Atomicmiss
05-29-2013, 11:35 PM
What went wrong?
I cycled!!
I fully cycled my 55 gallon bow front. I treated the water with the instant cycle crap that came with the tank and Seachem Prime. I used a programmable thermostat (fluval 250 watt) and set it for 84 degrees. My filter is an HOB Fluval C4 with 5 stages of filtration. I removed the carbon and replaced it with foam after it cycled.
I bought fish to help cycle the tank that I have since given to a friend except for the following: 3 dwarf gouramis, 2 albino corys, 5 harlequin rasboras, and 7 danios.
Before adding my discus I removed the rasboras and the danios and I added a killifish. All was peaceful and fine!
My first Discus
I did a lot of reading online and I knew I was in for the unimaginable when I fell in love with discus. Then off to the pet store I went.
I went to a reputable store and talked about my community tank and compatibility and was assured a discus would be fine. I was also assured that one discus would be fine in a community tank so I bought a pigeon blood. That was my first mistake, I should have bought at least 2, eventually upping it to 3 or 5.
I used the dripping method after allowing the bag to adjust to the temp of the tank and added him. Right away he started hiding in the corner nose down. I figured it was just stress so I turned off the light for 24 hrs and peeked at them often. From the time I got him he did this all while swimming along the back of the aquarium at the bottom. He was a good eater but he was always hiding somewhere.
My second discus
SO I thought he needed a friend to cheer him up. I went back to the store (just 10 days ago) and purchased a beautiful golden albino. They were from the same tank so I used the same method to introduce my new discus to the tank. They were instant buddy's. they sat head to tail sometimes and shimmied their fins, but my pigeon blood was still shy. He started floating sideways more and stopped eating. I called the pet store and they exchanged the fish as an exception (I only had him 6 days).
The new guy is excellent! No issues whatsoever and I hope it stays that way and my albino and him schooled together
Then about 5 days ago I saw my albino was floating sideways in the tank but it only lasted a few seconds and off he would go. The next day tho he would do it minutes at a time. There was nothing outwardly wrong with him but he did stop eating. I checked my water and my tank had uncycled. I did a 75% wc because my ammonia was at 3 or 4 and treated the water with my usual discus buffer, aquarium salt and prime.
My albino seemed to be a little more active and normal that night but it was short lived.
The next day I check my water again, ammonia is still high so I do another water change and add an ammonia remover/carbon filter in hopes it will help and also did 5x prime. It didn't. So I start setting up my qt tank (which of course would leak right)? Long story short I was able to set one up anyway.
After moving my albino to the qt tank I did a 90%water change, treated my water with normal doses of prime and stability. Although my HOB filter was adding oxygen to the water I added a sponge filter as well. The tank has been fine ever since and I can't believe how clean the water is.
My second mistake? Using a discus buffer.
The QT tank
Once my albino went into the quarantine tank not much improved and I noticed under the night light there was cotton ball fungus coming out of the bottom of his gill. He still wasn't eating and so I called another discus store. They confirmed it was fungus and he possibly had an internal parasite. I added the proper amount of Tetra Fungus Guard to my tank. He wasn't laying on his side anymore though but he was headstanding at the top of the tank (this was before I added the Tetra too). He finally pooped and it was white, almost like rice only finer. I went to the pet store to get something to help with internal parasites and when I got home he was dead. I'm devastated, he's albino so it was impossible to see the fungus in the big tank but I feel like if I could have qt'd him sooner I could have saved him.
Water changes:
I did a 30 to 50% change every second day and about a 60 to 75% every week.
Food: freeze dried and frozen mysis shrimp and bloodworms, flakes and pellets. I pre soaked the freeze dried and the pellets before feeding them but they really only stuck to flakes. I fed them 4 to 5 times a day as they are young adults.
Now I don't know where to go from here, I have one lone discus and I'm scared to get more but I don't want him stressed. I'm hoping this post will help the beginners and encourage the more experienced discus owners to help me understand where I went wrong and what I could have done differently. Did I just get a sick fish? All of my other fish are fine...
