about my Discus

[Krismic]

So, I have a 150 gallon tank, I use a canister filter designed for up to a 275 gallon tank. I have 2 300 watt heaters. Very thin layer of gravel, 3 artificial natural stone/tree branch type ornaments which offer hiding places (although mine don't hide). A few artificial plants and black painted back. I have 14 juvenile discus I bought from Discus Hans. Some were 2.5" and others 3". I started out with 8 in August, then 4 more a week later only to discover a clown loach I had was harboring worms (I mistakenly thought he fully recovered from "skinny disease"). Anyway, after 2 1/2 long months of medicating, quarantining, stressing, I think I'm finally doing better. I ended up losing 2 Discus. I gave away all my neons and loaches and rainbows and decided my tank would be Discus only. I have 3 albino bristle nose plecos. Two of my Discus stopped eating. One for a month and a half, the other for 2 months! I took out 2/3 of the gravel I had in my tank, re homed all other fish, sterilized all decor, changed water 2 and 3 times a day. One of the two that stopped eating finally started up again last month and has grown quite a bit and coloration showing nicely. The other one just started eating about two weeks ago and no longer hides. So since I finally got things stabilized in my tank I added 4 last weekend. Unlike the first time I added more, these swam right up to and hung out with the others. They didn't hide, turn dark, or refuse to eat. So I have 14 healthy Discus ranging from 2.5" to about 4". They get along nicely and eat like little piggies! Beautiful colors and they all come right out when they see me. After years and years of wanting a Discus tank, I now have the tank of my dreams. I do frequent water changes and wipe downs. The Discus all hang out near my arm when I start, but when I move things around they head to the other side of the tank until it's all finished and then all come out again. I always do 65-70% water changes. I feed beef heart mixture. My temp is 85.5-86 degrees. I can't wait until I can start posting pictures! My fish are so used to my camera and don't mind posing. I have tons of pics, my friends say I'm a fish nerd! I've named each one and can easily tell them apart even though some look really similar since they are still so young. But I'm so glad I found Discus Hans! I got to see his fish in person, and he is just the nicest guy you could ever meet. He loves his fish and he is so knowledgeable. I wouldn't have been able to save my sick fish without his texts, emails and pictures. Even though it was my fault they got sick, he replied to every single message I sent him. I'm thankful I live close enough to have seen his Baltimore facility in person. And of course I feed my fish the stendkar food. Well, I hope to meet lots of fish people and continue to learn about this truly magnificent fish

[jsullins]

Welcome to SD and hopefully things will continue in the right direction with your fish. You are correct Hans is great.

[kris2341]

Welcome and good luck!

From what I am reading, I suspect your discus got sick from dirty water, considering you got rid of most of your tank mates, the next best thing to do is get rid of your gravel as fish wasting away like your loach usually doesnt transmit to a perfectly healthy fish unless it is weakened by something. Even if it is just a little bit of gravel, it is still a detritus trap. I am sure you will be better off if you use a bottom comprised of a thin layer of sand and it is more attractive IMO, detritus just settles on top of it, not in it.

Everything else though, you seem to be doing perfectly well, your water changes are perfect, tank setup aside from the gravel is perfect. The only thing that may not be necessary is the 86F temperature, while discus are generally not harmed by this, we at SD found 82F to be perfectly suitable for discus and prefer to avoid higher temperatures as it actually does not increase the fishes' resistance to disease, it actually increases bacterial activity.

Anyways good luck! you are one of a relative few that have actually started discus keeping with some of the best fish in the industry! We will do our best to give you advice whenever you need it though with how you are going at it, you probably won't need anymore. Just keep up the water changes and feedings and keep their tank CLEAN!

[discuspaul]

Welcome to the forum.
Good to hear that you're succeeding well with discus-keeping - keep up the good work.
As kris mentioned, you've started out with high quality discus, which of course is one of the more important things involved in succeeding with discus. BTW, I too feel you would do well to lower your temp to 82-83.