Help please

[JosephDones]

Hello Simply Discus.
I just recently bought six discus five days ago for my 60 Gal. I did however notice that one of them would be slightly tilted when it would be still. All the discus started swimming around the tank normally I presume, Yesterday 2-16-18 I did my first 20% water change on that tank, I let some water sit in 5 gal water barrels and put my aquasafe water conditioner for 20 minutes. Mind that I do have two tanks and the other is doing very well, no sick fish. Today I wake to find very pale discus and now they all swim at a tilt, they haven't ate since I bought them (I put in sinking pellets and regular flakes). Not sure whats going on with my tank, this is my first discus tank and i'm stressing out to say the least.

UPDATE 3:12pm (California Time) A Discus has passed away

[alron2]

If I were you I would take the following steps:

1. Take to the people who sold them and see if they can help, what were they feeding them, what temp, etc?

2. Fill out the following questionaire and post it here.

3. Do 70% water change daily until we fix the problem then at least 33% daily forever.

DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE


Problem

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


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).


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



Tank/Water

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


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


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


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


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 _____

- ph _____

- ammonia reading ____

- nitrite reading ____

- nitrate reading ____

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 ____

- RO water ____


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


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.



11. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.

[JosephDones]

DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE


Problem

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
One Discus was floating on its side when I first bought it.
Day 5 early AM: All discus swimming slightly tilted

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).
They haven’t Ate, Headstanding, I don’t see white dots but then again I’m not sure what it looks like.


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
I was told to use Ich Treatment, 6 caps full, unsure how much that results to.
I was also told to put half a bottle of API Quick Start 118 ML


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
60 gal, Unsure of age but is used. 6 medium to small sized discus

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
20% once so far, but was going to put it on a 20% weekly

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
The tank ran for 2 days prior to putting fish in, barbottom

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
I do not age the water

8. Parameters and water source;
I get my water from my tap (Well ran) and put it in a 5 gal water barrel and add aquasafe and let it set for 20 mins
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 82

- ph 7

- ammonia reading: Low

- nitrite reading: Low

- nitrate reading:

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 ____

- RO water ____


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
Nothing in the tank except the discus


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.
I feed them 2:
Hikari Sinking Cichlid Gold
Tetra Tetramin
They haven’t ate any


11. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.
IMG_1517.jpg
IMG_1515.jpg
IMG_1519.jpg

Water is blue from the Ich Treatment

UPDATE (9PM): Two other fishes are starting to dart as well as floating on their sides and headstanding

[bluelagoon]

The tilt could be from reflections off the bottom of the tank,which is normal.First you need to change lots of water on discus;20% is a waste of your time and not anywhere near enough,especially on a cycling tank,where there is ammonia and nitrites present and will eventually cause your discus to become ill.The not eating could be from ammonia or nitrites in the water.If you can't do every day or every other day LARGE WC's,you might what to look at keeping some other species of fish.IMO 20% weekly is not enough WC for any fish tank.

[JosephDones]

UPDATE: I went to the fish store where I bought my discus and the lady there told me that they may be having problems due to me not letting the tank sit for longer thans 6 months, can this be a answer? Also can ich be an answer. I put one of the more severe cases into a little bowl floating in the tank and put very little salt and saw improvement.

UPDATE: The other four discus seem to be fine now now more tilting or darting but still one severe case. I really would like more insight i'm very confused and would to better understand whats going on with my tank.

[bluelagoon]

What did you cycle the tank with?It doesn't matter how long water is setting in a tank;what matters is when you started a cycle.What type of water are you using.Are you using dechlor?If so what kind?

[JosephDones]

So I went out to petco and bought a water tester it seems that my water is at 120 hardiness could this be the reason my fish are dying the remaining fish do not have white dots so ich cant be it.

[Leandrahwarren]

Hi Joseph
what are these actual readings? Your ammonia should be on 0 if your tank is cycled properly

- ammonia reading: Low

- nitrite reading: Low

- nitrate reading:

[jmf3460]

i don't see where you cycled the tank at all....did you have a cycled tank?

[JosephDones]

As far as cycling goes, the filter only ran for two days prior to getting the fish.

UPDATE: Only Three out of the six discus remain. Two pillow softners were added to the filters the fishes have gotten back their color, still not eating (7days). Two of the discus are swimming in a vertical motion which I assume is normal since they did that when I first got them one of the two has very obvious stress bars not sure how to help with this, is recovery time just needed. One discus is floating to the top (not gasping for air) and at times slightly tilts but for the most part its color has returned as well. These are my first discus group so any information is appreciated and helpful

Ph: 6.5
Gh:30 (was 120)
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate:0
Kh:40

[jmf3460]

Joseph, have you ever kept fish before? Do you know about the nitrogen cycle? your fish are swimming in an uncycled tank, and dying to ammonia poisoning I would pretty confidently say. Any tank has to be cycled before adding fish!! not just a discus tank. The only thing you can do now is switch to 100% water changes daily until the tank cycles. do you have any beneficial bacteria you can get from another tank? another option would be to buy a small 20gal tank to house these discus until the bigger tank cycles, it will be easier to do 100% water changes in a 20gal than in the big tank.

[JosephDones]

They are in a new tank with other fishes, driftwood, gravel. Although this tank has only been around for maybe a week and some. Honestly dont know about the nitrogen cycle.

[jmf3460]

They are in a new tank with other fishes, driftwood, gravel. Although this tank has only been around for maybe a week and some. Honestly dont know about the nitrogen cycle.

this is the problem. I would do some reading and researching before starting another tank. If you want to save these discus I would begin with a 100% water change with aged water, immediately.

[JosephDones]

How long does it take for a cycle? And what are the steps so I wont make this mistake again.

[Leandrahwarren]

Hi Joseph
Get Seachem Stability and add this to your tank daily as per the instructions.
I would really suggest that you research the basics of fish keeping prior to getting any further fish. The Nitrogen Cycle is the first thing that you learn when starting your hobby with fish. You also need to make sure that you use anti-chlorine to your tap water before you add the new water to the tank.

I hope for your sake that your fish make it.