Beginner's mistakes...Asking for advice on ich

[modealings]

Dang that looks bad - thanks a lot for the heads up. The one I have is just a little Ancistrus dolichopterus but I'd still rather not risk it...

[Akili]

One more thing about Plecos is that they produce massive amounts of waste thus increased bioload.

[modealings]

Yea - that actually became quite obvious in the BB tank. I couldn't help myself and moved the discus to the 75g today (pics below), and rehomed the pleco. It's amazing how much better they were looking this morning after uping to 50% wc's 2x daily. I'm going to keep up with daily wc's in the 75g but was thinking just 50% 1x/d. It's going to be interesting to see if I can keep them happy with the potted plants in there - but I'm not going to hesitate to dump the plants if I see things going downhill.
Another quick question - do your growing fish ever seem satisfied after you feed them? I have the benefit of being home for the next few months so I'm doing 5-6 small feeds/day but these guys are ravenous. Haha I think I could feed them every 30min if I was up to doing the wc's. (Could be the hot temp - I'm still slowly bringing that down.)

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[strawberryblonde]

What a difference, they look great!!

I think you made the right decision in moving them. Just expect a mini-cycle in the tank and keep up with the twice a day water changes till your ammonia and nitrites hit 0ppm.

Myself? I do a 90% WC once a day while mine are growing, then reduce it once they reach 6". It's just what I was told to do when I started out on these forums and when I saw how HUGE my discus grew, I became a believer and kept on with it each time I grew out a new batch.

I know that some people only do 50% per day and they seem to do ok with it though.

But wow, what a change in your discus from the first pics on this thread. Amazing!

[modealings]

Thanks! (To be fair, the lighting was very poor in the small tank.)

I'm definitely rapidly becoming a believer in the power of the water change. From keeping other fish, I think I've always been hung up on the idea of maintaining a good nitrogen cycle which can be done with substrate and minimal wc's - but with discus it seems like the water change is the key.