Question about WC

[krislewis3]

I've been doing daily, 50% WC since I began my discus hobby 10 months ago. Three of my discus are 1 year old, and the other two are about 10 months old. Can you advise me on when it's safe to stop the daily WC, and perhaps go to every other day WC? Keep in mind that I house 3 Cory cats, and 2 bn cats, and the bn cats can make a huge mess in one day! Is that mess harmful to my fish if my water tests are all good?...........Kris

[Orange Crush]

Since you have had them for 10 months you should know by now how to tell when they are stressed or if something seems "off" with them. If yes, then try cutting back on the wc and see how they react. You can always try vacumming the mess daily and do less frequent 50% wc. They will tell you what makes them happy/not happy. Daily is best way to avoid problems but that does not mean it is the only way. I still do daily though and have been quite successful that way.

[sandy]

Wc is all depend on your feeding and type of feed if you feed more then you have to wc daily

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

[krislewis3]

I guess it's best to at least vacuum every day!!! They do seem happier following WC!

[Eddie]

Wc is all depend on your feeding and type of feed if you feed more then you have to wc daily

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

+1

[YSS]

Also depends on how large your tank is. There will be a huge difference between 55G and 180G tanks.

[krislewis3]

It's a 60 gallon, with 5 discus, 2 bn cats and 3 cory cats.....They get fed 3 to 4 times a day..beef heart flake from kensfish, tetra bits, fd black worms, and fd brine shrimp.
But again, its not the discus that make a mess.....what makes the mess is the bn cats. What do you guys do about the incredible mess that they make in a day?

[Crystalwaters]

It's a 60 gallon, with 5 discus, 2 bn cats and 3 cory cats.....They get fed 3 to 4 times a day..beef heart flake from kensfish, tetra bits, fd black worms, and fd brine shrimp.
But again, its not the discus that make a mess.....what makes the mess is the bn cats. What do you guys do about the incredible mess that they make in a day?

Thanks for this thread, I was curious about people's responses. I would test the water, see how long it takes for the NO3 to creep up.
Wanted to share my bn experience with juvenile discus (55 gallon, BB). Kept a pair (m/f) of bn's. The male would harass the female so badly that she was swimming through the tank unattached to anything. Out of panic she would latch on to the discus. Took her out of the tank. The male BN was messier than all the discus combined, took him out too! I would try again but in much larger planted tank.

[Eddie]

It's a 60 gallon, with 5 discus, 2 bn cats and 3 cory cats.....They get fed 3 to 4 times a day..beef heart flake from kensfish, tetra bits, fd black worms, and fd brine shrimp.
But again, its not the discus that make a mess.....what makes the mess is the bn cats. What do you guys do about the incredible mess that they make in a day?

Thats why I always say, there is no such thing as a clean up crew. The so called "clean up" crew creates more waste and puts more of a load on the bio bed than any amount of left over food, if the fish are fed properly.

[krislewis3]

Yea....they do make an incredible mess...on the up side, I never have to clean my manzanita wood. Prior to getting the bn cats, I would have to pull the manzanita out of the tank once a month, to clean the slime off if it! Now, the bn cats keep the wood clean. I'm not sure which scenario makes more sense! I was surprised to see 4 baby bn cats, no bigger than a pencil tip, when I was cleaning yesterday! I couldn't believe my eyes. They got eaten by my rams faster than I could put a separated in the tank...but they were soooooooooooooo cute!!!!!

[sandy]

I had cat fish as a cleaning crew he used to clean my tank glass but he adding more bio load then discus and after some time he started attacking my discus while feeding time so I removed him from that tank discus are happy now but the sad part is that I have to clean the glass tank :mad:

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

[krislewis3]

[QUOTE=Eddie;958080]Thats why I always say, there is no such thing as a clean up crew. The so called "clean up" crew creates more waste and puts more of a load on the bio bed than any amount of left over food, if the fish are fed properly.[/QUOTE

Please tell me what you mean by "fed properly"! How much should I be feeding my discus. I have five discus, who are between 10 months old, and 1 year old!
For example, when I feed them their freeze dried black worms, how many cubes per serving is appropriate? Can you give me an idea on how much flake food is appropiate for a serving, for these 5 fish?
Lastly, how much of the tetra bits is a serving for these 5 discus.
I would REALLY REALLY appreciate your knowledge on proper feeding!....thank you in advance, Kris