Sick tank or not?

[Greg-Florida]

Hello,

I took over my son's 60g Discus tank 5 months ago. Everything has been fine... until it wasn't.
I know this issue is ambiguous, but I don't want the tank declining before my eyes without doing anything about it. I've already delayed posting this 2 weeks to see how the tank would go and I'm not comfortable with the way things are. I cared for his tank over the summer for 3 months as well, and all the fish were strong and happy.

I found prazi in the cabinet in November, looked into it and decided to treat the whole tank as a health preventative. One dose. This was before I found simply discus.
A month later I thought I had ick and did 12 days of 88-89 degrees and salt. Found out later it wasn't ick.
I'm doing more frequent water changes now and things have been stable, but I can't tell if things are going well because there have been some slow changes, not for the better.

One of 5 discus wasn't eating in Feb. and I treated the whole tank with Levamisole, qt'd him to observe and fed live brine shrimp to entice him to eat and he didn't make it. I didn't catch that he was thinning until too late.
Immediately after the levamisole, I had a danio with cotton mouth so treated the main tank with 1 TBSP salt/gallon for about 10 days.
Then did Levamisole dose number 2. Finished that 2 weeks ago, nothing in the tank now.

Since his passing a month ago, the other fish have begun picking at each other and the smallest has been skittish, hiding most of the time. (This is new, they were all happy eaters and not skittish.) I don't see him being picked on because he's not out much. He eats but not happily or aggressively. I see him eat very little. So the discus nip at each other or push each other, and they smack their lips to each other.
All the fishes appetites have not returned to normal, all are still suppressed since the Levam. The other thing about this smallest discus is, he's often been hanging out at 45 degrees for the last 2-3 weeks.

That's a lot of details but I'm wondering is something is going on in the whole tank. One thing I do that may not be good is I feed them a variety of about 8-9 foods. Maybe this has just made them too picky? Nobody is skinny right now. I figured more variety is good.

I'm of the "less is more" camp and avoid drugs, but I wonder if a PP treatment might not be a bad idea to assist in ruling out some other things that may be present.
Or would the salt, prazi and levamisole have already covered that?

Thanks for the guidance. Greg

[Iminit]

Ok this does happen in established tanks. Especially with smaller stunted fish. So many thing discus just have in them already. Most of the time the immunity system keeps these things at bay. But stress does bring them out. Sometimes meds work sometimes moving the fish works and sometimes nothing works. I’ve found this is the nature of these fish.
Danios are cold water fish and just shouldn’t be with discus. Discus should be at 82-86.the higher side to get them eating. What other fish do you have in the tank? How many discus now? How often and how much water are you changing.

[Greg-Florida]

Danios are cold water fish and just shouldn’t be with discus. Discus should be at 82-86.the higher side to get them eating. What other fish do you have in the tank? How many discus now? How often and how much water are you changing.

You know, had I entered this hobby slowly with a lot of research and built on my knowledge over time that would be one thing, but I was immersed by taking over an established tank so I’m way behind the curve on the knowledge.
I appreciate the input.
So the three Danio’s were in there and I keep the tank at 84 to 85°.
Other than four discus and three giant Danios, there is one BN pleco, and five Cory cats. We haven’t lost any fish in three years except for the one discus I mentioned.

I’m changing 33% to 50% twice a week minimum.

[Greg-Florida]

Any other input Tom? Any discus keepers have thoughts ? I know there’s a lot of knowledge out there!

[LizStreithorst]

Greg, I suggest that you turn down the heat to between 82 and 83. It will be fine for the Discus, BN. Plus it will be less stressful for the Danios

[Greg-Florida]

Greg, I suggest that you turn down the heat to between 82 and 83. It will be fine for the Discus, BN. Plus it will be less stressful for the Danios

Thank you Liz, I can do that.

[Greg-Florida]

What other fish do you have in the tank? How many discus now? How often and how much water are you changing.

