Changing tank to discus

[Jason.M]

I am planning on switching my 125 gallon tank to discus. Tank currently houses one adult wild caught Bahia red tailed Oscar and one male Honduran red point. Tank is filtered by an FX5 and AC 110. Tank has been running with no problems for 3 or so years.
Although it would be a lot of work, should I tear down the tank, sterilize/disinfect and recycle before adding discus?
Since the tank was already setup for SA for the Oscar, I had planned to remove the fish in there now, raise temp, give the tank a good cleaning(not dirty anyway, I'm a clean tank freak)and add discus. But I'm rethinking it. Don't want any problems if I can avoid it with the new animals.

[Altum Nut]

Welcome to the Discus bug Jason...we knew you would finally come around.
When you mean tear down...is there any substrate, plants, driftwood or other furniture and have filters been cleaned regularly and what were you feeding your monster fish?
Having a stable cycled tank would be a bonus and would also depend on what size Discus and how many you plan on getting.

...Ralph

[Jason.M]

By tear down I mean basically sterilize the system and start fresh. I would rather keep my stable system of course. But if it needed it I would do it. I know it only takes a couple months to get the cycle going again but I'm never happy with a new system until around 6 months.
Right now the tank has 2 pieces of drift wood, large and small rocks, and pool filter sand substrate.
I plan on moving the rocks out, leaving just enough sand in the tank to cover the bottom glass to get rid of the mirror effect, like one grain deep, but basically as bare bottom as possible. Keeping the driftwood and adding some more that I have, and maybe some plastic plants. I have built up a nice collection of plastic plants over the years and some are really nice.
The filters and tank have been maintained well. Large water changes of 75% or more once or twice a week. Regular filter maintenance as required. I keep debris from going in the filters and filter water only and vac out debris as should be done. Tank is kept at 5-10 ppm nitrates.
As for food, I strive to meet the nutritional requirements of my Oscar. I feed a couple different quality pellets as the staple of the diet, supplemented with peas, FD krill. The pellets and krill get soaked in vitamins such as Boyds vitachem or seachem nourish a couple times a week. Large cichlids don't get enough vitamins especially C. In the summer of course he gets his favorite food, grasshoppers. Also crickets, worms and other fish yummies. And of course NO live aquatic food has ever been used. Too much risk of disease.
The tank has had no disease or issue since setup.
As for discus I plan on getting 8 or 9 small juvi's 2.5 - 3 inch. And keeping 6 or 7 as they get to size and I decide which ones to keep. Probably 7 as I like odd numbers. Always seems visually more appealing in odd numbers.
After growing them out and they reach adult size I want to then add a school something like cardinals and some Cory cats.
Thanks for your input, any recommendations based on my info would be greatly appreciated.

[rickztahone]

Many people think I am crazy but no matter what was in a tank prior, or the equipment used, I always nuke ALL of it. I like the feeling of knowing what I have in the tank as well as the tank itself, is free of any nasties. Peace of mind for me really.

[discuspaul]

Many people think I am crazy but no matter what was in a tank prior, or the equipment used, I always nuke ALL of it. I like the feeling of knowing what I have in the tank as well as the tank itself, is free of any nasties. Peace of mind for me really.

Hard to disagree with that.
Wouldn't likely do that for any other species of fish, but for expensive discus, I would - especially for 2.5" youngsters who are more susceptible to stress and resulting health issues.

[Jason.M]

Thanks for the info. I think I might, as you say "nuke" it. For peace of mind.
Here's a pic of my tank now.
http://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii568/jmunroe24/Mobile%20Uploads/image.jpg (http://s1260.photobucket.com/user/jmunroe24/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image.jpg.html)
Hope it can be seen I use photobucket.
Do you use hydrogen peroxide for nuking?

[jmf3460]

Jason that is a beautiful Oscar. I bet he is your best friend and eats from your hand. What do you plan to do with him? I would find it hard to part with a fish like this. Regarding your "nuke" scenario, I think by nuking they mean bleaching. IMHO I do not think this is even necessary. Does your Oscar carry disease? has it ever? if not why do you think your tank is dirty? If it were me I would just do a more than normal cleaning, and clean the filtration well then let it run for a while with nothing in there before adding the discus. you will have to find a way to save your bb though if you let it run for a while with nothing to feed it. what kind of discus do you plan for that tank? I do think for discus, you will really benefit from a plain white or plain black background. but you have the starts of a really good looking discus show tank, you've already got the sand and wood going on for a biotope tank.

[Solid]

That is a sweet looking oscar! I think I too would "nuke" everything. Clean everything with soap and water and bleach dilute and let it dry out completely. But since you seem to take very good care of the tank, if your fish hasn't been sick there is probably nothing wrong with just adding the fish into the water you have, would save all you bacteria colony too.

[rickztahone]

Jason that is a beautiful Oscar. I bet he is your best friend and eats from your hand. What do you plan to do with him? I would find it hard to part with a fish like this. Regarding your "nuke" scenario, I think by nuking they mean bleaching. IMHO I do not think this is even necessary. Does your Oscar carry disease? has it ever? if not why do you think your tank is dirty? If it were me I would just do a more than normal cleaning, and clean the filtration well then let it run for a while with nothing in there before adding the discus. you will have to find a way to save your bb though if you let it run for a while with nothing to feed it. what kind of discus do you plan for that tank? I do think for discus, you will really benefit from a plain white or plain black background. but you have the starts of a really good looking discus show tank, you've already got the sand and wood going on for a biotope tank.


That is a sweet looking oscar! I think I too would "nuke" everything. Clean everything with soap and water and bleach dilute and let it dry out completely. But since you seem to take very good care of the tank, if your fish hasn't been sick there is probably nothing wrong with just adding the fish into the water you have, would save all you bacteria colony too.

These are great points, but again, I will say that this is the way I would approach it. If, your future discus were to get sick down the line, you could never eliminate the possibility that they could have got sick because of something left over in the tank. That is a risk I hardly ever take, but like others have said, chances are that nothing will happen.

[Jason.M]

Thanks for the input. The tank has never "had" any disease or sign of trouble since being setup and cycled from scratch. When I say "had", i mean there hasn't been any signs or symptoms of anything to date.
At one point I had a couple different domestic oscars in there which ended with one trying to kill the other which more times than not happens with them. I was then down to one and a school of 9 silver dollars and the HRPs.
Then I got my hands on the wild caught Oscar and well.... he just doesn't like anybody or anything. When you hear people say the wild caught oscars are more aggressive, it's very true. He has made me bleed during water changes and feedings quite a few times. He stalks you when you walk by, bangs the heck outta the glass when he's hungry, and try's to kill me when I do anything in the tank.

But thanks, yes he's gorgeous, full of personality and will be very hard to part with.
I did have the wild caught Oscar in a QT for 2 months and treated him for gram + & - bacteria, parasites and worms before going into general population. Maybe I'm over thinking it and should just freshen the tank and decor up and go for it. I will keep my cycle alive with pure ammonia if it needs to run awhile with no fish I go that route.