discus's head sinking

[discusca]

hello all,

My discus tank become smelling while the water was still super clear. And the fishes had lost balance. After I change the half water, the fishes looked better but the discus 'head was sinking under the gravel and he refuse to eat.
What did happen to them?

[LizStreithorst]

Poor water quality.

[Discus master]

Poor water quality.

heres a sugestion get rid of the gravel go BB check your levels!
first fill out the questioner paper for your situation so people can help better.

I think bad water qt as well and he may have gave them ph shock when he did the water change?

you need to be changing the water often but make sure the chemistry is really close to what the tank water is.

Also you may have created an aerobic sp situation within your gravel and thats why it smells becuase it's rotten foods and fish waste settinling in your gravel and your biological filter can not handel it relaseing that sulfade smell and lack of oxygen in the gravel as well, you realy should go bb especially if you are a newbie like me. Hopfully someone here can help you out. You need to fill out hat question paper so we know exactly whats going on with your tank rite now we have nothing to go on so you got a general response of water qulity wiht out knowing more its really hard to isolate.

[discusca]

I've just change the water then it happened like that. Maybe the ph changed and after that I change the water 2 times now smelling has gone but the fish 's fin and tail look rot and the scale look like out of body.
please help. Thank you

[Discus master]

I've just change the water then it happened like that. Maybe the ph changed and after that I change the water 2 times now smelling has gone but the fish 's fin and tail look rot and the scale look like out of body.
please help. Thank you

Iam not expert but if the scales are sticking out of the body it cold be dropsy I think can you google that to see if that seems like it is and see what they say about it but I think it sounds like Dropys which is scales sticking out of the body liike that there should be pics of it on the net. They tail and fin things sounds like fin and tail rot thoguh hmm google each one and see what it says then come back I would like to know for my self, I really hope someone like eddie decides to chime in he knows so much you may want to send him a private message and see what he says tell him Discus master sent you.

[Discus master]

I've just change the water then it happened like that. Maybe the ph changed and after that I change the water 2 times now smelling has gone but the fish 's fin and tail look rot and the scale look like out of body.
please help. Thank you

yeah how big of a water change did you do whats the ph before the change what the ph of your tap water straight out of the tap and you should check the ph after the water change as well thats what I do I check it three times at every water change its worth the solution you never know if the city is going to add something one day to change the chemistry if the ph is to high it can burn the fish and make sure your temp is as close to the tank temp as possible. I never do more than a 50% water change at one time that way if the ph from the tap is a little diferent than the tank water it should not make that big of a diference because I am only doing half you know? unless there is a problem like a nitrite or amonia spike then I do like a 75% water change and keep a real close eye on the PH for sure. check thats stuff out and come back.

[discusca]

yeah how big of a water change did you do whats the ph before the change what the ph of your tap water straight out of the tap and you should check the ph after the water change as well thats what I do I check it three times at every water change its worth the solution you never know if the city is going to add something one day to change the chemistry if the ph is to high it can burn the fish and make sure your temp is as close to the tank temp as possible. I never do more than a 50% water change at one time that way if the ph from the tap is a little diferent than the tank water it should not make that big of a diference because I am only doing half you know? unless there is a problem like a nitrite or amonia spike then I do like a 75% water change and keep a real close eye on the PH for sure. check thats stuff out and come back.

Thank for your idea, my tank is only 10 gallon
First I got test the water, it show PH 7.2,amonia 8.0ppm,nitrite 0.5ppm and nitrate 5.0 ppm.I only change about 30% water then 2 day later I test water ,it show ph 6.0 , amonia still high but nitrate and nitrite came down 0ppm then I puted the PH up( just 1/3 teaspoon for my 10 gallon tank )after 1hour I smelled the water stinky and my discus head down ,some guppy didn't swim. I got change 50% water ,the fishes were looking better . After that day, I change 1 more time( 50% tank) the discus didn't eat and hide on the corner until now.( today is the 4th day that the fish got sick)Today I saw the discus 's fin and tail look like rot and the scale like sticking out.

