Selecting Discus

[DanLFC97]

Pat, I've finished my water change now and added 5 teaspoons of salt(1tsp/10g). Do they have any disease? What should I do so they can recover?

Thanks

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Dan, how large was your water change? Also please measure your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates later in the day and post the results here.
Pat

[DanLFC97]

The water change was about 35%. I took a printscreen of the results so that I wont give you inaccurate data.

http://prntscr.com/9slyve

[Second Hand Pat]

So the first row is nitrates and four row nitrites?

[DanLFC97]

The first row is nitrate, the second row is nitrite, the next three are GH, DT, TH, the row with different shades of green is the carbonate hardness and the row below it is the ph. The last row is the chlorine.

[rickztahone]

Sorry, I cannot see the results here at work since the pics are blocked. Mind saying what they are?

Also, if you are going through a mini-cycle you are going to have to do larger water changes than the 35% you did. More along the lines of daily 80% at least for the next week or so. This will allow the filter to colonize good bacteria for your tank.

[Second Hand Pat]

Ok, so ammonia is not measured and nitrite appear to be zero. Nitrates appear a bit high so suggest making your water changes larger if possible. Perhaps 50% or better.

[DanLFC97]

And should I keep adding salt? Do you think they will recover?

[Second Hand Pat]

You can stop the salt. Let's see what a couple of days of large water changes do.
Pat

[rickztahone]

You can stop the salt. Let's see what a couple of days of large water changes do.
Pat

Agreed. The cloudy eyes are a concern but the water changes may clear this up in a few days. They must be larger water changes though. Do you age your water? Sorry if I asked that already and can't remember.

[DanLFC97]

No I dont age my water, should I?. Do they look in a bad condition, because im panicing abit. Thanks for helping me guys I really appreciate it.

[rickztahone]

No I dont age my water, should I?. Do they look in a bad condition, because im panicing abit. Thanks for helping me guys I really appreciate it.

I can't see the pictures, but maybe Pat can?

People age their water when their pH is not stable. You can check it yourself by simply getting some water and pour it in a small container. Test the pH. use an airstone in the container and test after 24hrs. If it has gone up or down dramatically, then your pH is not stable, which means you would benefit from aging your water which stabilizes it.

[DanLFC97]

This might be a stupid question, but how do I age my water?

[Second Hand Pat]

Ricardo, can you see this?

image.jpg

[rickztahone]

This might be a stupid question, but how do I age my water?

Simply place a large amount of water (in order to have enough to do a major water change) in a barrel, typically a 55g barrel:


Then just drop a heater and an air stone in there and 24hrs later that water is aged and ready to use.