darting

[dghby]

Questionaire to be filled out following some brief thoughts of what I am seeing
First of all, hi everyone, stepped away from Discus back in the spring cause of job issues. that all squared away I cannot stay away anymore.
I have read a good bit off this site in the past several years so I am pretty sure I have a clean environment for these guys.
I have had this group for about 2 weeks now, very young about 2.5 inches ( a couple slightly bigger). I will explain my maintenance schedule below and what has went on the past 2 weeks.
I seem to have 2 of the 6 darting around this morning while doing a water change.

DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE


Problem

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
While doing the daily WC I noticed one of my larger ( close to 3 inches) darting around pretty erratically and then kind of swimming side ways a bit, then noticed one of my smaller ones doing the darting as well. once water change was complete they seem to have settled back down. this is the first signs as I watch them pretty intensely for these issues. ( first signs I know of) also the big one went around I circles a few times as well, not real tight but circles non the less.


2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds). only symptom I am seeing is the Darting and swimming side ways.


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.

have not treated with anything at this point cause not real sure what I would be treating for. my immediate guess would be external parasites, but I am in no way and kind of expert. ( reason why I am here)



Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish. 55 gal - 6 fish probably about 4 months or so, all between 2.5-3 inches


5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often). every other day at 80%


6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it? tank has been up and running for over a year, bare bottom, 2 heaters, 2 sponge filters.


7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing. yes I age, after checking today I was alarmed and am thinking this is maybe my issue.
I have checked the PH out of the aging barrel and it is about 8.2 - 8.3. my PH out of my tap is 7.6

I just treated the tank with prime so no sense in checking it but plan on checking it later today to see where it is.


8. Parameters and water source;




- temp _85____

- ph __8.3___

- ammonia reading _0___

- nitrite reading _0___

- nitrate reading _10___

What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.

- well water ____

- municipal water __X__

- RO water ____


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently. nothing


10. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.

My initial thoughts are I need to stop aging at this point. and maybe a metro treatment ( rather stay away from the med if this is really early )
here is a comparison of my water from the tap on the left and aged on the right
I am really bad at colors and was thinking the aged was closer to 8.8 (off the chart) to begin with but the more I stared at it I begin thinking more like
8.3 to 8.4 . chime in on this please.
http://i1263.photobucket.com/albums/ii629/disc1961/002_zpsa073a1da.jpg (http://s1263.photobucket.com/user/disc1961/media/002_zpsa073a1da.jpg.html)

[strawberryblonde]

Hi Tom and welcome back!

Before you panic, just take some deep breaths, ok? Right off the bat it looks like this is a water quality issue. Nitrates of 10ppm tells me that there's too much detritus building up in the tank between water changes.

The pH of your aged water is totally fine so don't stop aging it, ok?

Just start doing a daily water change for at least a week and see if that clears up the darting problem. I'm thinking that what you are seeing is just new skittish babies who haven't totally adjusted to their surroundings yet.

I bought 5 juvies two weeks ago too, and some days they are fine with their water changes (I do two a day) and other days a couple of them will get scared and dart in a mad circle till they tire themselves out (tipping on their sides). As soon as the water change is done, they act completely normal and go right back to hanging with the group and looking for food.

Be sure to telegraph your movements to them as you do the cleaning. If they're on the right side, slowly lower the siphon into the tank on the left side. When you need to move the siphon to the right end...do it slowly so that they see it and can "escape" safely to the other end.

They'll get the hang of it soon enough. But be sure to do a daily water change, ok? They most likely aren't sick yet, but getting the nitrates under control will go a long ways towards keeping them healthy.

[dghby]

Thanks Toni, sometimes a deep breath does help. the others are back to normal but the smallest one is now hiding behind the sponge filter and didn't eat during their last feeding.
I was a little quick in getting to the tank earlier and might have spoked them. will start the daily Wc's and see what happens.

[Poco]

Agree with Toni. Up your water changes and see how they behave.

One other thing if you cast any shadows over the tank that will also spook the fish. just a thought.

[Tazalanche]

Before doing water changes due to nitrates of 10ppm in the tank, please test the nitrates in your source water & aging barrel to make sure they're lower, preferably 0.

[dghby]

Update: The smallest one is now back to eating and swimming with the others.
I also screwed up and don't think I shook the 2 Nitrate bottle well enough this morning as I just tested it and the reading is at about 1-2 instead of my initial report of 10.

I believe I was a bit careless this morning, normally I have been cautious walking into the room not to startle them. but this morning I was more abrupt and quick with the water change and
my movements around the tank, I guess I have been use to having 4-5 inch Discus instead of 2-3 inch. this is a bit different and must be more calming with them. but sure is nice to have Discus back in the house again.
back to daily water changes.

[dghby]

Update: So, completed 80% WC today, everything was fine they done well with the WC and stayed calm. I fed them immediately afterwards ( trying to let them know Food follows WC)
they all ate and everyone got their share. then began hauling in some firewood from outside ( I have to go right by them with a wheel barrel full of wood ) done this once then it began to rain.
(can't win it seems). so stopped, turned the lights out. went to go back upstairs and turns and seen a completely different one than yesterday start darting. then another different one, circling the sponge filter faster than I could count and darting across the tank several times. really a scary moment if you know what I mean. now they have settled down. was it just me turning out the light? maybe I need to quit focusing on them so much.

[Madaboutdiscus]

I have a couple that do this occasionally. I dont worry unless they hurt themselves. My big guy knocked a gash on his head one morning knocked himself out too cause he got scared by my shadow. Theyre flighty and get scared easily. I find if I leave my blue light on during the day and at night and turn the real light on when I get home they do better. Also I leave the room light off when doing a wc so they cant see me and theyve improved. Now they dont even pay attention to me messing with their tank. They hide when the water comes back in. I treat with frozen bws and they immediately come out and start eating. It just takes time for them to get adjusted.

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