I cycled!!
I fully cycled my 55 gallon bow front. I treated the water with the instant cycle crap that came with the tank and Seachem Prime. I used a programmable thermostat (fluval 250 watt) and set it for 84 degrees. My filter is an HOB Fluval C4 with 5 stages of filtration. I removed the carbon and replaced it with foam after it cycled.
I bought fish to help cycle the tank that I have since given to a friend except for the following: 3 dwarf gouramis, 2 albino corys, 5 harlequin rasboras, and 7 danios.
Before adding my discus I removed the rasboras and the danios and I added a killifish. All was peaceful and fine!
My first Discus
I did a lot of reading online and I knew I was in for the unimaginable when I fell in love with discus. Then off to the pet store I went.
I went to a reputable store and talked about my community tank and compatibility and was assured a discus would be fine. I was also assured that one discus would be fine in a community tank so I bought a pigeon blood. That was my first mistake, I should have bought at least 2, eventually upping it to 3 or 5.
I used the dripping method after allowing the bag to adjust to the temp of the tank and added him. Right away he started hiding in the corner nose down. I figured it was just stress so I turned off the light for 24 hrs and peeked at them often. From the time I got him he did this all while swimming along the back of the aquarium at the bottom. He was a good eater but he was always hiding somewhere.
My second discus
SO I thought he needed a friend to cheer him up. I went back to the store (just 10 days ago) and purchased a beautiful golden albino. They were from the same tank so I used the same method to introduce my new discus to the tank. They were instant buddy's. they sat head to tail sometimes and shimmied their fins, but my pigeon blood was still shy. He started floating sideways more and stopped eating. I called the pet store and they exchanged the fish as an exception (I only had him 6 days).
The new guy is excellent! No issues whatsoever and I hope it stays that way and my albino and him schooled together
Then about 5 days ago I saw my albino was floating sideways in the tank but it only lasted a few seconds and off he would go. The next day tho he would do it minutes at a time. There was nothing outwardly wrong with him but he did stop eating. I checked my water and my tank had uncycled. I did a 75% wc because my ammonia was at 3 or 4 and treated the water with my usual discus buffer, aquarium salt and prime.
My albino seemed to be a little more active and normal that night but it was short lived.
The next day I check my water again, ammonia is still high so I do another water change and add an ammonia remover/carbon filter in hopes it will help and also did 5x prime. It didn't. So I start setting up my qt tank (which of course would leak right)? Long story short I was able to set one up anyway.
After moving my albino to the qt tank I did a 90%water change, treated my water with normal doses of prime and stability. Although my HOB filter was adding oxygen to the water I added a sponge filter as well. The tank has been fine ever since and I can't believe how clean the water is.
My second mistake? Using a discus buffer.
The QT tank
Once my albino went into the quarantine tank not much improved and I noticed under the night light there was cotton ball fungus coming out of the bottom of his gill. He still wasn't eating and so I called another discus store. They confirmed it was fungus and he possibly had an internal parasite. I added the proper amount of Tetra Fungus Guard to my tank. He wasn't laying on his side anymore though but he was headstanding at the top of the tank (this was before I added the Tetra too). He finally pooped and it was white, almost like rice only finer. I went to the pet store to get something to help with internal parasites and when I got home he was dead. I'm devastated, he's albino so it was impossible to see the fungus in the big tank but I feel like if I could have qt'd him sooner I could have saved him.
Water changes:
I did a 30 to 50% change every second day and about a 60 to 75% every week.
Food: freeze dried and frozen mysis shrimp and bloodworms, flakes and pellets. I pre soaked the freeze dried and the pellets before feeding them but they really only stuck to flakes. I fed them 4 to 5 times a day as they are young adults.
Now I don't know where to go from here, I have one lone discus and I'm scared to get more but I don't want him stressed. I'm hoping this post will help the beginners and encourage the more experienced discus owners to help me understand where I went wrong and what I could have done differently. Did I just get a sick fish? All of my other fish are fine...