[Discus master]

Thank for your idea, my tank is only 10 gallon
First I got test the water, it show PH 7.2,amonia 8.0ppm,nitrite 0.5ppm and nitrate 5.0 ppm.I only change about 30% water then 2 day later I test water ,it show ph 6.0 , amonia still high but nitrate and nitrite came down 0ppm then I puted the PH up( just 1/3 teaspoon for my 10 gallon tank )after 1hour I smelled the water stinky and my discus head down ,some guppy didn't swim. I got change 50% water ,the fishes were looking better . After that day, I change 1 more time( 50% tank) the discus didn't eat and hide on the corner until now.( today is the 4th day that the fish got sick)Today I saw the discus 's fin and tail look like rot and the scale like sticking out.

Yeah well I htink you gave it ph shock do not try and adjust your ph it will never end and it will do more harm than good just stable conditions are best, and they like lower ph anyway. But if its on the high side still stable is better than trying to constantly adjust your tap water and in a 10 gallon tank its going to be very dificult to maintain the stable water discus need that another reason why you shoould have a bigger tank for them and they like to be in a group of 5 -6 at least and each require 10 gallons of water as an adult so I think you would have a lot of planning and re working to do if you want to keep discus. use the 10 gallon as a hosp or qt tank but its even kind of small for that. Just keep comming back here and as questions thats what i did, plus I read alot as you should as well read the basics and getting started threads you will see what they need and there for where you may have went wrong.

[kaceyo]

Raising the pH makes ammonia MUCH more toxic. By adding the pH up, you made the water, that was already very high in toxins, over 10 x more toxic all at once. Fish can sometimes tolerate poor water quality for a while if they can adapt to the changes slowly. But instantly changing the water so much worse really knocked them down.
What kind of water conditioner are you using? Does it have an ammonia detox in it? Although at your levels even a good detoxifier isn't going to take care of it all.
In that small tank you should be doing a couple of 100% wc's a day to keep ammo levels down. Those were ammonia burns your seeing on the fins etc of your fish BTW.

[discusca]

Raising the pH makes ammonia MUCH more toxic. By adding the pH up, you made the water, that was already very high in toxins, over 10 x more toxic all at once. Fish can sometimes tolerate poor water quality for a while if they can adapt to the changes slowly. But instantly changing the water so much worse really knocked them down.
What kind of water conditioner are you using? Does it have an ammonia detox in it? Although at your levels even a good detoxifier isn't going to take care of it all.
In that small tank you should be doing a couple of 100% wc's a day to keep ammo levels down. Those were ammonia burns your seeing on the fins etc of your fish BTW.

Oh... I see...I use the API tape water conditioner. But today they look better ,they swim again but they didn't want to eat even the blood worm.
Thank you for your advises

[kaceyo]

Oh... I see...I use the API tape water conditioner. But today they look better ,they swim again but they didn't want to eat even the blood worm.
Thank you for your advises

Glad to hear they are doing better. API Tap Water Cond. doesn't have anything in it for ammonia detox. I'd strongly advise you to use a conditioner that does have ammo detox at least untill you get the ammonia under control and staying at 0ppm.
Again, large frequent wc's and keep an eye on your ammonia level.
Good luck,

Kacey

[discusca]

Thank you all.
After 1 month treatment , now my discus start eating and happy. They look great now but their fin are still black (like stress).Does it disappear in the furture?

[flyman767]

Thank you all.
After 1 month treatment , now my discus start eating and happy. They look great now but their fin are still black (like stress).Does it disappear in the furture?

Nope..not with a 10 gallon tank..your fish(s) will continue to show signs of stress. Kinda like you trying to live in a closet for an extended period of time. Also, you are going to have difficulty maintaing safe water perimeters. Discus expel high levels of organic loads which will be near impossible to maintain with a 10 gallon tank.