I'm at a loss as to what to do...

[OhareFred]

Hi all, I need some expert help!

Tank size:~180 gallons
Normal temp-86
Ph-7.0
30-40%water changes weekly
Filters 1- wet/dry
1- bio-canister
1- canister w/ ammonnia-charcoal mix
2 large airstones
Planted tank

All has been great till about 3 weeks ago. In 6 days I lost 3 1 year old Discus, a 1 year old catfish, and 2 1 year old clown pleckos. Remaining are 4 1 year old Discus, 1 1 yr old catfish 3 tetras and 2 6 month old bushynose pleckos. My water temp fell to 84 but that was it when the die off started. Did everyother day water changes for a week and raised the temp to 88. After a 4 days and no more fish loss slowly lowered back to 85-86. All was great until two days ago. My 4 remaining Discus stopped eating. I slowly raised back to 88, did two water changes in 3 days. Still not eating and now the Discus are hiding in rocks, cornors, at the top etc and they NEVER did that before. Added some Prazi-Pro but am afraid Im going to lose the entire tank. Any help you could offer would be gladly taken! Nothing new has been added (unless you count the water changes) the filters are changed monthly(except for the wet/dry of course) and all this time things were going great. Hell three days ago the Discus were up at the front of the tank, looking beautiful! Ideas! What should I do?

Ps. Removed all charcoal when I added the medicine.

[Akili]

Can you please post your water parameters?

[Kyla]

can u upload some pics or better yet video?

[OhareFred]

Will do on both. Just finished working on the tank and feeding the fish. Here is what I have observed...two of the Discus are hiding in the same rock. When I fed the frozen bloodworms first one came out and ate. His stripes were a little dark, but fins were wide open. After eating he went back to the rock, went in, the other came out, fins also spread out and very colorful. After that one ate he went back in the rock. The blue one then sat right at the rock entrence and chased other fish away. The other two Discus stayed on the other side of the tank. They also ate but one of them looks "pale". I dont know what to think.

Ill get those water numbers to you all shortly! Thank you for the quick replys!

[bluelagoon]

First,why are you using ammonia and charcoal mix.IMO you don't need it.Plus you didn't mention if you cleaned you substrate.I'm thinking bacteria or some other nasty build up.What made you think they had worms or flukes?They would not kill that many fish that suddenly.

[bluelagoon]

O,how long has the tank been set up and running?30-40% WC over what length of time?Seems to me your leaving too much dirty/depleted water behind on every WC and all the nasties build up over time.

[OhareFred]

Hi again. Yes the substate is vaccumed with every water change. The tank has been up and running just shy of 2 years. I waited about 3 months before adding the Discus. Had the tetras, clown pleckos and tetras in first. Have been doing the same process since it was set up.

Tested the water this am, here are the results (last water change 48 hours ago) Nitrate: less then 10ppm, Nitrite: zero, Hardness:about 100, chlorine:zero, Alkalinity: 120, ph:7.0

Today the fish hiding in the rock did the same as yesterday, eating one at a time. The two on the otherside also same, one at the top, one hiding... best pice I. Could get....

[OhareFred]

Picture 1 is one of my Discus hiding behind the rock(hard to see) picture 2 &3 are actually the same fish, just got a nice closeup, and picture 4 is the rock the other two are hiding in....

[bluelagoon]

First sight of your discus tells me that there were not grown out in good conditions.He looks stunted to me and it has probably taken them this long to see the out come.Not sure what the rest look like but the one in the pic won't have a long life either.

[Filip]

Put the remaining 4 discus in a 30G Barebottom tank , with seeded filter and change their water there 80% daily .
Elevate the temps to 92 and observe their behaviour there .
They might regain their appetite by them selves with pristine and fresh water and warmer temp. for a couple of days /weeks.

[OhareFred]

Heres a pic of the one that is hiding behind the rock in picture 1....

[OhareFred]

Wow,

Ok Ill get going on the seperate tank.....