How Much Water to Change?

[flutterbug]

I am interested to see what the experienced Discus keepers think. I have a 120 gallon planted tank. It has pool filter sand which I tried to keep just deep enough to keep the plants roots covered and in the case of stem plants - from floating. I just got to the point where I could put the 4 adult discus I already had back in it after a leak. The runt has been looking like it is fighting problems for a few weeks now. I had upped water changes in the holding tank upon noticing. Now even though I moved them into their much larger tank with no other fish. (Just pond snails that I just can't get rid of.) I am starting to notice slight issues on the other fish. The most dominant having the least issues. So I know the only answer I will get is lots of clean water. So can I get people's input as to how much and how often they would be changing water in this tank. I measured all the fish when they went from the holding tank to the 120 and they are in order of largest to smallest - 5", 4.5", 4.25", & 4". I have had them for 3 years and I am pretty sure they were about 2-3 months when I got them, so they are done growing as far as I can tell from info I have found. I just want to keep them healthy. I do use root tabs and Purigen but no other chemicals aside from Prime for water changes. Thanks for your time!

[warblad79]

I do 100% per day in BB tank. You'll probably disagree with me but I can grow from fry to 6"+ and beyond in less than 1 year & 6 months period.

[Jack L]

I am interested to see what the experienced Discus keepers think. I have a 120 gallon planted tank. It has pool filter sand which I tried to keep just deep enough to keep the plants roots covered and in the case of stem plants - from floating. I just got to the point where I could put the 4 adult discus I already had back in it after a leak. The runt has been looking like it is fighting problems for a few weeks now. I had upped water changes in the holding tank upon noticing. Now even though I moved them into their much larger tank with no other fish. (Just pond snails that I just can't get rid of.) I am starting to notice slight issues on the other fish. The most dominant having the least issues. So I know the only answer I will get is lots of clean water. So can I get people's input as to how much and how often they would be changing water in this tank. I measured all the fish when they went from the holding tank to the 120 and they are in order of largest to smallest - 5", 4.5", 4.25", & 4". I have had them for 3 years and I am pretty sure they were about 2-3 months when I got them, so they are done growing as far as I can tell from info I have found. I just want to keep them healthy. I do use root tabs and Purigen but no other chemicals aside from Prime for water changes. Thanks for your time!

you can get rid of ponds snails with assassin snails

if i were you, i wouldn't ask, you already know the answer, and its the correct answer, but then if if i wanted cut back on WC, i would do basic tests to see when the junk builds up, knowing that it is only a gauge not a definitive answer of crap in water, then i'd chart it out and stay ahead of it. i'd also feed at a minimum and nix the tabs. make adjustments over the coming months and see how it goes. the discus will tell you if they are okay with it.

[Larry Bugg]

You have 4 discus (bad number, need more) in a 120 gallon. They are over three years old so yes they are adults and yes they have finished growing. 4 small adults in a 120, I would probably be doing around 30% several days a week.

[flutterbug]

You have 4 discus (bad number, need more) in a 120 gallon. They are over three years old so yes they are adults and yes they have finished growing. 4 small adults in a 120, I would probably be doing around 30% several days a week.

I had 7 but lost 3. Not sure if you want the details but thank you, 30% several days a week (several being 3 or more!?) lol
is at least an idea for me.

I am growing 3 juevies out. I got 4 but one had a problem from shipping so now I am down to 3. So once I can add them I will have 7 again.

[flutterbug]

you can get rid of ponds snails with assassin snails

if i were you, i wouldn't ask, you already know the answer, and its the correct answer, but then if if i wanted cut back on WC, i would do basic tests to see when the junk builds up, knowing that it is only a gauge not a definitive answer of crap in water, then i'd chart it out and stay ahead of it. i'd also feed at a minimum and nix the tabs. make adjustments over the coming months and see how it goes. the discus will tell you if they are okay with it.

It isn't so much I want to cut back just what people that keep adult Discus healthy successfully think the minimum to keep healthy is. I really only read a lot of how much water to change on grow outs. Not as much info for adults even as far as feeding. At one point I started only feeding them once per day. Not sure if that is not enough since if you tell most other people that keep fish you feed your fish 6 times a day they would think you were nuts. Of course minimum is better to me because it gives me more time for everything else I need to do and conserves water. I don't like being wasteful. If you ask planted tank people they think 50% water changes once per week is a good amount. Even the Discus keepers. I am not saying they are right, for all I know they are 16 and just set up their first 10 gallon and have a single baby Discus in it! And maybe think they need salt in there too cuz that's what they read on the inter webs.. ugh

[pascal]

