Tips on Acclimating Wild Discus

[sfdiscus]

Hi - I am starting this Thread at the suggestion from Yogi from a prior Thread.

I got John and Hudson's wilds in recent months and they are fantastic.

Considering that many will be getting their wilds in this upcoming season, I thought I start this thread to get tips (for us newbies) from the experts on how to acclimate wilds.

As a beginner, I have questions like:
0) What should we prepare prior to the wilds' arrival?
1) What is normal / abnormal behavior of wilds when they come to their new homes?
2) What type of behaviors are considered SOS?
3) What can new owners do to facilitate acclimation?
4) Is there an acclimation timeline we can refer to (sort of like Aquatechnics' article below)?
5) Should lights be on or off? How can we slowly acclimate wilds to lights (so the family can enjoy the sights!)?
6) Other relevant questions?

I found a great article by Aquatechnics called "Conditioning of Wilds article". http://www.aquatechnics.net/wild_dis...nditioning.htm

[William Palumbo]

I kind of reluctantly post this, because in all honesty, I treat/acclimate all my wilds, the same way I do with my domestics. I use the "plop & drop" method for ALL my Discus. They are all dumped into clean, warm tapwater. No playing with water chemistry whatsoever...UNTIL I want to try and induce pairing/spawning activity. I never use bright lights with the wilds. Most times just indirect lighting. If I do have a direct light on them, I use floating plants. I also tint the water with a peat(blackwater)extract. I found wilds do seem to settle much easier when there is a thin layer of sand on the bottom. All wilds are different. There really can't be a specific timeline, since it's based on the actual FISH themselves. Some settle in right away, and movement and lighting around/in the tank is no longer an issue. I don't treat with meds unless the fish need them. Some treat right away. You're going to get a lot of different answers and procedures from a lot of members here. You'll have to break it all down, and see what works best for you, and your fish, as I did...Bill

[jcardona1]

I'm with Bill. When I ordered my first set of wilds from John, I did just as Bill mentioned. Drip acclimate for a while, then drop them in the tank. No meds, unless some were clearly sick, which none where. Left the lights off for several hours the first day. I do notice these guys don't like bright lighting. If I turn on more lights, they quickly run for cover. But the way the tank is right now, they love it. As soon as I approach the tank they're at the surface, begging for food and picking at my fingers. They all settled in within 2-3 days and were eating fine.

[2wheelsx2]

I'm a n00b to discus and to wilds, but I can relate my experience in regards to question 5. My 5 Tefe's come right up to the front of the tank to feed. I plopped them right in, but only lit the tank with 20 w of dim lighting for limited amounts of time. Slowly I've increased the lighting to about 100 w now and they still come to the front to feed and roam all over the tank. For 3 weeks they hid all the time, then another 2 or 3 weeks they hid whenever the lights were on. But it was like a light switch. One day they were hiding, the next they all came out and never went back into hiding.

[Larry Bugg]

Like Bill, I have never really treated my wilds any different than domestics. Maybe I just didn't know any better but it has difinitely worked for me. Also like Bill, I use the plop and drop. With new fish, wild or domestic, I always leave the tank light off until they appear to be settled a bit. I do find that lighting seems to affect my wilds differently than the domestics but eventually they do get used to a brighter light. Indirect light seems to show off wilds better though. I have not had to medicate any of my new wilds. I have ordered from John and Hans and they all arrived in great condition. I don't like playing with water chemistry. Too much room for error there. Of course Atlanta has great water for discus.

For me the best part of the Aquatechnic's article was the before and after pictures. It is quite amazing how much change you will see in a months time with a wild. You just don't see that kind of change with domestics.

[yogi]

I have it a little different than most of you. I live in South Florida and get my wilds locally. I just bring them home and plot them right in the tank. I also believe this for all wild fish not just discus. Domestics can tolerate a wider range of water hardness and ph, where wilds do better in conditions closer to their natural habitat. Short term they might be ok with different parameters, but if you plan on having them for a long time and healthy (5 years or more) they need to be kept closer to their natural conditions. This is the habitat they evolved in.

I don't believe discus like bright lights and you don't need bright lights to show off a tank. One T-8 four foot fluorescent bulb on a 55 gallon tank gives enough light to show off your fish. It's also enough light to have floating plants like water sprite, wisteria or red root floaters thrive. Plus the discus seem to enjoy being under the plants. I'll let the floating plants take up half the surface of a tank.

You should always take pictures of your fish the first few days you have them. Take the pictures both ways with a flash and without. The colors in your fish will change over time and if you don't have pictures from the beginning you will never remember. Also the colors of the fish will sometimes look different in photos than they do to the naked eye. The fish will also grow and thicken over time. They might call there fish jumbo or XXL when they sell them, but they still have some growing left to do in your tank.

