Wild Discus Tech Notes 1... Heckels...The basics and More....

[Eddie]

I'm with Jim on the outside potted plants. Is the way I do it. Very little direct lighting in the tank. That with the heavily stained peat water makes them feel right at home...Bill

Love the tank Bill! I got some Philos rooting down in one my tanks in the room, fishes love it!

[wgtaylor]

LOL, funny story Hans.
Wisteria grows fast and it's the only plant I've seen wilds eat so readily. Save on fish food.

Bill

[wgtaylor]

Love the tank Bill! I got some Philos rooting down in one my tanks in the room, fishes love it!

I had some of that too Eddie in a pot beside a Altum tank.
The roots took over inside the tank and the runners would get 12 - 15 feet pretty quick. The runners always grow bigger and faster after the roots get that fish fertilizer.

Bill

[NanDiscus]

Anything plant-related sent from Holland will be delivered by your local police...
What a shame!

Nandi

[vera]

Anything plant-related sent from Holland will be delivered by your local police...
What a shame!

Nandi

Thats the service ! everything for ppl LMAO

[sfdiscus]

Hi - Can this forum give us newbies a timeline of how wilds acclimate over time? What would new owners know what's normal and what's not? What can new owners do to facilitate acclimation (eg don't turn light on too often?? thx

P/S: Aquatechnics has a great "Conditioning of Wilds article". http://www.aquatechnics.net/wild_dis...nditioning.htm

[Apistomaster]

Hi sfdiscus,

There are many variables to consider when acclimating newly acquired wild Discus. Major exporters and dealers have been doing a much better job of acclimating wild Discus and even treating them for common internal parasites and common gill flukes which has made every ones' success rates rise and need less intensive acclimation.
Whenever you can buy medium sized Discus you will have an easier time acclimating them than the very large specimens. Plus you know they can't be much more than a 1-1/2 years old. It is difficult to know the ages of the very largest fish being sold. Many fish now arrive well filled out and used to easily provided diets.
Some may not receive as much care before you receive them and will need all of at least a month to allow you to make them ready to start a new community or join an existing one.

But even with the progress that has been made, it is not a bad idea to just assume you will take about a one month period of quarantine to acquaint your fish to the conditions and foods you plan to provide them and to treat them for any signs of disease that may arise during this month of quarantine.

Many skip the quarantine and never have a problem but just as many who do skip it end up regretting their haste. Given the years of pleasure your new wilds can provide, it is not too much to take the time to transition them through quarantine to take care of any shipping wounds, any diseases, changes in diet and water chemistry. Many Heckels arrive already acclimated to another local tap water and may need a gradual acclimation back to more natural water chemistry to be at their best. All these things may be addressed within only one month of quarantine.
There are no cons to quarantine period but a lack of any plan is a can of worms, waiting to be opened.

[sfdiscus]

Hi - I need to take my pH down in anticipation for a new shipment of wilds. I had used Discus buffers to take pH down before and it took my TDS up substantially.

Is there any other safe methods of taking pH down without increasing TDS?

thx

[NanDiscus]

If your TDS is low enough, adding some peat to the water/filer/sump will do the job. Just give it a little time.
If it's a QT tank, I would not worry all that much about the pH as if you don't have the trade in your little finger (prepping acidic water@low tds), you may wake up to a rough morning. None the less... acidic water is the way to go with wilds in a long run, but a near 7pH water the fish will be just fine.
JMO.

Nandi

[Melissa]

I have a question in regards to water conditions as well... Initially when I got my group of heckels I had them in tap water, Tds was way too high around 300ish ppm and the ph was around 8.0.... Please don't yell at me, i know i know...

