Discus went crazy!

[Mark N]

Reading over everything it would seem we have similar setups. 65 gallon tanks , eco complete, one of the same brand foods being fed. My main tank now only has two or three plants in it now. Just trying to eliminate things one by one.
I too am having the same problem. And un able to pin point the cause.
I have 7 Discus two in one tank bare bottom, 5 in main tank. Both tanks have fish going crazy.

[Ryan925]

Reading over everything it would seem we have similar setups. 65 gallon tanks , eco complete, one of the same brand foods being fed. My main tank now only has two or three plants in it now. Just trying to eliminate things one by one.
I too am having the same problem. And un able to pin point the cause.
I have 7 Discus two in one tank bare bottom, 5 in main tank. Both tanks have fish going crazy.

Mark what are your water params? One thing I can tell you is eco is impossible to keep clean. I deep vac'd it multiple times a week, even to the point where it looked like nothing was getting sucked up. When I finally decided to change my tank and remove the eco it was insane how much junk was in there. I was astonished. I tossed 120# of the stuff and you know as well as I do that stuff isn't cheap

[Mark N]

Mark what are your water params? One thing I can tell you is eco is impossible to keep clean. I deep vac'd it multiple times a week, even to the point where it looked like nothing was getting sucked up. When I finally decided to change my tank and remove the eco it was insane how much junk was in there. I was astonished. I tossed 120# of the stuff and you know as well as I do that stuff isn't cheap

Water is good. I have been checking it daily since the problems have began. I am also running two tanks currently. One of the two is bare bottom. Problems are the same in both tanks.
However I agree with the substrate, it is coming out soon. I do not believe it is very good in our Discus tanks.

[cjvdhx]

I've done roughly 3-4 water changes since this all started and I think things are getting better. It certainly doesn't have anything to do with water quality or anything like that it's more me startling them and getting spooked either from a shadow, etc

[JBurgo]

I've done roughly 3-4 water changes since this all started and I think things are getting better. It certainly doesn't have anything to do with water quality or anything like that it's more me startling them and getting spooked either from a shadow, etc

I think the point people are making is that spooking easily may be a symptom of water quality deteriorating.

[Kyla]

P.S. my supplier says he quarantines his fish too. that doesnt mean i can skip the QT tho, it is still the safest option before adding the fish to my tank.

[bluelagoon]

From post #43....Not my first go around with plants just discus. I am going for a low tech tank and all the discus are over 4"

In post 32 you mentioned fertilizer.Low tech means no ferts along with,low light and no added CO2.

[cjvdhx]

From post #43....Not my first go around with plants just discus. I am going for a low tech tank and all the discus are over 4"

In post 32 you mentioned fertilizer.Low tech means no ferts along with,low light and no added CO2.

I always thought low tech meant no co2 and heavy dosing. I stopped using the liquid fertilizer. Only thing going on my water is prime. Thanks for your help

[cjvdhx]

I think the point people are making is that spooking easily may be a symptom of water quality deteriorating.

Not sure how the water quality could deteriorate that quickly when I'm doing water changes every other day at 75% and keeping and eye on everything. No ammonia no nitrite and the highest the nitrate has ever got was 40ppm before doing a large WC

[abijitr]

I have a 2 month old tank with ~3 inch juvi's and have the exact same problem. In fact, I wanted to post a question but first started researching if there is a thread already and landed here... now I know I am not alone

I hand feed my discus and they are all super comfortable with that, I even lift a half of them (of course one at a time) in my hand pet and put them back without any issues. The moment I get to the tank they all come close and wait for my hand and this happens with or without food sometimes immediately after feeding as well.

Ocassionally while I am feeding they freak out and go crazy swimming all over the tank and today they even splashed good amount of water out, so much that I thought a few fish jumped out. This happens more often if my 3 year old is around while feeding. She is super gentle and very nice to the fish ... it doesn't happen every time she is around but the chances are higher when she is around than when she isn't ... I guess the fish see something that we don't, trying to figure out what is that they see and I can't.... but I am sure there is some trigger to it, more optical/visual than anything else.

After going through this thread, I am going to start turning off the light while feeding and see how that works.

[megatrev62]

Weird. Hope it works out.

[Ryan925]

I have a 2 month old tank with ~3 inch juvi's and have the exact same problem. In fact, I wanted to post a question but first started researching if there is a thread already and landed here... now I know I am not alone

I hand feed my discus and they are all super comfortable with that, I even lift a half of them (of course one at a time) in my hand pet and put them back without any issues. The moment I get to the tank they all come close and wait for my hand and this happens with or without food sometimes immediately after feeding as well.

Ocassionally while I am feeding they freak out and go crazy swimming all over the tank and today they even splashed good amount of water out, so much that I thought a few fish jumped out. This happens more often if my 3 year old is around while feeding. She is super gentle and very nice to the fish ... it doesn't happen every time she is around but the chances are higher when she is around than when she isn't ... I guess the fish see something that we don't, trying to figure out what is that they see and I can't.... but I am sure there is some trigger to it, more optical/visual than anything else.

After going through this thread, I am going to start turning off the light while feeding and see how that works.

Shadows can freak them pretty easily. Chain reaction is common. I often hear splashing when mine are feeding on fdbw cubes. As they eat sometimes one gets close to the surface and causes a splash and they all will react but then right back to business as usual.

There has been a time or two that one may dart and kind of speed around the tank like it's looking for a place to hide.

The longer you have them the more comfortable they become. Pretty much nothing I do started them anymore but they will get startled by my wife

[abijitr]

Good to know Ryan! My aquarium is in a position where we get a lot of shadows. Thanks!

[Ryan925]

Good to know Ryan! My aquarium is in a position where we get a lot of shadows. Thanks!

That will do it. Mine faces the kitchen window. Occasionally if I close the blinds too quickly it will spook them. Also walking between tank and window quickly can as well. I usually try to open the blinds slightly so they are angled upward but my wife has a tendency of leaving the blinds wide open blasting the tank. Now that it's the summer I am battling a tiny bit of gsa because of it

[Second Hand Pat]

Like Ryan says walking between the tank and a window looks like a large dark shadow to them (think overhead bird diving into the water) can spook them. I have also found that walking into and out of a bright area (sunlight coming into the room) can spook them also. Basically any sudden change outside the tank can spook the fish.
Pat