There are several things I think cause these changes in color. They are water chemistry, food and lack of predators. In the wild they probably spend a great deal of time searching for food, in time they equate us as their food source. We can never duplicate their native waters. In our fish tanks they are never at risk of being attacked or eaten by reptiles, larger fish or birds., so their fins also stay in much better shape and I'm sure it cuts down on stress.

I also don't like to medicate fish unless I really think they there having a problem. If the wild fish are doing fine and eating I don't do anything. I've also bought wilds that have been in rough shape because I felt they had some great potential. In these cases I have used quick cure at 2 drops per gallon to clean up external parasites. I would do a few treatments every other day with a water change after about 8 or 10 hours.

I do mix wilds with domestics, but I keep my tanks as if all fish are wild. I do have to mess with water chemistry because my tap water is good for african cichlids not discus. Instead of RO I use commercial DI units. I blend the DI water with carbon filtered tap water to get the parameters I want. I sometimes have to add a little muriactic acid to lower the ph. I spoke with Dick Au at the NADA convention about peat water with wilds. He felt wilds definitely benefit from peat filtered water or some sort of blackwater extract. He even felt that F1's need to be kept closer to wild type conditions to really stay strong and healthy.

Like I said to you when I asked you to create a new thread you will find that different things work for different people. I do feel that discus has to be the primary focus of your tank. You take care of the water for discus and they will stay strong and healthy.

[dean9922]

excellent posts by everyone and great advice for people starting with ......anyone reading these posts I think the KISS (keep it simple stupid) approach is best.....totally agree!!!

[Second Hand Pat]

I'm not sure I am ready to post here but will share my observations with being a newbie to discus and having only wilds. The best advise I have received with new wilds is to add a thin layer of sand and keep the lights dim (thanks Bill P).

I have had six Nhamunda reds about seven weeks now and my greatest challenge have been getting them to eat. The reds will now eat BH, flakes and other frozen foods but they go totally nuts over worms (FDBWs). If you do not have a baby sitter discus who can show the new wilds the ropes worms seem to be your best friend.

I also have two uatuman blues and they pretty much eat anything now so feeling better that I am on the right tract. I have introduced IALs to my sump to help soften the water and plan on introducing tannin rich water to help duplicate natural water conditions.

I am also less willing to treat the blues with Dale deworming treatment. I did with the reds but see many members here seem to watch and observe and I am doing this with the blues. I do no like to medicate unless I totally have too.

This is a good thread with lots of good info. I'm also with Dean on the KISS method.

[ExReefer]

I've got four Nhamunda Browns arriving in the morning from John. John's father said he's got them acclimated to a PH of 7.6 and ppm of around 140. I've got a painted bare bottom 40G Breeder set-up with the same water conditions waiting for them. This will be their QT. My water is 88 deg. The tank has a 15W T-8 bulb over it, but I blocked some of the light with some frosted cling wrap. I did use some RO water to lower the ppm and I'm still undecided if I will continue to keep them in a mix of RO and tap. The RO mix may not be necessary to keep them alive, but I have a hard time believing softer water would not make them more comfortable in the long run. Plus, I'm down to just two discus tanks so the extra work of creating the RO mix is not a big deal. It also forces me to age my water which eliminates the micro bubble issue I'm seeing in the winter months.

[Discus-Hans]

We do the same with our Stendker and the wilds.
We know in the winter how many heat packs you use, the temp will be lower as 86, normal in the high 70's low 80's so what we do is a water change with a little colder water the morning before the Discus come in (in the summer if temps are higher we won't have to do this) If the Discus come in, open the box, cut the bags open, stick your hand in (hope I never get Piranha's by mistake lol lol) the bag, grab the Discus and plop it in the tank. Do this with all the Discus, light off on the tanks, on the part of the fish house were the wilds are, we have only 4 ceiling tl's burning. If they are all in the tanks, clean the mess, empty the bags, go home for at least 3 hours, let them in peace. Come back and check (lights off) that's it for that day. Next day, lights on, they love that and like it so much they some times want to jump out off the tank to hug you (lol lol) and food in the tank, small portions. First day of military training, they are MY fish, they live by MY rules and believe me, they get used to it.

In about a week they know lights on ====> food.

We don't medicate, Stendkers Discus are clean and Hudson's are cleaned out by Hudson in his 30 ~ 60 days quarantine period. We do a lot of poo scoops and check those under the microscope. If you get Discus in, you can see some white poo, this white poo is in 99% stress related. Good food and in no time it's normal.

