Entire discus tank under stress!

[STLKen]

Help with stressed discus! I have been using a drip system mix of tap water and RO water because the nitrates out of the tap are so high, and water is very hard (300 tds). Today I have a tank with five discus breathing hard, the edges of their tails are white, and they are floating at the top. I think I see white slime coat floating in the water. This happened before with the addition of RO water and I lost 5 breeders overnight.

This morning my ph is 7, nitrites are a little high, water temp 82, TDS at 200. Fish in all the other tanks get the same water (including fry) are fine.

I have turned off the RO and did a 30% water change. Drip system is just tap. Would a higher temperature and salt help? I'm afraid I'm about to lose $250 worth of gorgeous snow leopards (juvies, about 3"+ in size).

RO/tap mix is 30% RO and 70% tap; has brought the nitrates down to 20ppm, TDS down to around 200. Ph has not crashed. This amount of change, over several days, should not be causing such a severe reaction. It seems to be osmotic stress, but the parameters don't seem to be severe enough for that. Ph has not changed at all, nitrates did drop, TDS went lower but still high. No idea what is causing this, but the RO system is about to be gone.

[Mando]

Help with stressed discus! I have been using a drip system mix of tap water and RO water because the nitrates out of the tap are so high, and water is very hard (300 tds). Today I have a tank with five discus breathing hard, the edges of their tails are white, and they are floating at the top. I think I see white slime coat floating in the water. This happened before with the addition of RO water and I lost 5 breeders overnight.

This morning my ph is 7, nitrites are a little high, water temp 82, TDS at 200. Fish in all the other tanks get the same water (including fry) are fine.

I have turned off the RO and did a 30% water change. Drip system is just tap. Would a higher temperature and salt help? I'm afraid I'm about to lose $250 worth of gorgeous snow leopards (juvies, about 3"+ in size).

RO/tap mix is 30% RO and 70% tap; has brought the nitrates down to 20ppm, TDS down to around 200. Ph has not crashed. This amount of change, over several days, should not be causing such a severe reaction. It seems to be osmotic stress, but the parameters don't seem to be severe enough for that. Ph has not changed at all, nitrates did drop, TDS went lower but still high. No idea what is causing this, but the RO system is about to be gone.

You mentioned above that the tank had high nitrites this morning. Could you have lost your cycle? Salt will definitely help with the fin repair and the heavy breathing. Are they "floating" or hanging out at the top? How are you de-chlorinating your tap drip system?

[Megalodon]

Chlorine/chloramine?

[jeep]

Where are you located? Water companies in the USA have federal standards they must adhere to. What are your nitrates? Nitrites indicate a filtration cycle issue.

300 tds is not hard at all.