Paul_ds1985
08-15-2019, 07:49 AM
Hi all,
I'm from England and about 4 weeks into the hobby. I thought I'd go straight into owning Discus (Stendker variety), even though people were trying to put me off. From what I read, as long as your water is super clean, good food and water parameters your good to go! I cycled the tank prior to the discus, but had some high levels (1.0ppm) nitrate due to the amount of fish I added in one go but was controlled using prime and added some additional sponge filters, now all is well - It's been 48 hours and levels are still ok (still monitoring daily)
200 Litre (55 gallon) Juwel Lido fish tank
0 Ammonia
0 Nitrite
10/20 ppm Nitrate
29C temperature (84F)
10 Discus about 8cm?
Feeding 5/6 times per day - Beef heart mix - Fish are growing like weeds!
Daily water changes - Depending on the load between 25% and 50%
Quartz sand very minimal amount
Waste is siphoned via a gravel VAC
I had a real scare list night when doing a water change. For the last 2 weeks I've had the discus, I do the water change the same way:
1. Syphon the old water into Jerry cans
2. Test the old water using API test kit
3. Put in either prime or Stress coat BEFORE adding the new water - to kill chlorine etc
3. Connect hose pipe to kitchen tap, get the water to temperature as best I can (sometimes the temperature does fluctuate but it rarely makes the tank drop more than half a degree)
4. Put the hose in the tank and fill it up
5. Add a bit more Stress coat for good measure (I stick to recommended values)
6. Test the water again
After I added the new water, my discus really started to act VERY strangely. It's as if they had seen a ghost, VERY wide eyes, not moving, clamped fins, breathing very heavy and totally still. One of the fish (not in shot) was laying on it's side with the same symptoms. I started to panic, the other tank mates (2 guppies and 2 neon tetras) were fine. I started to think it was something to do with chlorine or metals in the water - So I added another capful of prime and 25ml of tap safe. About 10 minutes later they were back to normal.
I have done nothing different in the last 2 weeks... I really didn't understand what I'd done wrong. I think it was to do with the chlorine as above?
To stop this happening again, I've invested in a HMA filter via next day delivery!
I've attached a picture, which doesn't do it justice.
Any other advise would be greatly appreciated
Many thanks,
Paul
I'm from England and about 4 weeks into the hobby. I thought I'd go straight into owning Discus (Stendker variety), even though people were trying to put me off. From what I read, as long as your water is super clean, good food and water parameters your good to go! I cycled the tank prior to the discus, but had some high levels (1.0ppm) nitrate due to the amount of fish I added in one go but was controlled using prime and added some additional sponge filters, now all is well - It's been 48 hours and levels are still ok (still monitoring daily)
200 Litre (55 gallon) Juwel Lido fish tank
0 Ammonia
0 Nitrite
10/20 ppm Nitrate
29C temperature (84F)
10 Discus about 8cm?
Feeding 5/6 times per day - Beef heart mix - Fish are growing like weeds!
Daily water changes - Depending on the load between 25% and 50%
Quartz sand very minimal amount
Waste is siphoned via a gravel VAC
I had a real scare list night when doing a water change. For the last 2 weeks I've had the discus, I do the water change the same way:
1. Syphon the old water into Jerry cans
2. Test the old water using API test kit
3. Put in either prime or Stress coat BEFORE adding the new water - to kill chlorine etc
3. Connect hose pipe to kitchen tap, get the water to temperature as best I can (sometimes the temperature does fluctuate but it rarely makes the tank drop more than half a degree)
4. Put the hose in the tank and fill it up
5. Add a bit more Stress coat for good measure (I stick to recommended values)
6. Test the water again
After I added the new water, my discus really started to act VERY strangely. It's as if they had seen a ghost, VERY wide eyes, not moving, clamped fins, breathing very heavy and totally still. One of the fish (not in shot) was laying on it's side with the same symptoms. I started to panic, the other tank mates (2 guppies and 2 neon tetras) were fine. I started to think it was something to do with chlorine or metals in the water - So I added another capful of prime and 25ml of tap safe. About 10 minutes later they were back to normal.
I have done nothing different in the last 2 weeks... I really didn't understand what I'd done wrong. I think it was to do with the chlorine as above?
To stop this happening again, I've invested in a HMA filter via next day delivery!
I've attached a picture, which doesn't do it justice.
Any other advise would be greatly appreciated
Many thanks,
Paul