Morty
06-30-2016, 11:57 AM
Hi,
I am new to the forums and the world of discus keeping, but I have been lurking the threads and want to ask for help since everyone is so knowledgeable. I have been keeping freshwater tanks and saltwater tanks for 15 years (when I relocate a long distance I leave the tank in the care of a relative/trusted friend). I am not overly sophisticated, I primarily watched the nitrogen cycle, osmosis, algae build up etc. but have been successful in growing happy fish without any losses. I had a fish die off last week that I expected was asphyxiation during an attempted filter transfer and addition of Fluval's ammonia remover in my filter. I repopulated with 5 juveniles and 4 of them look sick, and one of the originals looks terrible: white string poop and brown spots (he always had a few which looked normal).
Water parameters:
Ammonia:0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-10 ppm
PH: 6.8
Temp: 84
Air stone front right
Water Hardness: I have to guess here, but 3+/-, I only tested with strips and it was always at the very low end and I live in NYC and the LFS told me that the water quality here was perrrrfect for discus (soft?). (they tested a water sample and said everything was fine)
Tank: 50 G Seaclear
Substrate: Thin layer of store bought gravel/stones.
Light: Unknown but nothing fancy
Filter: Fluval 306 back right pointed to ripple the water. The flow is turned down as the fish hate it otherwise, but it appears sufficient to me (turned all the way up its forcefully spraying the front of the tank).
Water changes: 50% twice a week minimum, as needed in extremely distressed situations. Conditioned separately with either prime or API tap water conditioner (it takes me a few buckets and I don't want to overdose one product). I don't age my water as my girlfriend would murder me with buckets left out in our NYC mansion (joke), but I agitate it severely while filling the bucket, is this the best I can do given my circumstances or completely unacceptable?
I had the discus for 3 months: 2 blue diamond, 1 red turquoise, 1 I thought looked cool (bought from what I think is the highest quality fish store in northern NJ), and a blue diamond high fins I bought from a breeder. Everything was fine. I was switching the filter from a Fluval 205 to a 306 as the fish were growing (they went from juveniles to 3 inches in my estimation). They were overly aggressive and constantly chasing each other around, nipping down the pecking order at feeding time. I moved to feeding them (a variety of flakes and pellets, some purporting to have shrimp, anchovies, other proteins) twice a day which wiped out the craziness. I had been putting media in the 206 slowly that was going to be transferred to the 306. This long story short I was having it shipped online and PetCo (sorry) botched the shipment of the new filter so that it arrived 3 weeks late (the day after the fish died) (I was buying a larger tank but that shipment was so messed up I had to cancel it, was never going to get here: advice would be appreciated). As such, I went to the store and bought a filter (only one I could find in Manhattan and I was prepping for interviews for 16+ hours a day for my dream job), but it was broken obviously. However, I was told to replace the carbon with Fluval's ammonia remover just to be safe. Next morning, 3 dead fish, all black and floating at the surface. I put one that was 10 seconds away from death in a small container with an airstone and he regained his color and got upright, but later perished, so I would guess they asphyxiated. Stupid of me not to have researched this, but I hear that product can turn ammonia into salt, or deprive the fish of oxygen in some other form. It was washed extremely thoroughly and I have never had issues changing media in the past.
I replace the fish with 5 juveniles. I assume 7 is too many and will get yelled at again, but I will purchase a 4 foot long tank in due course. However, they look terrible. They all shake/shiver, most are listless, the blue high fins is breathing very heavy and now cowers in the corner as opposed to previously fighting for a top spot in the hierarchy, and the blackened runt that survived the kill off thinks he is a battering ram now. I have noticed white stringy poop from one feller who appears lifeless, and he also has a brown spot on his side and small speckles around his nose. I can't find this on the other fish though. I only repopulated because I thought it was just an air issue and had resolved it with the new filter/media, and had 2 altered but healthy, happy fish.
I assume there are some diseases? Are they being electrocuted? Is their some poison in the water now? Did my buildings water parameters change because they were fixing the pipes or some other reason? Or are they being suffocated by overcrowding (when I had only 5 they were much larger so I would have to assume they were consuming more oxygen?)
Sorry for the long response and the mistakes I have made along the way, but I would very much so appreciate your help.
