GLD, not babies anymore!

[joanr]

Here's a pic or two of the GLD leps and lepsnakes I got from Cary last April. They are about 5" or more by now, some are bigger yet.

[joanr]

Here's one of the lepsnakes.

is that leopardxss's fins torn up?

[joanr]

Don't know what's up with that, they have always been jaggedy, coming to points like that. Just the lepsnakes have that, the lep's fins are normal looking. It's not rot or anything, just the way they are.

JR

[Carol_Roberts]

It's not fin rot - there is no whitish edge. Some of mine were like that too. These were mostly my first fish. Other fish in the same tank would be fine. I didn't know if my higher pH affected them or if bad water quality in the beginning affect them or what.

It is true that letting the water quality slide makes it worse, but I could never totally get the fins to fill back in on certain fish. ???

Carol :heart1:

[BLUEKNIGHT]

NIce fish. The lepXss looks like he is getting woped by the others. :o

[joanr]

The lepsnakes are more fragile than the others. They are in a 125 gal with 12 fish total. The leps are a wild bunch of juvies. All in all, they do not fight that often. I think lepsnakes are best left for very experienced Discus folks. They are moody, picky and not as playful as the others. No, they are not sick, just finicky.

I don't know what else I can do about the fins. I change over 40gal daily in that tank and have 3 AC 500 filters running, two hydra sponges, plus a full time HOT micron polisher, not to mention it gets the Vortex every few days. The water quality is better than OK. I keep it about 6.8 and 200MS. Hmmm, I'm wondering if it just isn't a genetic thing? Extremely fragile fins? You'd think it would be a problem with all the fish if there was a water quality problem.

JR

Joan,
they did not look like this when I sold them to you.

That is fin damage either from bad parmeters or toxins in your water. It also could come from attacks from other discus or sickness.

I have seen this before in some of my Discus it happens when growing them out in high nitrites and ammonia.
I would guess the bio load was also very high.

I have not tryed it but I hear if you cut the fins that are torn
and the discus is placed back into good conditions that there fins will grow back straight!

Also Joan I agree with you it does not happen to all the discus in the tank. IMO I believe the lack of vitamins could be the cause. weaker strain less food. by the way this happen to a few of my green lep ss. Ever sinced I started cleaning out my filters more I never saw it again.

HTH
takecare,
cary gld!

[joanr]

Well Cary that's interesting. You know I've got very soft water here. It gets aged 24hrs before used. Ammonia and nitrites have never been an issue, the tanks are well cycled and maintained, bio load within parameters.

Looking back at some of the pics from when I first got them there is a little separation of the fin, but not like it is now. My daughter said they had mohawks because of the spikey fins. Should I buy some vitamin supplements? What kind are best? They are fed an excellent and varied diet of cbw, ON flake, brine shrimp and bloodworms.

Also, I add a little ro right to the holding water to get it up to at least 200ms, since it rests at about 95-100. Could this stuff be doing that?

At any rate, the water is as good as I can get it without putting them in RO. If they are adding something (rust inhibitors comes to mind) to the local water supply then that might account for it as it's not improper care on my part.

Whatever it is I'd like to find out how to stop it before it gets worse.

Joan

[Carol_Roberts]

Hey Joan, science experiment time. Why not take one fish and trim the soft part of the fin (no bones, lol) and see if it does grow back. Phog has an article in FAMA regarding this, but I have not read it.
Carol :heart1:

[joanr]

Oh my, I don't think so! I'd be too chicken sh*t to do that! He/she will have to live with those fins I guess. I'll look into vitamin supplements first. I don't think it'll reverse itself but it is interesting that this particular fish is so affected, much more than any of the others.

My first three discus had a few rough places on their fins. And yes, that was my fault. They were grownout in gravel with all kinds of junk deco and never had more than a 25% water change per week. That was then. But what's up now? I've done everything by the book and more. Do you think I should run carbon full time in the filters instead of just in the holding tanks? We are supposed to have some of the purest water in the country, maybe that's the problem......lol.

Yeh, Broncos score! Go Portis!

Joan

[Lynn]

Hi Joan,

Thanks for sharing your pics, especially the fry pics in the other post. Nice lookin babies!

I agree with you about lepss. This is the first time I have heard of anyone else having some problems. I though it was just my fish. Mine do not have the ragged fins, but they are quarrelsome SOBs!!!! And fragile!!!! I have one that had popeye,hex, and capillaria. He is still alive and finally seems to be doing ok. The other strains in the tank with him were/are fine. I gave up on him, and thought he'd never make it. But he's still kickin.
I hope you figure out the fin problem, I know I could not cut them either!!!
Let us know what happens.
Good luck!
Lynn

[joanr]

Hi Lynn,

There was another topic some time back about the lepss being particularily hard to deal with. I think they are very fragile. They must be high strung like inbred dobermans.....lol. No offense Cary, I wouldn't hesitate to buy your fish again, just not the lepsnakes, from anywhere, anyone. I'd need a lot more discus savy to raise them properly.

Mine will look lovely one minute and the next be brooding and turn on the bars till they look an ugly deep purple. A few minutes later they will be pretty again. I think they are just real moody. OTOH my other strains are real happy and never seem stressed out. I just don't know. It's very possible that I don't keep the water just right for this strain. Maybe they want a higher or lower ph or harder water. I'm just going to see how things go with them. The regular leopards are a joy and don't act this way at all.

Joan