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Thread: Sick discus despite my efforts

  1. #46
    Registered Member LoGeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sick discus despite my efforts

    I think that I have a lot of algae in this tank despite:
    - low/medium light
    - 50% water change a day
    - have cut back on food to once a day
    - bare bottom tank that I vacuum
    - two canister filters abd one sponge filter. All are pretty clean when I rinse them (in tank water).

    How can so much algae grow so rapidly? Connected to my discus health issues?

    Can the driftwood leak something? If so, then what can I test for to determine if that is the case?

    The tank is bare bottom but with three driftwoods with java fern and anubias.








  2. #47
    Registered Member LoGeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sick discus despite my efforts

    So no one has any clue?

    I tried no water changes and no food for a week now. The tank and everything in it is completely covered in algae. How is this possible? What can I test for to see if it's the driftwood?

  3. #48
    Registered Member Jack L's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sick discus despite my efforts

    that isn't algea, that looks like cyano, and IME when that happens the water parameters are less than ideal, or there is too much waste in water
    the only way i've gotten rid of it was chemiclean

    and I noticed when that was happening the fish weren't happy either.

  4. #49
    Homesteader Filip's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sick discus despite my efforts

    Jorgen , that's Blue green algae / Cyanobacteria and a brown algae /diatom .
    Both of them appear only in a newly and uncycled tanks and go on their own once the cycling process is well established . Presence of any of them usually refers that your beneficial bacteria was wiped off somehow (medicines or over cleaning ) , and it needs time untill it can multiply again .
    Meanwhile , add extra Oxygen in you tank , especially on the lower zones where cyano is estabilshed(circulation pump ) .
    Buy and dose botteled filter bacteria to boost the beneficial bacteria multiplication .
    Remove and silhon out manually as much as you can on every WC . Have patience , cyano may need a month before it starts to die off ,reestablishing your cycling process require some time too.


    If you want an instant solution , 4-5 day Black out (blanket covered tank ) with heavy aerisation during the process will kill the cyano too .

    Good luck .

  5. #50
    Registered Member LoGeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sick discus despite my efforts

    But I've had these issues for at least a year...! Daily wc and cleaning keeps it down but they come like crazy without daily wc. My filters have only been rinsed in tank water and not more than one at the time.

  6. #51
    Homesteader Filip's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sick discus despite my efforts

    Quote Originally Posted by LoGeek View Post
    But I've had these issues for at least a year...! Daily wc and cleaning keeps it down but they come like crazy without daily wc. My filters have only been rinsed in tank water and not more than one at the time.
    Try the blackout method then. That would eradicate the cyano for sure .
    Cyano hates oxygen , so try and raise your oxigen levels as much as you can .
    I'm not sure about your bioload but if you are understocked and feed lightly , maybe you can try to cut back your WCs to twice a week and dose bottled bacteria to help the biomedia establish bacterial colonies for a week or two . Meanwhile check for ammonia or nitrite presence prior WCs if you have tests on hand , just to make sure they are both 0.

  7. #52
    Registered Member LoGeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sick discus despite my efforts

    No ammonia or nitrate. I've had cyano in other tanks and I dont think this is the same. It is not slimy and sticks well to the leafs.

  8. #53
    Homesteader Filip's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sick discus despite my efforts

    Quote Originally Posted by LoGeek View Post
    No ammonia or nitrate. I've had cyano in other tanks and I dont think this is the same. It is not slimy and sticks well to the leafs.
    From the photos it looks pretty much like it Jorgen .All algae species may appear different under different coditions and maybe that's why it looks a bit different here than in your other tanks .Cyano should come out easily during manual/finger removal and it's easy to be recognized by it's earthly smell .
    I wonder why you have it in all your tanks though ? The main triggers for cyano are uncycled tank , Low oxigen or high silicates (like from silica sand ) .
    Last edited by Filip; 03-29-2019 at 05:57 AM.

  9. #54
    Registered Member Jack L's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sick discus despite my efforts

    i have it right now in a small tank that i used fresh sand for. IME its very persistance and chemiclean(and there was another one, bluelife or something like than) but it was the answer.

  10. #55
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    Default Re: Sick discus despite my efforts

    I am very pleased to hear that your fish are doing better.

    Also, how long are you leaving your lights on?

    I was diatom free for a long time. Just recently, since I was coming home late from class, I added 3 more hours to my lighting so that I can enjoy my fish while I'm at home. Unfortunately, the Diatom came back. I lowered the light back down to start at 6am, like normal, and shut down at 7pm. It's a 24 hr cycle light, so the 6 am start is a blue light and It does not get amberish until about 9am. I hope this helps you.

    I enjoyed not having to wipe my tank down at all since the glass was always clean prior to adding 3hours. In my case, I don't think the diatom is a tank cycle issue. I clean my filter socks every week so I do not have to mess with my sumps beneficial bacteria.

  11. #56
    Registered Member LoGeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sick discus despite my efforts

    My light is on for about 8.5 hours and only two out of four t5-tubes.

    They have cloudy eyes still and it gets worse if I don't do large wc every day. Both the fish and the algae gets worse. I'm sad that my discus interest is coming to an end this way. Probably taking all driftwood and plants out tomorrow and start trying medication...

  12. #57
    Registered Member LoGeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sick discus despite my efforts

    After a couple of days without wc (and I'm relly feeding at a minimum):


  13. #58
    Registered Member LoGeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sick discus despite my efforts

    So I removed all driftwood about a week ago and left all the plants floating.

    I can definately see a huge difference in that the algae outbreak almost stopped over night.

    Now I'm hoping that the effects on the fish are not irreversible but that they'll return to their healthy vibrant state!

  14. #59
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    Default Re: Sick discus despite my efforts

    Quote Originally Posted by LoGeek View Post
    So I removed all driftwood about a week ago and left all the plants floating.

    I can definately see a huge difference in that the algae outbreak almost stopped over night.

    Now I'm hoping that the effects on the fish are not irreversible but that they'll return to their healthy vibrant state!
    any updates on this? how are they doing?

  15. #60
    Registered Member LoGeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sick discus despite my efforts

    Quote Originally Posted by Mando View Post
    any updates on this? how are they doing?
    I removed all driftwood about 2 months ago. The tank is bare bottom and only have a few plants floating around. I still have algae growth but much less than with the driftwood.

    I think my driftwood was the root of my troubles, that I've had for a very long time. Some of the driftwood was almost hollow inside now, despite them being sold in my lfs.

    I removed one of the sick fish, and two others are still quite ill and never eat much. The rest eat and are active but still have cloudy / dark eyes.

    Thinking about removing the two that are not eating well, which would leave 6 fish.

    I love discus but unfortunately this school has just been sick and problematic most of their life. Not sure I'm cut out to have discus right now.

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