Anyhow, over the past week I have been lowering the Tds gradually doing small WC's with RO water. Tds at the moment is down to 120, and I'm just letting the ph fall where it will.
My question is, is that too dramatic or too fast of a change in water parameters in a weeks time? I'm still planning on bringing it down as far as I can safely take it to make it nice and soft and acidic how they like it... I Was just hoping I'm not making a mistake and doing it too quickly, or maybe I could speed it up a bit? Any and all advice is appreciated. A side note, I am monitoring the KH to be sure things stay stable... I'm trying to soften the water as much as possible to make my babies feel more at home! Such a nerve wracking thing messing with water parameters.....

[Eddie]

I have a question in regards to water conditions as well... Initially when I got my group of heckels I had them in tap water, Tds was way too high around 300ish ppm and the ph was around 8.0.... Please don't yell at me, i know i know...

Anyhow, over the past week I have been lowering the Tds gradually doing small WC's with RO water. Tds at the moment is down to 120, and I'm just letting the ph fall where it will.
My question is, is that too dramatic or too fast of a change in water parameters in a weeks time? I'm still planning on bringing it down as far as I can safely take it to make it nice and soft and acidic how they like it... I Was just hoping I'm not making a mistake and doing it too quickly, or maybe I could speed it up a bit? Any and all advice is appreciated. A side note, I am monitoring the KH to be sure things stay stable... I'm trying to soften the water as much as possible to make my babies feel more at home! Such a nerve wracking thing messing with water parameters.....

Sounds like you are doing just fine. Let the fish tell you if its too fast. What is their condition?

[wgtaylor]

I have a question in regards to water conditions as well... Initially when I got my group of heckels I had them in tap water, Tds was way too high around 300ish ppm and the ph was around 8.0.... Please don't yell at me, i know i know...

Anyhow, over the past week I have been lowering the Tds gradually doing small WC's with RO water. Tds at the moment is down to 120, and I'm just letting the ph fall where it will.
My question is, is that too dramatic or too fast of a change in water parameters in a weeks time? I'm still planning on bringing it down as far as I can safely take it to make it nice and soft and acidic how they like it... I Was just hoping I'm not making a mistake and doing it too quickly, or maybe I could speed it up a bit? Any and all advice is appreciated. A side note, I am monitoring the KH to be sure things stay stable... I'm trying to soften the water as much as possible to make my babies feel more at home! Such a nerve wracking thing messing with water parameters.....

Hi Melissa
300 to 120 in a week they should hardly even know you've been making changes except they will enjoy the softer water. Trying to induce spawning you can drop the water hardness that far in a single water change and they will be extremely happy. Keep an eye on the ph when making changes and don't allow the ph to drop rapidly and you should be fine. I also like to make those slow changes and find that sweet spot where they look their happiest. Don't stress, sounds like you are doing great.
Bill

[Apistomaster]

My tap water over the years has varied from as high as 340 ppm to as low a s 240 ppm TDS, depending on which one of 6 well s over 600 feet the City is using. Regardless of where I begin, I start making 50% RO water changes about every 4th day until the TDS is as low as i want it. I use this method on all my Discus and soft water plecos and have never had any problems.
The only times I have gotten into trouble are those times when I tried to use acids to lower the pH in the fish holding tanks instead of the soft water reservoirs.

[Melissa]

Actually, before lowering the tds and working on the water my group was acting a little skittish and staying to one side of the tank. Today they are finally acting like they're returning to normal and are swimming around looking much happier!
Thanks for the words of encouragement Bill I was wondering about the ph thing. I've had a few people tell me to lower the Tds and let the ph fall where it will... And then some people say to keep an eye on it... When you're lowering Tds with RO water, isn't it automatically lowering the ph too? I've always used Kents Blackwater expert in this tank too.... Now that the Tds is lower and the ph is lower... Can the Kents alter the water conditions or maybe make the ph drop faster? With my hard tap water it had no effect on anything really... Hmmm...

I'll bust out the test kit and see what I can see right now. The fish are doing great so maybe I'm just over thinking things LOL! It's hard not too though, I love my babies!

[Eddie]

Thats great news Melissa, they will surely shine in the soft water. Can't wait to see them!