Won't eat and very inactive

[Linkwi88]

Problem

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?

Pack of 8 juveniles, they were freeswimming just around new years. 5-6 cm now. Private home bred and guaranteed 100% disease free.
Just had them for two weeks. First week I saw normal behavior and they all ate but 4 of them more happy to eat than the rest. The ones that are more picky are showing more "moodbars" then the rest and have less coloration. Now they have Small to none appetite, low activity, tend to just stay in the corners of the tank, squittish.


2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds).

A bit Dark grey from time to time but they had little coloration from start since they are young, not eating, some scratch against plants but not more than a few times each time they have done It. Also against the airstone hose and there I have wiped off some slime. Dont know what darting or flashing means?


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.

None


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.

100 gallons. 8 juveniles and 10 small cory sterbai

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).

50-70% Sunday, tuesday and friday. Uses JBL Aqua in/out and always clean the bottom of the tank. Also add Seachem Prime.

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?

Tank has been running since 9 april. Has white cichlidsand. About 1-3 cm deep.

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.

No.


8. Parameters and water source;

Note: Water Parameters are important in diagnosing problems within a tank. If you don't own test kits for the following information, you can purchase them, test your parameters and post this info as soon as possible.


- temp 29,5- 29,8

- ph 6,5-7

- ammonia reading 0

- nitrite reading 0

- nitrate reading 10

What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.

- well water 100%

- municipal water ____

- RO water ____


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.

Got 10 corydoras sterbai on wedensday but 5 has died since that. I dont know why :-(

10. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.

Tetra Discus Granulate/bits, frozen white musquito larvae,
3-5 times a day. Tried giving them homemade food yesterday but no one wanted to even smell It, even though it was garlic in it.

11. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.


I feel like a total failure and are very sad cause I really really dont know what Im doing wrong.

[Sturiosoma]

With doing big water changes do you check your ph before and after water changes to see if your getting any ph swings

Jeanne

[LizStreithorst]

Do us a favor and test your water for a pH swing. It's easy. Just get a bucket and fill it with pure tap water and test the pH. Next add an airstone and let it bubble overnight before you test the pH again. A pH swing can be stressful to the fish and cause them to scratch against things (flashing).

I don't know what to make of your nitrate reading. With the size of your tank and the small bio-load I'd have expected it to be closer to 5 which is ideal. What brand test kit are you using and how old is it?

[Linkwi88]

Ok, I'll test the ph in the bucket. The nitrate and ammonia tests are Sera and I bought it when I filled the tank 9 april. The PH, Nitrite, KH and GH is Tetra testkit. We had very heavy rain this week after a period of dry weather and maybe that have caused our water to change :-/ But Im setting up a bucket before I go to bed now!

[Linkwi88]

And I can already see the problem :-( Think I was right about heavy rain messing up our water cause test shows ph 5 (!!) from the tap and tank says 6,5. Omg I feel so stupid not testing the tap water recently :-( Tap water 2 weeks ago was ph 7 and never had readings other than 7,5 and 7 from the tap. So I clearly have to buy a barrel and start aging the water. Just hope Its not too late for my babies :-( And clearly no more waterchanges now until I got this covered. And you might be right about the nitrate reading, the color Is lighter than 10 and darker than 0.

[LizStreithorst]

holy moly! What is your water source? I've never heard of such a wild swing! The API test kits give the most reliable results but for as much as they cost I can't recommend that you buy another kit.

[Linkwi88]

I was shocked myself when the test vial went yellow! I actually got a bit sick to my stomach. I even opened another bottle of PH drops and found a new vial just to be sure It was the right reading. I have a private well In the woods, gets water from rain and ground moist quite simply. But I have never ever got a reading like this before. And ofcourse Its typical that the water changes so drasticly just after getting my long wanted discus.

[Linkwi88]

I cant sleep, Im heartbroken. They all look really bad now. The smallest one has passed. I just want to cry�� 3 others struggle to keep up straight and dumping down in the sand. Guess its over for all of them :-(

[slicksta]

You might want to have your water professionally tested to be sure it's safe for yourself as well.

[LizStreithorst]

Oh God, I'm so sorry for you.

Please don't give up on the Discus hobby. You have learned something and you can go on. Aging won't help if you have another huge pH swing like that. The only way I can think of to stabilize your water is using straight RO and reconstituting it. There must be another way.

I imagine that this is a shallow well. I moved once to a place that had a shallow well. When I tested the water it was 3.8. My fish were already in their tanks and over time they started being unwell. I couldn't figure out what was up because everyone who ever lived there did fine. Most of them lived to be old. I called places that I thought might be able to solve the problem. I got lucky when a guy from a private water testing company took his time to showed me the answer.

