discus breathing heavy and one at top of water

[lizzie29]

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?

After i fed beef heart one of the discus went to the top of the tank and is gasping for air but all of them have been breathing heavily for a while and I've been trying to get to the bottom of it with no luck


2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds).

nothing apart from breathing heavy and one of them today has gone to the top of the tank - they are all eating fine and look fine


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.

When first had them treated for parasites for 3 day dosage as one of them had stringy white poop but they have all been fine since - have added some salt water tonight and half dose prime to see if it helps him along



Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.

150L been set up for around 9 weeks now, have 8 discus, 2 denison barbs 5 neon dwarf rainbows 6 neon tetras 6 red nose rummies 1 red tail shark

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).

15% twice a week

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?

gravel quite deep 9 weeks used stability

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.

i normally leave it sitting for around 12 hours or more, ph is high 7.6 but have tested higher previously, about a week ago used half a dose of ph down seemed to do the trick ph is saying 7.4

8. Parameters and water source;

Note: Water Parameters are important in diagnosing problems within a tank. If you don't own test kits for the following information, you can purchase them, test your parameters and post this info as soon as possible.


- temp _____30

- ph _____ 7.4

- ammonia reading ____0

- nitrite reading ____0

- nitrate reading ____40-80(the colours look the same on the chart to me???

What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.

- well water ____

- municipal water ____tap water and use prime

- RO water ____


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.

no new fish 2 weeks ago I lost 6 denison barbs doing a big clean i put it down to spike in nitrite - all other fish were ok but they are all breathing heavily since.. i have a large air stone and i have raised the spray bar so I'm sure it can't be lack of oxygen... i have plenty of plants and 3 pcs bog wood, i did take the carbon out a while back when i first dosed for parasites and never put any back in - could this be it?? i don't know if because the spike damaged their gills they're just struggling to breathe but don't know what to treat with? should the nitrate be lower i have bought nitrate down but have only used a tiny drop as i didn't like the look of it .. what do you think please help any suggestions!!

[LizStreithorst]

Your nitrate reading is way too high. It should be around 5.

[lizzie29]

Ahh ok, you're right it is too high after reading up on it... tbh on the tester kit it said 40 is ok i assume thats for most tropical fish but with discus being clean freaks it not good... what do you suggest to bring it down?? like i said on post i have bought some stuff that is supposed to sink to the bottom then reduces nitrate i did add a dose last night but i lost the little guy who was floating at top - are there any other things you would suggest? should i be changing more water when i do my changes?(i haven't liked changing too much at one go because of the high ph in my tap water)

[lizzie29]

Oh and how much do you say i should be feeding them and how often??? i have heard different opinions my lfs feeds his once a day i think a colleague twice but i know someone else who feeds his up to 5x a day?? I've been doing once sometimes twice a day variety of beef heart blood worms and artemia with garlic - how often do you guys feed yours?? trying to get to the bottom of what is causing the nitrate to be so high - and would anyone say it is overstocked?? i don't think it looks overstocked at all - what do you think

[LizStreithorst]

I just noticed that this a 150 liter tank, not a 150 gallon. That's an awful lot of fish for a tank that size. Also your water change percentage is way too low. I do at least 30% daily on my normally stocked BB tanks.

[Ardan]

Liz is correct, too many fish for 40 gallons. Definitely increase wc's to at least 50% per day and try to get them in a larger tank. Also skip the ph down. Don't worry about the ph except aging the water is good for the ph.

hth
Ardan

[LizStreithorst]

On my. I need to start reading more carefully. I didn't notice that the OP was using pH down on top of the overstocked tank and inadequacy of WC.

My advise...Get a larger tank. Put the Discs in it. Keep it BB. Feed often. Do large daily WC. Put the pH Down in the trash.

