New to discus

[Mikecup]

Hello everyone I just joined this forum and this is my first post.

I have a 125gal heavily planted with co2 injected. I just purchased 14 small 2-3 inch discus, 2 died and one is on its side but still breathing.
I purchased the fish from a company called David’s aquariums USA Corp. they are in Texas I’m in Ohio. They came shipped in a small box, they were lined up like index cards in thick type sandwich bags with about a 1/4 cup of water in each bag, I thought it was odd packaging.

I did not quarantine the fish, I just don’t have another tank. My question is what should I do with the struggling fish, I’m worried he may have a disease and infect the other fish, or should I just wait and maybe he is just stressed and will come around. The other fish in the tank look healthy, I have 11 discus, 15 cardinals and 8 German blue rams. The discus have been in the tank for 2 days, the other fish 30 days.

[melita]

What are you water premiers ,?.

[Paul Sabucchi]

Hi and welcome to Simply Discus, hope you had a nice Christmas - disappointment with the new discus aside. If you have browsed this forum you will have gathared that discus are less forgiving than most other ornamental freshwater fish when they are not bred, raised, shipped and kept the way they require. Maybe other forum members have some information about the seller and the quality of his fish but the way they were shipped does not bode well about his standards. Photos and videos and further information about your fish and tank would help to evaluate the situation, please open a new thread of your own in the Emergency Room section where you can copy, paste and fill in the questionnaire http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...lease-complete
This helps to get as much information all in one place without it being fragmented in several posts.
If you have not done so already you could read the stickies in the Beginner section and watch Al's video. Glad you have joined the discus-keeping fraternity and this forum, wishing you a Happy New Year

[Mikecup]

What are you water premiers ,?.

0 ammonia 0 nitrite just a trace of nitrates ph 7.5 temp 83

[Mikecup]

Thanks Paul, My Christmas was great thanks! Hope yours was good also.
Well good news the discus that was on his side is up and swimming, I fed all the fish but I did not see him eat, I hope he will recover, he’s a beautiful yellow. I’m trying to post a pic of my tank, but it keeps saying download failed. Maybe I’m doing something wrong.

[14Discus]

A couple of thoughts.....
Maybe your pics are too large and my need cropping.
I’d be running my temps at 86 or 87 instead of 83.
Imo, the supplier did not ship the fish correctly. I have, admittedly, never shipped fish, but what I’ve received we’re done with much better packaging. Did the box have heat packs? 1/4 cup of water is way too small, especially if not supplied w pure oxygen, which I doubt was the case with ziplock/sandwich bags.

[danotaylor]

G'day Mike and welcome. Pics have to be <2MB to load to the site.
I live in Cincy. Whereabouts in Ohio are you?

[Mikecup]

G'day Mike and welcome. Pics have to be <2MB to load to the site.
I live in Cincy. Whereabouts in Ohio are you?

I’m up north in a city called peninsula, just north of Akron. I just took the pic with my iPad, not sure how many mb it would be, maybe to large.

[Mikecup]

14 discus,
I’ll raise the temp some, I’m just worried my plants may not like it.
That supplier David’s aquarium just want to save money on the shipping, they charged me $95 shipping, the shipping box I received had $53 on it, so I got taken on that for sure.

[Mikecup]

02AB58FB-40E7-4B7B-94DE-AF2FCC3FCC15.jpg
Hopefully that looks ok.

[Altum Nut]

Welcome Mike.
First of all I have to say WOW you sure have a talent with planted tanks.
With this show setup I would have opted to get adult Discus. Your Temps were fine at 83 and know your plants may not tolerate higher heat. Discus of this size require more attention with many feedings and water-changes to maintain water quality. A quarantine period of a minimal 4+ weeks should have been a priority to avoid any cross contamination to your other species.
At this point we are aware you have no other tank so all you can do is observe if they eat and color of feces they extract.
As suggested by Paul in post #3...the questionnaire is important http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...lease-complete

...Ralph

[14Discus]

14 discus,
I’ll raise the temp some, I’m just worried my plants may not like it.
That supplier David’s aquarium just want to save money on the shipping, they charged me $95 shipping, the shipping box I received had $53 on it, so I got taken on that for sure.

Mikecup,

Higher temps will help the fish. Certain plants can tolerate higher temps too like Anubis, Hygrophyllia, Java Fern, and Amazon Sword. I, too, tried to consider plants, but soon realized that my fish had to trump the plants. Too bad abt the shipping conditions.
You didn’t ask me, but when next you buy fish, go with Kenny Cheung. He is my go to man for fish......super quality fish, great packing, and totally awesome service.

[Mikecup]

Ralph,
Yes I know these are small discus, I will be monitoring them closely, I did notice yesterday one of the discus, the struggling one has no tail fin, or I should say a very short one, why I don’t know, I don’t think the other fish are nipping at him, the ones I have in there are peaceful. I hope it grows back quickly.
I’m going to buy a 29 gallon tank today for a quarantine tank, I’m getting more community fish on Friday. I will quarantine those, I ordered some medication also.

[bluelagoon]

Bottom line:::Tank looks really nice,but small discus will not do very well in a complex set up as this one.Dairy cleaning of the substrate looks to be impossible.

[Second Hand Pat]

Guys, as a side note generally fish are shipped in bags which should be sized for the fish and you generally have the bag 1/3 (max) filled with water and the rest filled with oxygen. The challengers may remember how little water the fry were shipped in. Now sandwich bags are not appropriate for shipping.
Pat