Selecting Discus

[duscusnovice]

that is a very detailed anatomy of defects thanks for sharing

[Dahlyvh]

Thanks for sharing, lots of good tips here.

[DanLFC97]

This might be a dumb question, but im thinking of getting discus and a fish store that I bought fish from had ick. I checked the other aquariums and some other aquariums had ick and 2 other aquariums had dead fish in it. But when I checked his Discus aquarium, they were beautiful. They had alot of colour and they didnt seem to be sick. There is another fish store that I like to visit and he has healthy fish and never had any problems with his fish but his discus lack colour and their colour seem to fade in the middle. I know this maybe a dumb question but I really would like to get some beautiful discus.

Any advice?

Thanks

[Altum Nut]

Most often many LFS will be set-up on a central system. If there set-up was not designed to isolate tanks with in the system then all fish will be susceptible to attracting disease from the affected fish/tanks. For this reason alone I would be very careful when buying from LFS.
To answer your question which is not dumb...I would ask how long Discus have been there and if possible take some photos and post them here so we can offer better advise on quality.

...Ralph

[DanLFC97]

These are some of his discus.

http://prntscr.com/9o2hne
http://prntscr.com/9o2i2k

[DanLFC97]

These are sum of his discus.

http://prntscr.com/9o2i2k

[DanLFC97]

He has a pump in each of the Discus tank(Dont know if it is relevant)

By the way, I took some printscreens from his videos of his discus but its not letting me post it.

[discuspaul]

Those discus look reasonably good, Dan, but ask the seller the questions Ralph mentioned above, particularly as to whether or not the discus tank is on a central filtration system, or is a completely stand alone tank, and how long he's had the fish.

Even if the latter is the case (stand alone tank), it's not recommended you buy the fish right away if he hasn't had them long.
Perhaps he might hold some for you for a while, and you can have the opportunity then to observe them a while longer to ensure they don't pick up ick or anything else from his other tanks. Be very cautious here - you wouldn't want to lose those fish shortly after you got them.

[DanLFC97]

Thanks a lot for the advice!

[DanLFC97]

Are 8cm and 10cm discus considered as juvinile? and if so do they need daily water changes in order for them to grow?

[discuspaul]

Strictly speaking I would say they are still juveniles, and not giving them daily wcs runs the risk of them not fully developing properly, and perhaps even stunting.... but primarily not reaching the growth they may have reached with more frequent wcs.

[DanLFC97]

I just got today the 2 adult discus. I put the discus with the plastic bag in the aquarium and then after 15 mins they started doing circles in the bag. When I left them for around 30 mins I put my hand in the grab the fish and it went crazy, jumping in and out of the water. Now they are lying on the side, from time to time going upwards and they go back down. I put a little bit teaspoon of salt in order to help them for the stress and I turned the lights off. Im lost, are these signs of death? because I am totally lost.

[rickztahone]

I just got today the 2 adult discus. I put the discus with the plastic bag in the aquarium and then after 15 mins they started doing circles in the bag. When I left them for around 30 mins I put my hand in the grab the fish and it went crazy, jumping in and out of the water. Now they are lying on the side, from time to time going upwards and they go back down. I put a little bit teaspoon of salt in order to help them for the stress and I turned the lights off. Im lost, are these signs of death? because I am totally lost.

This is probably not the best place to have this discussion, but I will answer your question here just in case you do not follow up in another thread.

You want to turn off your lights while the fish acclimate. Many times, the discus will go crazy when introduced to a new tank. You want to leave it alone and not feed it anything for the first day. Keep and eye on it but don't spook it by going to check it every few minutes. Soon (hopefully) it will recover from its dashing back and forth and it will settle.

[DanLFC97]

Sorry for posting here, but I was panicing. At the moment one I hanging on the plants and the other is swimming normally. I forgot to switch off the lights while acclimating them. Should I give them water changes everyday and put a bit of salt so they recover? Because one of them is hanging in a plant.

[rickztahone]

Sorry for posting here, but I was panicing. At the moment one I hanging on the plants and the other is swimming normally. I forgot to switch off the lights while acclimating them. Should I give them water changes everyday and put a bit of salt so they recover? Because one of them is hanging in a plant.

The one in the plant is still adjusting I'm sure. Is it breathing rapidly? Is it dark? Do you have pictures? Turn off the lights but you can start feeding lightly now and you do want to siphon out any uneaten food after 15 minutes and do daily water changes as well. They will get used to the water changes and it is better that they get used to them now.