I know I'm old but, help me if you can!!!!!

[jimmyjoe]

I'm at a quandary with my breeding regime. I have two pairs of discus that have laid eggs but I can't get the water right, for some reason. My water comes out of the tap at about 550 tds and a ph at about 7.6. They have both laid eggs for me and I have seen both make runs with their respective tubes out. Yes, you guessed it they fungused up and that was that. So then I decided to soften their water but had to stop because I thought my ph maybe was burning them, I don't know. My male in tank 1 got a cloudy eye and some cloudy-ness over a part of his body, so I had to vacate the breeding to take care of the cloudy eye. It's happened twice now once with a male and again with a female of the second pair. I have done this before with less trouble than I'm having now, so I have to ask how all you other breeders prepare your breeders for breeding, do you add them to a breeding tank that is tds ready or do you add ro once they are in a tank to make it ready. I had my tank already fr my brreders but once I started feeding them everything went to s__t. Jim in Ohio

[brewmaster15]

I'm at a quandary with my breeding regime. I have two pairs of discus that have laid eggs but I can't get the water right, for some reason. My water comes out of the tap at about 550 tds and a ph at about 7.6. They have both laid eggs for me and I have seen both make runs with their respective tubes out. Yes, you guessed it they fungused up and that was that. So then I decided to soften their water but had to stop because I thought my ph maybe was burning them, I don't know. My male in tank 1 got a cloudy eye and some cloudy-ness over a part of his body, so I had to vacate the breeding to take care of the cloudy eye. It's happened twice now once with a male and again with a female of the second pair. I have done this before with less trouble than I'm having now, so I have to ask how all you other breeders prepare your breeders for breeding, do you add them to a breeding tank that is tds ready or do you add ro once they are in a tank to make it ready. I had my tank already fr my brreders but once I started feeding them everything went to s__t. Jim in Ohio

Jim if your pH was burning them you should be able to confirm that with a test. First step is figure out exactly what that pH is. How are you testing it?

[jimmyjoe]

Jim if your pH was burning them you should be able to confirm that with a test. First step is figure out exactly what that pH is. How are you testing it?

To be honest Al, I never tested just thought since i was making water changes with an Ro/tap mix that everything would be fine, but then a cloudy eye pops out. I have them back in the community tank till I can figure this out. So no I never really tested the ph, but what else could it be???????????? Jim in Ohio

[KIAWAHKID]

I'm at a quandary with my breeding regime. I have two pairs of discus that have laid eggs but I can't get the water right, for some reason. My water comes out of the tap at about 550 tds and a ph at about 7.6. They have both laid eggs for me and I have seen both make runs with their respective tubes out. Yes, you guessed it they fungused up and that was that. So then I decided to soften their water but had to stop because I thought my ph maybe was burning them, I don't know. My male in tank 1 got a cloudy eye and some cloudy-ness over a part of his body, so I had to vacate the breeding to take care of the cloudy eye. It's happened twice now once with a male and again with a female of the second pair. I have done this before with less trouble than I'm having now, so I have to ask how all you other breeders prepare your breeders for breeding, do you add them to a breeding tank that is tds ready or do you add ro once they are in a tank to make it ready. I had my tank already fr my brreders but once I started feeding them everything went to s__t. Jim in Ohio

I have had cloudy eye and body result from a pH going lower very quickly. Did you measure the pH after you softened the water? What was the pH? How did you soften the water? That TDS will cause eggs not to hatch. For what its worth I have had good success with Fluval Peat Pellets AND Chemi Pure in my canister filters to lower pH and soften the water.

[brewmaster15]

Jim, it could very well have been a pH crash. Have to ask here to help you but are you using test strips or do you have a decent pH meter. If you dont have a good digital meter itd be a good first step. When you. Adjusting water parameters its a necessity. Then if the pH is crashing you can bump it up with a water change or by adding some buffer like Bicarb.

Al

[jimmyjoe]

Jim, it could very well have been a pH crash. Have to ask here to help you but are you using test strips or do you have a decent pH meter. If you dont have a good digital meter itd be a good first step. When you. Adjusting water parameters its a necessity. Then if the pH is crashing you can bump it up with a water change or by adding some buffer like Bicarb.

Al

No, just using the api testing solution glass tube. Got a meter coming in the mail as we speak, what and why didn't I have these problems years ago and I do mean years ago.

[brewmaster15]

Hard to say Jim. Water can change.. my well has here.

How did you soften the water? RO Water? ACID? or something else? If Acid ..its real easy to over do it and destroy the waters buffer.

Al

[jimmyjoe]

No, I use ro I'd really screw up acid. I know my tap water has changed a lot since then. It use to come out of the tap at about 350 not 550, how is that possible who's job is that and who do I call?

[jimmyjoe]

Maybe I am to old anymore for discus, I don't know and now I'm doubting myself and what I have learned on here.

[brewmaster15]

Jim you arent too old.. sometimes we just need to change things or try them differently. I'm a master at learning from my mistakes simply because I mastered making them:)

When something like this happens best thing you can do is go back to the beginning and try again step by step and you will figure out what went wrong.

[jimmyjoe]

Thanks again Al, you make sense I'll start over. Hopefully my fish don't suffer through my mistakes. Jim in Ohio