Shooting for 10 years on 100g tank!

[goldfish]

IMG_4769.jpg

[White Worm]

You need to do a larger water change to clean the water.

[Kyla]

I think it was the right decision to remove the rocks, but it can be hazardous to do it all at once when the fish are in the tank. I don't know whether your substrate layer was thick enough to house toxic gas pockets, but if it was this could be stressing the fish.

Another thing to consider: Rocks and gravel/substrate can provide a surface area for beneficial bacteria to colonize. By removing them suddenly you may have inadvertently also removed some beneficial bacteria. I'd recommend to test the water for ammonia and nitrite daily for a few days to make sure there are no toxic spikes. If BB was removed it should recolonize the filter media shortly, but if there are toxins in the water in the meantime u may need to perform increased daily water changes during the regrowth period.

How do you perform your water changes? It looks like a lot of the mulm and crud which had collected under the rock bed is still sitting on the bottom of the tank - can u siphon this debris out directly, by placing a hose close to it and sucking it out? How much water are you currently changing, how often, and what set-up are you using (eg hoses, pythons, buckets, pumps?)

Is the bottom of ur tank open (eg can u see thru the glass floor of the tank) or Is the tank sitting on a flat surface? The discus might take a bit to get used to the new set up. If the bottom is totally open they would prob appreciate taping a piece of paper under it or painting the outside bottom of the tank. You can add branches to the tank of the fish r scared also.

If their fins are frayed and they look upset, more water changes may be called for, to speed healing. Although I am not sure about doing water changes without dechlorinator... are you saying there is no chlorine or chloramines added to your city tap water? And with big water changes you want to make sure the water u r using is ideal... eg no pH swings and no micro bubbles.

[goldfish]

So far the fish are not eating. Some are summing funny. Pointing upward and there is one fish tank. I can't too muchwater in 24 hours. I have changed 40 and 20 percent in last 12 hours. All straight tap water.

[goldfish]

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Cloudy water and cloudy eyes in the discus.

[btrader]

Are you using a syphon to clean the bottom of the tank? And why are you not using Prime in your water?

[Kyla]

Why can't you do a 100% water change using prime conditioner? What are the barriers for water changes? Are those micro bubbles in the pic? We need more information.

[goldfish]

I don't use chemical or treat my discus. It is always a straight tap water. I don't have a barrier extra or RO system upsets for the fish tank. No extra tank. Only one fish tank.

[rickztahone]

You have caused an ammonia spike in your tank. Do major water changes daily and provide a lot of air in the tank via sponge filters.

Get prime asap

[Ryan925]

I don't use chemical or treat my discus. It is always a straight tap water. I don't have a barrier extra or RO system upsets for the fish tank. No extra tank. Only one fish tank.

You don't ever use a water conditioner to remove chlorine?

[goldfish]

I did n't use water conditioner either. I think I am going to do another water changed maybe 10 percent this time.

[Kyla]

Why don't u use dechlorinator / water conditioner? Are you concerned it is bad for the fish? I'm worried that if your city's water plant treats the tap water you may be harming the beneficial bacteria and the fish when using un-dechlorinated/un-conditioned water for all these water changes...

[goldfish]

Hey Kyla

Thank you for all your tips. I think my fish tank has too much bacteria in it. Al was totally right. It was nice to have rock substrate in the tank but not practical or benifical to the discus. Discus are show signs of rotting fins and bilateral cloudy eyes. Maybe some will die but hopefully not all. IMG_4772.jpg

[EJ_B]

Hey Kyla

Thank you for all your tips. I think my fish tank has too much bacteria in it. Al was totally right. It was nice to have rock substrate in the tank but not practical or benifical to the discus. Discus are show signs of rotting fins and bilateral cloudy eyes. Maybe some will die but hopefully not all. IMG_4772.jpg

Not sure what you mean by too much bacteria? I don't know if you mentioned it, but what is your filtration set up, and are you testing for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates? I think Rick is right, your tank is probably going through a mini cycle. You need to siphon off all that mulm and uneaten food and do large frequent water changes until your ammonia and nitrite I are zero. Also as many have said, please get yourself some Seachem Prime , it will remove any chlorine and chloramines in your water and it will detoxify any ammonia and nitrites that may be present in your tank until your bio filter re-establishes.

[Kyla]

I don't know what your experience level with discus is so I apologize if this is really basic:

Good bacteria or beneficial bacteria (BB) - this bacteria is good for your fish tank and ensures the toxic ammonia produced by the fish is broken down into less toxic nitrate through the "nitrogen cycle". Good bacteria colonizes the filter media and can live on hard surfaces in a tank, like on the tank glass, plants, decor, and on the gravel/substrate. We add porous material with large surface area to our filters as a media to encourage the growth of good bacteria in our filters where there is good water flow and a good supply of oxygen for the BB. This is why you never want to remove or boil or bleach your filter's media when you are cleaning it - because that would kill your precious BB which are keeping the fish alive by removing the ammonia they are producing as waste. Without BB your fish could be harmed by their own waste building up as toxins in the water.

BAD bacteria can also be present in a tank. If there is a lot of substrate on the floor of the tank it can collect fish waste and uneaten food which rots, hidden between the cracks of the rocks, and bad bacteria can thrive in these conditions. We siphon our tanks every day to remove waste and uneaten food particles etc and we wipe down the sides of the tank and scrub the decor and rinse our filter media (under fish tank water only, not under tap water) to reduce build up of bad bacteria.

The reason we are all asking you to consider using a dechlorinator / water conditioner during your water changes is because if you pour chlorinated tap water into the tank the chemicals in that untreated tap water can actually kill your good bacteria in the tank, which can lead to toxins building up because the good bacteria are dead and cannot break down the toxic ammonia anymore... so ammonia builds up in the water and hurts the fish. Also, the same chemicals that kill bacteria in our drinking water from the tap can BURN the discus and hurt their sensitive gills if it's added directly to their tank without being conditioned first.

My favourite water conditioner is Prime - because it neutralizes the chemicals in tap water AND helps to detoxify ammonia/nitrite if it is present in the aquarium water. Conditioning tap water is not an option, if you keep fish it is almost always necessary unless you have access to good untreated water from a well without chemicals or toxins... but if you are using city tap water... your city's water treatment plant is likely adding chemicals to your tap water which will hurt your fish and your fish tank's good bacteria, so tap water has to be conditioned with a product like Prime before you can add it to your fish tank safely.

Using Prime during a water change is really simple. For example, if you remove half of the water from your 100 gallon tank, and are refilling the tank directly from the tap with a hose, just before you go to refill your tank with new tap water (which is about the same temperature as your tank water) you pour a some capfuls of Prime directly into the fish tank water - read the directions on the bottle to treat the FULL volume of your tank. So even if you are only adding 50 gallons of NEW tap water back into your fish tank, you are going to add enough Prime to treat the TOTAL 100 gallons of water.