New Discus and feeding

[White Worm]

A seeded filter from an established tank can expose your new stock to bacteria/bugs from previous fish. If you are going to use filter material from a previous tank, you might as well skip the QT process. By the way, get them out of the bags and into the tank. Once you open those bags, ammonia/ph builds and could cause issues. They are better off going right in to clean water after a brief temp equalize/float. The QT is for both your existing stock and new stock. In a perfect world, all stock would be purchased at one time from the same source and put into their permanent home initially. Less chance for future illness problems. People fail when they get numerous new fish from different sources and introduce them to each other. Then you add dither fish later and then some bottom dwellers, etc. It's real bad when someone happens to purchase unhealthy stock from someone with a lesser reputation and then catastrophe. We have seen people on here lose their entire fish rooms and businesses from it. It's good to plan before you do something like discus but that is in a perfect world. There are too many discus around to not get new ones after you get the first ones.

[CoasterCyrus]

I’m not going to use seeded filters. I’m definitely going to do separate quarantines with 75% daily WCs. I know to let them temperature acclimate in closed bags first and what happens once they are opened. I’ve always done srip acclimation even with my salt water tanks. I will use your suggestion though to add them immediately to their QT tanks. Again, thank you for all the help!

[Bizarro252]

I will use your suggestion though to add them immediately to their QT tanks. Again, thank you for all the help!

This was a concept that for some reason took me a while to learn and accept - but for the most part, temp acclimation and then 'drop and plop' into the tank is the best option. The only time it is NOT a good method is when the PH of the tank is lower than that of the bag water, which is rare but could happen if you use a lot, or pure RODI with little buffers.

The reasoning is that the bag's water will drop in PH as the fish exhales carbon dioxide into the water, producing carbonic acid, lowering the PH. This is actually great news for us as Ammonia is much less toxic as PH drops. BUT once you pop the bag and CO2 is driven off/replaced with O2 the PH rapidly rises, increasing the toxicity of the ammonia already in the water. This is only made worse by drip acclimating or adding tank water to the bag as it will cause this PH rise to happen even faster.

Drop and plop unless you bought them locally and they have been in water for a short time, not allowing PH drop to occur.

Good luck! Want to see some pics!

[CoasterCyrus]

Here are a couple pictures of them in their QT tank.





They all look great! I've been netting out poop every couple hours trying to keep things clean. will be doing water changes every day as well. I have little monitors that I bought that will tell me when there is ammonia present.

[CoasterCyrus]

Here is the main display tank. sorry for the double post.



We built the stand it is on. Used to be a saltwater tank but has been running as a freshwater tank for several months now. The reason you can see the (messy) dining room is because it is a peninsula tank and is a room divider between the living room and dining room.




We have a few more bits to add to the tank. Been procrastinating on it lol. I think it looks great so far though. The base being done was the most important part.

[CANAMONSTER]

Wow they look nice and can't believe those two didn't scare you off lol.

Couple questions.
If the Discus are coming from good sources why the extreme need to quarintine? I understand if he had 6 beautiful large discus and was adding new ones but what would be wrong with adding them all together and dosing a deworming med?

No filter on new discus????????
Wow to me that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Stressed fish then what happens if you get a slight spike of ammonia.

These are questions and please answer them for me because this new ordering discus seems a bit extreme.

[CoasterCyrus]

Here are the photos I’m trying to upload. I seem to be having issues uploading them to the site directly.

But these are just a couple of the main display tank and the other two Discus.


Obviously the tank isn’t quite done yet. The stand is completed just about other than adding doors to the other side. The top will also have the really nice frame work to match the bottom.







I finally got them I think. I have had some similar questions that Canamonster has had, but I’m trusting in the advice I’ve been given. This isn’t my first time keeping difficult fish. I’ve successfully kept reed tanks before and I’ve kept Discus as well once before. This whole thread got started because I just wanted some reassurance of what I thought was going on. But now I’ve got a wealth of additional information.

Canamonster: lol. They didn’t scare me off cause I took what they told me and used it strictly as advice and help. I guess I figured they wouldn’t be taking their time to reply to my thread if they didn’t care to help me out.
I also really appreciate your comments. I was excited to see how beautiful these new arrivals really were. Everyone is still doing great and will get their water changes after their first feedings.

[Ryan925]

Wow they look nice and can't believe those two didn't scare you off lol.

Couple questions.
If the Discus are coming from good sources why the extreme need to quarintine? I understand if he had 6 beautiful large discus and was adding new ones but what would be wrong with adding them all together and dosing a deworming med?

No filter on new discus????????
Wow to me that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Stressed fish then what happens if you get a slight spike of ammonia.

These are questions and please answer them for me because this new ordering discus seems a bit extreme.

It's not just about worms. It can also be about exposing one group to bacteria they have never been exposed to. There have been many post of two beautiful, healthy groups of discus being mixed and disaster occurs. For what we pay for these fish it's better safe than sorry. Qt sucks which is why it's recommending to get all your fish at once from one source.

OP the tank looks great.

[CoasterCyrus]

Thank you very much! We’ve worked very hard on it!

[CoasterCyrus]

Finishing up the doors on the stand today. I feel like I should start a thread in the tank journal instead of here lol.

[Ryan925]

Finishing up the doors on the stand today. I feel like I should start a thread in the tank journal instead of here lol.

You should for sure. You will be happy you did in six months. I had to to back and do mine retro