This is how we do it............ see my signature for more details,

Hans

[vera]

This is how we do it............ see my signature for more details,

Hans

on what page Hans lol
on what food best start them on plz

[Discus-Hans]

on what page Hans lol
on what food best start them on plz

Vera,

Page 391

Stendkers on the Discus Hans mix.

Wilds flake + pallets (what Hudson oa. feeds them)

Hans

[Discus Origins]

[QUOTE=sfdiscus;729004]Hi - I am starting this Thread at the suggestion from Yogi from a prior Thread.

I got John and Hudson's wilds in recent months and they are fantastic.

Considering that many will be getting their wilds in this upcoming season, I thought I start this thread to get tips (for us newbies) from the experts on how to acclimate wilds.

As a beginner, I have questions like:
0) What should we prepare prior to the wilds' arrival?
1) What is normal / abnormal behavior of wilds when they come to their new homes?
2) What type of behaviors are considered SOS?
3) What can new owners do to facilitate acclimation?
4) Is there an acclimation timeline we can refer to (sort of like Aquatechnics' article below)?
5) Should lights be on or off? How can we slowly acclimate wilds to lights (so the family can enjoy the sights!)?
6) Other relevant questions?

QUOTE]

1) prepare a cycled QT as best as possible....transfer a sponge filter from established tank, squeeze the 'funk' out of existing sponges into the new QT filter, move some existing media into the new media, etc. If there will be days/weeks before you get the new fish you can add some food to the QT and keep the cycle going without fish. I try to get the QT water as close to the seller's for easier transition. But I still test the ph in the bag water, if there is a big ph diff its much easier to adjust it in the QT and then put the fish in. I don't worry about hardness at first, ph is more important.
2) SOS (signs of stress?) - dark fish, bunched in corner, laying flat, stress bars, breathing heavy, darting. you're going to run into this no matter what when fish first get put in the tank so dont worry about this. if this is ongoing for several days then time to check water parameters/parasites/disease
3) nothing different between new and experienced - get the fish out of the bag water into clean water as soon as possible and let them settle down
4) timeline - settle down fish, get fish to eat, keep close eye on any damage make sure it doesnt get worse, make sure QT water parameters dont get out of line (short version)
5) lights off always with new fish. I have all my display tanks brightly lit with between 80-160 watts, I slowly acclimate them over a few weeks by lining the lamps with aluminum foil and poke holes. I add more and more holes each week until the fish don't hide and behave normally under full brightness
6) i ALWAYS medicate wild fish before they go into my display tanks, it doesn't matter what shape they are in, how long they were quarantined before...if anything happens and spreads disease whats the seller going to do for you besides say oh that didn't happen here? I don't start medication until the fish are feeding well and fattened up, anywhere from a week to 2 weeks. I start with external parasites like flukes/protozoan/bacteria, there are a variety of medications out there for all this. I like Clout and Live bearer Anti-fluke. Then for intestinal parasites nothing in the water works, you have to get the fish to eat the medication. So soak live blackworms in a combination of flubenzadole/praziquentel/metronidazole and feed for about a week. Repeat in two weeks and the fish will be as disease free as they are going to get, nothing will be 100% effective but its the best we can do.

Remember, the entire time you're acclimating to check the water for ph, ammonia, nitrite and make sure nothing is out of whack. Do water changes at least 50% every other day, don't over feed and everything should be fine.

Not the only way to do it, just my way.

Mark

[ExReefer]

I received my four Nhamunda Browns yesterday. I floated the bags for 20 minutes, then did the plop and drop. Their fins are a little beat up from capture/shipping etc. Their color was dark right out of the bag, but lightened up within a few minutes of entering the clean water. They were skittish throughout the day, but around 5pm I flipped the tank light on and left them the room. I came back around 9pm and they were cruising the front glass and cautiously approached me when I entered the room. I threw in some live blackworms and they ate them right up.

I’m assuming it’s a combination of John’s conditioning and my acclimation methods that allowed these fish to acclimate so easily.

I’ve had domestics that acted more skittish than these wilds. I’ll add them to my show tank once their fins have healed. By the way, these fish are large. The four of them make a 40 Breeder look like a 20G. Photos to follow next week. I don’t have my good camera right now.

[sfdiscus]

Hi all - Thank you so much for the valuable advice.

My greatest worry as a newbie is that I won't be able to identify SOS (ie "HELP ME") signs when I get new wilds. I don't know what I don't know - if there is a problem. I guess that's why we count on trustworthy suppliers like Hans & John for QT'ed healthy wilds !!!

If it's not too much trouble, can this Forum share problem signals / behaviors that newbies should pay attention to during the first few weeks of wilds joining our homes? (eg obvious things like not eating, staying in a corner for more than XYZ weeks etc etc) (eg when I see such and such behavior, I should immediately QT that specific fish etc etc).

Thanks all.