Is this behavior normal? Swimming "flat" and swimming through tight spaces.

[Lynx]

So I've been keeping discus for a couple of months now. And I thought I had things kinda sorted out, until 2 of my fish died recently - and now I feel like I can't be sure about anything.

Most of my fish (only the babies don't do it) do this thing when they swim normally, then lay flat on the bottom of the tank (I have it BB) for a second then get up and continue normal swimming. They do it most often near the front wall of the aquarium so I always assumed they were just being playful. But now I got some new fish in the QT tank and they do the same thing, straight from the breeder.
Is this a sign of a disease or is this normal discus behavior?

What I also noticed is that all (including the babies) of my fish seem to enjoy swimming through tight spaces, like between a fake plant and an aquarium wall for example, or between an air pipe and the wall. But now I wonder - might they be scratching that way? They all seem to enjoy to swim through the air bubbles from the air pomp as well.

[Lynx]

Here is a movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4CEqOdHElU&feature=youtu.be

Weird behavior can be observed at 1:46

[danotaylor]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4CEqOdHElU&feature=youtu.be

[Cove Beach]

Is the bottom of the tank opaque? If not they may just be looking at what is below or possibly the reflection. Mine like to lay on their sides at the surface and look up to see if food is coming.

[lpsouth1978]

Those Discus look to be in pretty good shape. Is that your QT tank or the main tank? It seems to be VERY small for the three fish in it, let alone if you had 2 addition before they died.

[Lynx]

Hi, thank you all for your replies.

This tank is a quarantine tank, it's 10 gallons, and I only use it for treating fish with expensive meds (small volume of the QT tank allows me to use a lot less of a substance). Soon they will get moved to 30 gallon QT tank. My main tank is 66 gallons / 250 liters.

So it's safe to assume they are just being playful indeed? That's a great news.

[fljones3]

I think that it is the smallness of the tank combined with the ornaments. It’s not abnormal behavior in my opinion but it’s pretty cramped.

[bluelagoon]

Go with post #4.Reflection from the bottom. It's normal.

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Lynx, is this is cycled tank. It really is too small for even one discus. You mention losing one discus? What happened?
Pat

[Lynx]

@fljones3
@Second Hand Pat

As I said above, this tank is a quarantine which I only use with expensive meds.

Here is what my main tank looks like:

https://i.imgur.com/E0DsrnV.jpg

I will be moving these fish from this small tank to a 3 times larger QT tomorrow.

Here is the story about 2 of my fish dying recently:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?135217-Please-help-me-to-keep-the-rest-of-my-fish-alive-after-losing-2-of-them

@bluelagoon
Thank you for your answer.

[bluelagoon]

The tank looks empty. If you're not feeding it, the bacteria will dry and the cycle starts all over. Just thought I'd mention that. In most cases larger WC's need to be aged no matter the PH swing.

[Lynx]

Thank you for all the advice Bluelagoon. But to be honest I don't understand why it is important to age water when the pH in my tank and in my straight from the tap water is exactly the same. Water aging is not an easy thing to do so I mostly just use Seachem Safe during my water changes.

[lpsouth1978]

... Water aging is not an easy thing to do...

Huh?

Aging water is about the easiest thing you can do. Put water in a bucket, brute, or other container, add a power head or air stone, and let it sit for a day. I struggle to see the difficulty in it. I understand if you do not feel aging your water is necessary, but to say that it "is not an easy thing to do" is a bit much.

[Lynx]

I say it's not easy because I don't live in a house. I live in a flat and don't have extra space to keep the water during its aging process.

[bluelagoon]

I live in an apartment too. The reason most folks age water for discus is because discus require large WC's. When you get to about 40-50% WC, the chemistry of the water is quite different from your tank water. Aging brings things to an equilibrium,especially the gases. 25- 30% from the tap in most areas will be safe.

[jeep]

But to be honest I don't understand why it is important to age water when the pH in my tank and in my straight from the tap water is exactly the same.

You are fortunate. This is rare but not unheard of. If you are using city supplied tap water, it will be under pressure and water under pressure contains c02. This is what your micro bubbles are and they are an irritant to fish. C02 is usually a main cause of ph swings. As long as your tap ph is the same as your tank ph, and the micro bubbles are dissipated, you are good to go...

[bluelagoon]

Out of my tap ph is 7.4. After aging for 24 hrs. - 3 days still 7.4, maybe 7.3, hardly any change. If I was to change about 50% from the tap it would still have micro bubbles. This is the reason I age my water. When doing extra large WC's on planted tanks you can really see how many micro bubbles/false pearling there is. Our source is lake water, ph 5-6.2 depending on the time of year. They use sodium hydroxide to increase ph to hinder pipe erosion. And a coagulant Aluminum sulphate to clot the organic matter. The low ph in our lakes is caused by many years of coal burning and acid rain. They are slowly coming back but climate change has slowed this process down some again.

[Lynx]

Bluelagoon, Jeep, what you said was very informative, thank you both a lot. I will keep that in mind and try to do my best.

[hardcore_freak]

When they need to navigate thru crowded or space constraints... I think they will flatten and UFO out?
Alot of my newly acquired fishes have this very bad habit. I reckon it's because they were previously kept in very packed conditions for a long time?
My self breed fish's don't have this habit of UFO-ing...