Discus turning dark after water change

[Discus Rookie 2017]

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

My blue turquoise discus turned from a light blue to a dark blue after a 20% water change.

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).

- turned dark
- clamped fins

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

-no action has been taken yet

Tank/Water

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

- 90 gallon
- 9 discus (Ranging from 9-10 cm and 5-6 cm, the one with the problem is 10cm)

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

- 20% every 2-3 days


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

- been running for 7 weeks, bare bottom with potted plants

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

I dont age the water


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: 88

- ph: 6.6

- ammonia reading: 0.25

- nitrite reading: 0.25

- nitrate reading: 0

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.

- RO/tap water mix (80% RO, 20% tap)


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

- all discus are new, been in the tank for 9 days now

10. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.

- feed them everyday, 3-4 times a day (mix of beefheart, Hikari biogold and bloodworms) Attachment 113611IMG_2323.jpg

[Discus Rookie 2017]

I cant seem to upload the other image of its darkened colour

[Second Hand Pat]

I cant seem to upload the other image of its darkened colour

Reduce the size of your image to 2MB or less. Cropping is a way of doing that.

On the fish your parameters indicate that your tank is either not cycled or going thru a mini-cycle. Are you using a de-clhorinator? You could add salt to help the fish deal with the nitrite. I would suggest aging your water and increasing your water change amount to 50%.

Pat

[Discus Rookie 2017]

IMG_4342.jpg
Hi Pat,
I am using a de-chlorinator. The fish seems fine but just suddenly have a darker colour, it happened within 2-3 hours.

[Second Hand Pat]

Can you age your water? Could easily make a difference.
Pat

[Discus Rookie 2017]

Yes I can do that. Do I just leave the water for 24 hours?

[Second Hand Pat]

Yes I can do that. Do I just leave the water for 24 hours?

Yes and add an airstone.
Pat

[Chicago Discus]

Yes and add an airstone.
Pat

And a heater
Miranda

[Discus Rookie 2017]

OK, thanks a lot!

[jmf3460]

Hi OP, I came here to say that right off the bat it seems you need to start aging your water, but I see the others have already pointed that out. Second thing I will add is that for a long term change, you need to do more water changes, or larger quantity water changes when you do.

[Discus Rookie 2017]

What do you think of 20% water change everyday?

[jmf3460]

can you up it to a 33% water change every day?

[Discus Rookie 2017]

Yes I can do that. Ro water is at a pH of 6.6 and tap water is at 7.6. When I mix them (80% RO & 20% tapwater), I get a pH of 7.2. After I age the water, I get 7.4. But some how my tank is at a pH of 6.6. How does this work? Can I add the aged water when the pH difference is so large?

[bluelagoon]

If you change even larger amounts of water every day the PH will become more stable.20% is too small for all the food that needs to go in the tank and smaller WC's will make the water acidic in your tank between WC's.At a PH of around 7 give or take;it wouldn't take long for the bicarbonates (KH) to become depleted causing PH to lower.

[jmf3460]

do you have co2 in your tank, like for plants or something?