Discus Fry laying at the bottom of tank

[kenny_lal]

Hello,

I have a situation - My discuss fry are of month old and I noticed that a few of them are laying flat at the bottom of the tank.

I feed them live BBS and at the time of feeding they do take a few bits and then again they lay down flat at the bottom of the tank.

I am using a spong filter, Daily 20-30% water change, Temperature 82 F

Are these discuss fry's sick? Please suggest.


Thanks,
Kenny

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Kenny, I moved your thread to the breeding section so our fry experts will see it.
Pat

[Iminit]

Ok not a fry expert. But I think first you should raise the temp and start changing much more water. 50% minimum but 80% may be what’s needed.

[pablos]

I had the same situation ... they were laying for a while then wake up suddenly like nothing happened.
They all grown up to rounded healthy fish 130750

As Tom said 50%+ WC is good start to improve their conditions

[CliffsDiscus]

Possible bladder problem or constipation try adding a pinch of Epson salt when hatching your BBS. Feed fresh BBS and make larger daily waterchanges.

Cliff

[kenny_lal]

Thanks, Pat!

[kenny_lal]

Thank you, everyone!
As suggested by all. I will do a heavy water change on a daily basis and also as mention by Cliff I will add some Epsom salt to BBS while hatching.
I will update the status further.

Thanks a lot everyone I appreciate your suggestions!!
Kenny

[kenny_lal]

Updates....

I started treating them with Epsom salt but still, they are down, and the number of fries increased with this issue.

I separated them, but before that did gave them all a PP bath.

They are still alive and eat but again lay down..

anything else can I try to make them healthy?

Thanks,
Kenny

[Willie]

If these fish are a month old, they are far too old to be feeding baby brine shrimp. In my experience, BBS is greatly overrated as a source of nutrition. I feed BBS from Day 7 through Day 14 free swimming, but wean them onto solid food at that point. Fry has fed on minced beefheart as early as Day 11 free swimming for me.

I stopped by a friend's fish room 10 years ago and he showed me a tank of fry. After staring at it for 5 minutes, I finally asked him what species it was? He said discus, but they didn't look like any fry I've ever raised because he was still feeding them BBS. He switched to beefheart and they rounded up in about a week. So my prescription is

1. feed with minced beefheart frequently (they'll be ready to eat every hour) and
2. change 90%+ of the water daily.

Good luck, Willie

P.S. Cliff's comment on epsom salt was for hatching BBS, not for raising fry.

[pablos]

I’m not experienced breeder but I’m not using bbs as all. Instead:
- on parents till 2nd weeks
- With parents but pick some beef heart mix (second - third week)
- after 3rd week on beef heart exclusively