

now I just need that grater...