Black discus

[pablos]

I think the fish is getting better. It swims around, instead of sitting in the corner. Moreover it's not black with lighter scare anymore.
Color is muddy grey with visible black bars. I less worry if appetite would return, as still doesn't eat much.

[pablos]

It how he looks today.
IMG_0646.jpg

[peewee1]

Wow, the fish is looking 10 time better. But it's a she, not a he fish.

[pablos]

How do you know it's a female? I read some articles and see few youtube movies, about lips, rounded fins, shape ... but honeslty I see nothing when I look at my fish :-)

[peewee1]

How do you know it's a female? I read some articles and see few youtube movies, about lips, rounded fins, shape ... but honeslty I see nothing when I look at my fish :-)

For some reason, Pablos, over the years my brain has taken all of the clues provided and merged them into an image of what is or is not a female. It's intuitive more than anything and yet I am a higher percent right than wrong. Recently I had 5 Kenny fish. I determined 1 female, 3 male, and 1 unknown. I called Kenny and asked him best guess female to send to me a beautiful lady fish for my boys. I got what appears to me to be a female. Of late the unknown is beginning to look to me to be more male than female. Yes, there are the occasional gay fish. Male/male or female/female that try to spawn but usually if they are making spawning motions then you have one of each sex.

[pablos]

Can I use your well trained AI to recognize sex of those puppies?
IMG_0659.jpg
IMG_0661.jpg

[peewee1]

The bottom photo looks like a younger fish. How old is it? The top one tends toward female for the moment.

[CliffsDiscus]

Your post #17 still shows active contiguous black slime disease so your still not out of the woods maybe wait another week.

Cliff

[pablos]

Your post #17 still shows active contiguous black slime disease so your still not out of the woods maybe wait another week.

Cliff

I'm not planning to end the quarantine anytime soon, even if fish looks healthier. It's in the separated tank 5 days already and condition seems stable: no significant changes to the latest photo. It's even eating a little bit, which should be good sigh.

IMG_0686.jpg

Unfortunately I found the one which @peewee1 identified as "tends toward female" on the bottom of the tank this morning. I was really surprised, as everything was fine last few days: properly eating, not hiding, swimming around .. maybe a little aggressive to the smaller one, but really it was fine ... till today.

IMG_0680.jpg

I checked water condition and nothing suspicious

- temp 30 C
- ph 7.4
- ammonia 0
- nitrite 0 mg/l
- nitrate 15 mg/l

I do 35% WC every second day, since in the quarantine tank where black is sitting I'm doing 60% daily (it has also lower pH - 6.5)

[pablos]

some colors today :-)
IMG_0700.jpg

[peewee1]

She is looking much better today. Has the coat restored? Is it a Cobalt or Blue Diamond?

[pablos]

I think it’s Cobalt, as you can easily spot the bar

[peewee1]

I think it’s Cobalt, as you can easily spot the bar

True. I have seen a few BD but wondered if those photos was mislabeled. I too wondered if the stress in a sick BD would create the bar.

[CliffsDiscus]

True. I have seen a few BD but wondered if those photos was mislabeled. I too wondered if the stress in a sick BD would create the bar.

There are many Blue Diamonds crossed sold as Blue Diamonds.

Cliff

[peewee1]

There are many Blue Diamonds crossed sold as Blue Diamonds.

Cliff

Thanks for the explanation, Cliff.