Thanks Tom.
I keep the tank now at 83°.
Other than four discus and three giant Danios, there is one BN pleco, and five Cory catfish. We haven’t lost any fish in three years except for the one discus I mentioned.
I’m changing 33% to 50% twice a week minimum.
Tank parameters all in check, pH 7.8, always has been.

[brewmaster15]

So the discus nip at each other or push each other, and they smack their lips to each other.

Greg, i have this conversation with alot of people... They often expect discus to be these gentle giants in a tank and when they arent its hard to accept the change. Discus are cichlids and cichlids are aggressive fish. People see the stately looking fish in the books and they see the tanks full of discus behaving in one fashion.. but they show there true colors when in smaller groups.. They fight ..jostle for dominance and pick on the weak ones. Its their natural behavior. Triggers for this are numbers in the tank,changes to the tank environment like barriers that create territory, breeding behavior, increasing water changes, and even deworming the fish(improves the health and allows the fish more nutrition from their food. )

Levamisole is a peculiar drug.. it canknock back their appetite for a few weeks .

I think your tank is probably doing ok Greg, just different than you were used to. I also suspect you have some pairing up starting by the behavior you described..This can really change how discus behave in a tank.I would not be surprised if you have a pair laying eggs soon.

Hth,
Al

[Greg-Florida]

Greg, i have this conversation with alot of people... They often expect discus to be these gentle giants in a tank and when they arent its hard to accept the change. Discus are cichlids and cichlids are aggressive fish. People see the stately looking fish in the books and they see the tanks full of discus behaving in one fashion.. but they show there true colors when in smaller groups.. They fight ..jostle for dominance and pick on the weak ones. Its their natural behavior. Triggers for this are numbers in the tank,changes to the tank environment like barriers that create territory, breeding behavior, increasing water changes, and even deworming the fish(improves the health and allows the fish more nutrition from their food. )

Levamisole is a peculiar drug.. it canknock back their appetite for a few weeks .

I think your tank is probably doing ok Greg, just different than you were used to. I also suspect you have some pairing up starting by the behavior you described..This can really change how discus behave in a tank.I would not be surprised if you have a pair laying eggs soon.
Hth,
Al

Between this reply Al, and Tom's first reply above, they explain a lot. I know the issue as I presented it is quite ambiguous and maybe there's no issue. Thank you for that gentlemen.

So... maybe we should bring in another Discus or 2? I'm at 4 now. Six may be a tad crowded and I might have to remove a plant.

And I've got my 3rd Levamisole treatment coming up...

[Iminit]

More discus may solve your problem. But you’ve got to qt them before adding to your main tank. Qt them for at least 2 months. Next if you can buy your next discus from one of the sponsors from this site. I’ve bought from Pingco and his fish are very nice and healthy.91352FEF-38EE-4762-968E-764C6A0569C0.jpg. Also Dennis discus F4F2C3EB-1C1D-4F32-AC84-21A8F2FE24F0.jpg2A6B7835-92B6-4025-B47D-F118ACBEC1CB.jpg. Starting with healthy fish is always a plus. Buy 4-5” discus.

[Greg-Florida]

Would one discus in a qt for two months be OK totally alone? I weigh something like that against maybe getting 2 new discus and having the 60 gallon a bit crowded.

[fljones3]

I had one discus in a hospital tank for several weeks. He stayed in the corner of the tank — staring at the corner. He would not eat either. I could not figure out what was going on, still sick??? Finally I realized that he was looking (staring) at my 75 gal tank with the other discus. I took the chance and put him back in with the others. Amazing recovery, ate, and nested back in with the group. Now, having said that you still need to QT.

[Iminit]

2 would be better. 6 in a 60 ain’t bad as long as you change water. I’ve got 3 qting in a 30 now .

[Greg-Florida]

2 would be better. 6 in a 60 ain’t bad as long as you change water. I’ve got 3 qting in a 30 now .

Well, I'll begin looking into that.