He said that he didn't need to come out and do a lot of testing for a lot of money when my fish were already telling me what he would. He said that shallow wells were notorious for being polluted...That every toxic substance anyone ever poured on them worked it's way into the water supply. It dosent have to have been you. It could be neighbors. It all still worked it's way to the shallow aquifer. I have no idea if that's your problem but it's worth thinking about.

Again, my condolences.

[slicksta]

You don't need to hire anyone, there are many places that you can bring/mail a sample to and they'll provide you with a detailed analysis.
Last time I did it for my employer it was less than $100... but this will depend on the range of tests done

U.S. EPA Web site, http://water.epa.gov/scitech/drinkingwater/labcert/statecertification.cfm
or call the toll-free Private Well Owner Hotline at 855-420-9355.

[Linkwi88]

Thank you for taking your time. I will get that water more checked for sure. If they all die I will definitly take a long break before Im getting new Discus, have to save up both money and most of all sprit again, but I wont give up. I spent hours watching them everyday and they were doing so well. Even got bigger and more color in just a week. Here I've been, working hard with keeping the water clean and then It's the "clean" water that kills them. How ironic. Sad for me but even more sad for my discus being the suffering victim :(

[Linkwi88]

I live in Norway but I will get to the bottom of this :-(

[slicksta]

I feel your pain and I know how disheartening it can be.
That said, take care of yourself and your family first and foremost.
I don't know much about your country but my initial mpression is that pollution is not as severe as areas here in the US. I hope I'm correct
Best of luck

[LizStreithorst]

I don't know how many times I've had Discus tragedies. You don't know all I It came to the point that I was feeling cursed. Remember that if you just give up you will never experience the joy of accomplishment.

[snxtif]

Hi,

Sorry for your loss.
But please neither let this gets to you too badly, nor give up this wonderful hobby.
I feel your pain.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?82929-Cold-Hard-Facts-for-the-Hobbyist

Please read above thread written by Al long time ago.
Cold hard fact No.1, sooner or later, you gonna kill your fish one way or another.

Just make sure you learn something new and try your best next time with good conscience.

[Linkwi88]

Finally had the courage to get out of bed and check on my babies, and they are all alive, but still just hanging in the corner. So maybe they will live!

[Linkwi88]

And thank you for sharing that post about all the dark siden of this hobby!

[LizStreithorst]

Remember that although the lows are very low, the highs put you on top of the world.

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Linkwi88, hoping you can work thru this and Liz is right, the highs do put you on top of the world :D
Pat

[Sturiosoma]

This is so sadand I know I am shunned here because I have differing opinons about big water changes, they are highly recommended but there is not much said about what can happen, so folks you don't have to listen to me but I'll just say if gonna go big check your ph whether you're change source is tap,ro, aged,or whatever,but also check your tank, it sounded like this individual really had their heart and soul into this,check your ph if you're gonna go big so we can avoid another mishap like this,and I don't know if this is possible but could ph up be used in very small amounts to try and slowly inch the ph back up

Jeanne

[Linkwi88]

Here Is a short video of the status today. They are also much more active and even eating! Not much and wont come running to the food but picks on It from the bottom. The darkest one there on the clip has been that dark all the time. https://youtu.be/1va3A2wZnvA

[LizStreithorst]

Way better than I'd have expected. Looks like they'll be fine once your water gets straight.

[Linkwi88]

Yes, they did not at all look good last night. I was so surprised and glad they lived trough this! My boyfriend went to check our well today and It was so full that the water was floating all around It. So he dug a drainage around making the overflow water go down the hill. Here in Norway we have very high amount of Acid Rain. So from here on I will ALWAYS test my water before every single wc and use barrels to buffer the ph with f.ex Baking Soda. Already picked out a barrel, hose and sirculation pump that I can use and I also got an extra heater to put In It. Tank water says 6,5 and tap still is at 5 or lower since the Tetra Testkit doesnt go any lower than 5. Will not do any big wc's until this Is fixed and will only do bottom cleaning and add small buckets of ph ready water in the meanwhile.

[LizStreithorst]

Baking soda lasts only a short period of time. Try a media bag of crushed coral in your water barrel and in your tank.

[snxtif]

the highs put you on top of the world.

Like the moment you click "Order" button, wait for FEDEX, open the box, plop the fish...? :D

[Sturiosoma]

Do you have access to live blackworm if you feed those little buggers and keep them strong I think you can pull them through this, I know my juvies absolutely love them and I wouldn't feed the live worms everyday and if you do get them make sure you rinse them good in cold water before feeding, I'm rooting for you

Jeanne

[Sturiosoma]

And just one more thing I think you should vary your regular feeding regimen I don't much care for the granules you are feeding as they have a lot of fillers and not much food you may want to think about new life spectrum flake, freeze dried blackworm, freeze dried bloodworm, freeze dried daphnia, the freeze dried foods you put in hot water to rehydrate allowing them to sink, and also I would feed omega one kelp pellets to provide them their necessary greensquality foods make for a quality fish

Jeanne