Eric's Grow Out Challenge Thread

[danotaylor]

Lookin great...some beauties in the mix there...the lil bloke is pretty feisty lol...what are your thoughts/observations about the size difference in your group?
Thanks for the update mate!!

[modealings]

Lookin great...some beauties in the mix there...the lil bloke is pretty feisty lol...what are your thoughts/observations about the size difference in your group?
Thanks for the update mate!!

Thanks Daniel. Certainly the runt is the outlier of the group. As far as the others, there are 1-2 on the smaller end with the remaining 6 or so fairly close in size (within an inch or so). I think the core group actually got closer in size when I was able to do multiple water changes a day for a few weeks. Things have picked back up at work not so down to 1-2 water changes as able. Ive heard that marginal water quality can effect males/female differently but at least in my previous grow out groups I cant say ive found this to be true. Itll be interesting to see how it turns out here.

[danotaylor]

Thanks Daniel. Certainly the runt is the outlier of the group. As far as the others, there are 1-2 on the smaller end with the remaining 6 or so fairly close in size (within an inch or so). I think the core group actually got closer in size when I was able to do multiple water changes a day for a few weeks. Things have picked back up at work not so down to 1-2 water changes as able. Ive heard that marginal water quality can effect males/female differently but at least in my previous grow out groups I cant say ive found this to be true. Itll be interesting to see how it turns out here.

Gotcha mate. A good hypothesis. Looking forward to seeing the outcomes with yours!

[modealings]

11 weeks in - if my calculations are correct, next week should be the first check in!

Things have been uneventful this week. I still dont like the automatic feeder that much and am thinking about going back to twice a day BH feedings when I'm home. Otherwise I think the water just becomes too dirty by the end of the day with only one big water change in the evenings.

Im hoping I have a few at the 3in or larger mark by next week.

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[Second Hand Pat]

They are looking great Eric! Loving the pattern on the first turk. That three months went by fast!
Pat

[modealings]

They are looking great Eric! Loving the pattern on the first turk. That three months went by fast!
Pat

Thanks Pat - It definitely did! Looking forward to the remaining 5 months.

[modealings]

I think the full tank shots provide some perspective to see their growth. They are still in the 29 gallon. Ill probably change over to a 45gal tall in the next few weeks.


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There are 1-2 snakeskins that are standing out from the pack now too.

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Another observation - I bought a PVC hose adapter to go on my pump in the aging barrel from the hardware store the other week. It's dark gray PVC. Since then Ive noticed a light film in the aging barrel. At first I thought this was bacteria build up from adding the prime to the barrel before WC's, but I've bleached the barrel and it is back the next day. The fish dont seem affected so I'm not in a rush to swap it out but I may look for another adapter soon. Finally I think the fish are large enough that I now just add the prime to the tank, instead of the barrel, without any noticeable effects.

[PorcelainChina59]

Beautiful...just beautiful makings...can't wait for more color.

[danotaylor]

The SS in center shot is a stunner mate...really nice!

[modealings]

Well I believe the 3 month mark for me is today. And it brings good and bad news.

Good news:
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I feel like the largest fish have made good progress up to day. There were very few bumps in the road for this first 3 months for me.

Bad news:
This evening I came home to 2 dead fish, and a 3rd looking quite ill. I do not understand yet what has happened as nothing has changed about my routine recently that I can pinpoint. This morning all fish were fine and eating well. Then this evening I just found the 2 dead. (I had also culled the runt 2 days ago because it was just progressively becoming more isolated and had begun to not eat).

Theories:
1) The runt was carrying an illness that spread to the other fish. I find this unlikely as all fish were seemingly quite healthy this AM and the dead not 8 hours later? I doubt it would happen that fast.

2) I bought a new PVC pipe adapter about 2 weeks. I have noticed a slight film in my barrel that persists despite cleaning it. Maybe it was a mild toxin that finally reached a critical level? Again I still dont understand this as Id expect some symptoms over a few days.

3) I did start feeding a new bag of my beefheart mix. Its the same batch that I was using for the past 2.5 months but now just from a new bag. Something in this bag?

4) Change in my water source. Every night I do 100% water changes. I did one last night and everything seemed fine this AM. Could something in the water just have taken that long to take affect?

5) Something was on my hand when I fed them this AM. Im usually pretty careful but maybe some soap somehow got into the tank.

Anyways those are my running theories. I have 6 fish left (10 minue 1 DOA, 1 culled runt, 2 dead at exactly 3 months). Another one is circling the drain now. I did a 100% WC when I got home and then another 50% just now but I dont have high hopes. It is quite dark as pictured below. Bummer for this to happen at the first check in but such is the plight of discus keeping I suppose.

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[Tshethar]

Eric, I'm really sorry--I wonder about something with the water supply. Do you have any carbon or something similar you can run? If the water source is the issue then the water changes alone might not bring them back until something changes again with the supply. I think I averted disaster earlier in the fall by doing this (polyfilter in one case, carbon in another) when all of a sudden I had problems after regular water changes.

Hope the ones you have left hang in there--they've been looking great. Pulling for you over here...

[Second Hand Pat]

Eric, would suggest double dosing prime and adding salt. Maybe extra chlorine etc was added to the water supply. Be sure to check your water parameters. So sorry this happened.
Pat

[modealings]

Thanks Bill and Pat. I probably should have added some salt last night. Will throw in a couple tablespoons this AM. Also the carbon wouldnt be a bad idea - but Ive lived here and had discus in this water for 2 years now with no issues so it's very odd.

Unfortunately the 3rd one died overnight as well. The decline was incredibly fast for these three - less than 24 hours. I think it has to be something with the water although I'd still expect the others to show some signs of stress as well.

Another important thing to mention is that this is my only tank right now. I gave away my other fish 6-8 weeks ago. It could still be a lingering disease (or from the already seeded biofilter i used) - but to not effected dime sized fish at all and then hit within 24 hours at 3 months on the nose seems quite odd.

[Tshethar]

It is weird. Maybe someone else will have a better idea. I had three go down within about 12 hours after a water change back when they were about dime- or nickel-sized for reasons I never identified. I blamed it on something like extra chlorine/chloramines from the town water supply, but that was just a guess. (The next day my older fish in another tank looked terrible right after a water change, so I knew something was up with the water. After that I started dosing extra Safe as a matter of course even after aging and pre-filtering through a carbon block.)

Whatever it was, it seems like something toxic, rather than a disease organism that was wearing them down. The fact that your runt wasn't eating much could have meant he was harboring something, but we know that this would usually lead to things like fasting/white poop/slow decline rather than sudden death. Also, anything PVC ought to be non-toxic, though since that is new I can see why you'd be suspicious. I don't know whether the adhesive residue they use for the barcode stickers on those things could cause problems; seems like a reach, but it's all I can think of there.

Hope everything stabilizes for you today... and again, sorry for the losses.

[modealings]

Thanks Bill.

Well good news is things seem to have stabilized. No other fish seem affected and the remaining 5 are eating vigorously. The bad news is that I changed nothing so I have no answers as to what took out 3 of my larger fish in 24 hours. Im using the same pump with PVC, feeding the same food, and doing the same WC's.

I cant imagine it was an illness that could kill a 1/3rd of the fish in 24 hours and leave the rest untouched and back to normal a day or two later. It had to be something in the water. I called up our water company and they werent aware of any new chemicals being released. Ive never had discus (or fish for that matter) die that quickly.

Overall a bummer but there's still 5 left. Unfortunately the 3 that died were the nicer snakeskins. I only have one remaining SS now with 4 turqs. The above measured turq made it though and he/she seemed to be the largest.