It isn't so much I want to cut back just what people that keep adult Discus healthy successfully think the minimum to keep healthy is. I really only read a lot of how much water to change on grow outs. Not as much info for adults even as far as feeding. At one point I started only feeding them once per day. Not sure if that is not enough since if you tell most other people that keep fish you feed your fish 6 times a day they would think you were nuts. Of course minimum is better to me because it gives me more time for everything else I need to do and conserves water. I don't like being wasteful. If you ask planted tank people they think 50% water changes once per week is a good amount. Even the Discus keepers. I am not saying they are right, for all I know they are 16 and just set up their first 10 gallon and have a single baby Discus in it! And maybe think they need salt in there too cuz that's what they read on the inter webs.. ugh

Hello,

I don't see myself as an experienced discus keeper, but I got discus on a discontinuously base for almost 40 years. I've made a lot of mistakes and probably am still doing some today. I've kept discus in a planted tank, with other fish proceeding with 20% water changes per week or even less. 'To keep' is maybe not the right word, although most of them grew up to a 'normal' or acceptable size. Over the year, there was always one or two with some white faeces or any other issue. When I read about more frequent als larger waterchanges, I noticed a significant improvement on the health and grow of my fish (had no discus at that moment). So it is not only appropriate for discus to me but even for a goldfish. Today, I don't perform as much waterchanges as most of the people on the forum. Not because I don't believe in the advantage, but because of the needed time and the infrastructure (tank in the living room, need to take the hose, etc...). But I try to apply a 50% WC twice or 3 times a week if possible.

What is worrying me most of all are the pond snails. These are living encyclopedia for pathogens. I would in the first place suggest you to empty your tank and clean it as much as you can. Recover the filter, some water but keep the decoration out of the tank for a while. Don't use the plants anymore. Start a bare bottom tank with some new decoration, some wood and try to detect what kind of desease your fish have (flagelates, worms). Tread them accordingly. I don't like BB tanks, but my discus are swimming in it because I think it is best for them.

Even if you tread them correctly, if the poential cause of your problem (snails) is not eliminated, it makes no sense.

[Filip]

I know that i might be walking on the border but I keep 8 grown discus approx. 5-6 inch + some other small fish in a planted 65 g. tank with thin layer of sand and potted plants .So far I get away with 3 x 70% WCs a week and feed carefully 1-2 times daily with tetra granules as a staple and artemia and BH occasionally. This regiment works for me for the past half year period, once they were done growing.
I do keep prefilter floss regularly changed and keep the sand regularly stirred and canister biomedia clean .
HTH,
Here is a pic of my current setup .

101469

[bluelagoon]

Hello,



What is worrying me most of all are the pond snails. These are living encyclopedia for pathogens. I would in the first place suggest you to empty your tank and clean it as much as you can. Recover the filter, some water but keep the decoration out of the tank for a while. Don't use the plants anymore. Start a bare bottom tank with some new decoration, some wood and try to detect what kind of desease your fish have (flagelates, worms). Tread them accordingly. I don't like BB tanks, but my discus are swimming in it because I think it is best for them.

Even if you tread them correctly, if the poential cause of your problem (snails) is not eliminated, it makes no sense.

I think you would probably need to put something in the tank to kill the snails.Assassin snails or Seachem Cupramine would work.This way you don't need to cycle your tank over again.It would be very difficult to get read of all the eggs in the system and the cleaning equipment and hoses without some kind of sterilization.

[Jack L]

Assassin snails worked great and it was an interesting dynamic to observe. When I dropped them in they immediately scattered and consumed

[Jack L]

It isn't so much I want to cut back just what people that keep adult Discus healthy successfully think the minimum to keep healthy is. I really only read a lot of how much water to change on grow outs. Not as much info for adults even as far as feeding. At one point I started only feeding them once per day. Not sure if that is not enough since if you tell most other people that keep fish you feed your fish 6 times a day they would think you were nuts. Of course minimum is better to me because it gives me more time for everything else I need to do and conserves water. I don't like being wasteful. If you ask planted tank people they think 50% water changes once per week is a good amount. Even the Discus keepers. I am not saying they are right, for all I know they are 16 and just set up their first 10 gallon and have a single baby Discus in it! And maybe think they need salt in there too cuz that's what they read on the inter webs.. ugh

Salt, yeah used to use that too, there are many books saying that too.

Not in my current discus tank, but in one a long time ago, it was planted. Once they were over a year or two old I really slacked off on maintenance. I wasn't around to take care of it. For a while I was doing monthly water changes, I didn't see any problems. then it became a matter of adding back water that evaporated. They were feed twice a day. This was too much, I started losing them.

So in that tank that was heavily planted, monthly was adequate for them as adults. But every tank is different.