Regards,
Matt9906399062
I am new to the forums and the world of discus keeping, but I have been lurking the threads and want to ask for help since everyone is so knowledgeable. I have been keeping freshwater tanks and saltwater tanks for 15 years (when I relocate a long distance I leave the tank in the care of a relative/trusted friend). I am not overly sophisticated, I primarily watched the nitrogen cycle, osmosis, algae build up etc. but have been successful in growing happy fish without any losses. I had a fish die off last week that I expected was asphyxiation during an attempted filter transfer and addition of Fluval's ammonia remover in my filter. I repopulated with 5 juveniles and 4 of them look sick, and one of the originals looks terrible: white string poop and brown spots (he always had a few which looked normal).
Water parameters:
Ammonia:0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-10 ppm
PH: 6.8
Temp: 84
Air stone front right
Water Hardness: I have to guess here, but 3+/-, I only tested with strips and it was always at the very low end and I live in NYC and the LFS told me that the water quality here was perrrrfect for discus (soft?). (they tested a water sample and said everything was fine)
Tank: 50 G Seaclear
Substrate: Thin layer of store bought gravel/stones.
Light: Unknown but nothing fancy
Filter: Fluval 306 back right pointed to ripple the water. The flow is turned down as the fish hate it otherwise, but it appears sufficient to me (turned all the way up its forcefully spraying the front of the tank).
Water changes: 50% twice a week minimum, as needed in extremely distressed situations. Conditioned separately with either prime or API tap water conditioner (it takes me a few buckets and I don't want to overdose one product). I don't age my water as my girlfriend would murder me with buckets left out in our NYC mansion (joke), but I agitate it severely while filling the bucket, is this the best I can do given my circumstances or completely unacceptable?
I had the discus for 3 months: 2 blue diamond, 1 red turquoise, 1 I thought looked cool (bought from what I think is the highest quality fish store in northern NJ), and a blue diamond high fins I bought from a breeder. Everything was fine. I was switching the filter from a Fluval 205 to a 306 as the fish were growing (they went from juveniles to 3 inches in my estimation). They were overly aggressive and constantly chasing each other around, nipping down the pecking order at feeding time. I moved to feeding them (a variety of flakes and pellets, some purporting to have shrimp, anchovies, other proteins) twice a day which wiped out the craziness. I had been putting media in the 206 slowly that was going to be transferred to the 306. This long story short I was having it shipped online and PetCo (sorry) botched the shipment of the new filter so that it arrived 3 weeks late (the day after the fish died) (I was buying a larger tank but that shipment was so messed up I had to cancel it, was never going to get here: advice would be appreciated). As such, I went to the store and bought a filter (only one I could find in Manhattan and I was prepping for interviews for 16+ hours a day for my dream job), but it was broken obviously. However, I was told to replace the carbon with Fluval's ammonia remover just to be safe. Next morning, 3 dead fish, all black and floating at the surface. I put one that was 10 seconds away from death in a small container with an airstone and he regained his color and got upright, but later perished, so I would guess they asphyxiated. Stupid of me not to have researched this, but I hear that product can turn ammonia into salt, or deprive the fish of oxygen in some other form. It was washed extremely thoroughly and I have never had issues changing media in the past.
I replace the fish with 5 juveniles. I assume 7 is too many and will get yelled at again, but I will purchase a 4 foot long tank in due course. However, they look terrible. They all shake/shiver, most are listless, the blue high fins is breathing very heavy and now cowers in the corner as opposed to previously fighting for a top spot in the hierarchy, and the blackened runt that survived the kill off thinks he is a battering ram now. I have noticed white stringy poop from one feller who appears lifeless, and he also has a brown spot on his side and small speckles around his nose. I can't find this on the other fish though. I only repopulated because I thought it was just an air issue and had resolved it with the new filter/media, and had 2 altered but healthy, happy fish.
I assume there are some diseases? Are they being electrocuted? Is their some poison in the water now? Did my buildings water parameters change because they were fixing the pipes or some other reason? Or are they being suffocated by overcrowding (when I had only 5 they were much larger so I would have to assume they were consuming more oxygen?)
Sorry for the long response and the mistakes I have made along the way, but I would very much so appreciate your help.
Regards,
Matt9906399062