[lizzie29]

Hi guys thanks a lot for all the advice - my discus are still small and I knew I'd need a bigger tank eventually - there still seems loads of space always in the tank it doesn't look overstocked looks just right but I trust you guys know what your talking about - did another water change yesterday and got some water aging for later today - been looking at RO or HMA filters as there seems to be a lot of nitrate in my tap water and chlorine and ph seems to go higher on weekends - was consedering getting one to mix with tap water 50/50 or whatever tests best - what do you guys think to these and which one would be best do u think - thanks again!

[WilhelmJacob]

Hi to everybody,

I have 7 Diskus, and dark angel diskus never liked so much to be with other ones, so time by time he comes, eat with others, swim, and he go to his part, even protecting it from others.
3 Neons got ICK, and i am using Herbtana product and since 6 days i dose 90ml of VOOGLE easy life and ICK didnt spread, and its going away slowly, diskus wasnt infected. Apetite was during this 40 days veryyy good.
Yesterday i bought Stedker good heart, and they didnt like to eat it so much, dry food i avoid to give them,. So i went and i took some fresh tubifex worms, which is comming from hidrobiologic farm. Everything in Germany, higly controlled. Diskus ate it like craz, they loved it.
Today in the morning they are close to the wood root, and dont wanna swim, and breathing heavyyyyy, like no air in the tank, they even came just to eat and went again back.

Water Parameters are very good,

Juwel Vison 450 L
temp 27-28 C
PH 6,9
KH 6
GH 8-9
Cl2 0
NO3 8-10 (i have thick planted tank)
NO2 0
Cl2 0
CO2 - 30mg/l

I have no clue what can be.Other fishes r behaving totally normal....
I have video, so u guys can take a look and help me .....

[Paul Sabucchi]

Hi Wilhelm and welcome on this forum, sorry your fish seem to be in some sort of distress. The file you attached seems to be a still image, the video you mentioned would be more useful so can you upload it on YouTube then share on this thread the link for it? Am I correct in understanding ALL your fish are suddenly breathing much faster, not just the dark angel? Did you change anything lately in your tank? Was it the first time you fed the heart mix, was it a new batch? When you do your last water change? How much water do you change and how often? While we try and understand what is going on can you increase water oxygenation by adding more air pumps and airstones? Hope things improve

[WilhelmJacob]

only diskus, other fishes are ok, it was 3rd time to feed them, and seems they dont like it....they< started to move a bit today, breathing better, bbut they are not so actove as usual.... i do weekly 30 % water change, now only not cuz of the Herbtana medizine... not allowed to do water change till 14 days ... maybe i should change a water???

[LizStreithorst]

Wilhelm, Can you tell us what is in that med? I've never heard of it. Discus need daily water change, especially when they're not feeling well. When I use a med that says not to treat for a period of time, I do a WC and replace the amount of the med that I have removed.

Your Discus look skinny. Is their poop black or white and clear?

[WilhelmJacob]

Its herbs medication, HERBTANA against ICH, and i use VOOGLE ( also requares 14 days of not water change) from easy life to boost their immune system.. they r not skinny t all, poop is as ususal, they just dont behave as ususal, staying in one corner. I jist treid to give them a food, and they hardly eat... also....they are 6 cm big, still babies, only 2 of them are skinnier , i got them like that, but they eat, other normal ones no.... i will try with water change now... 30-40 %.

[WilhelmJacob]

i find it strange, as soon water level reached 30 % less, they started to be active.. a nd looking for a food........and swimming a bit....

[Paul Sabucchi]

Hi again Wilhelm, as a fellow European I understand that it is common (the word normal would not be appropriate in this case) to see fish in the same body condition as yours. It does not mean they are not skinny. A well fed discus should look round in profile ( not "pointy" and shaped like an American football) and plump face-on (not "pinched"). If you look at the photos of discus at shows you can see what I mean, or even at mine - they are not show quality but I have grown them over the last year from the size of a 2 euro coin to 16cm+ just giving them plenty of grated fish and clean water.
Beyond the increased respiration rate there probably other underlaying issues with your tank