Envioronment and Stress

[prew62]

If Discus suffer from stress and stress causes disease, then are Discus generally healthier in a planted aquarium that mimics their wild environment than in a bare glass tank. Does a bare tank necessitate more frequent water changes?

[jeep]

I think discus are very good at adapting to their environment. I've never had very many in a single tank, but I started out with 4 juvies in a planted tank and they grew out great.

I've since moved them into 2 separate BB tanks. The water changes I do have not really increased, but then again I don't have an over crowding issue either.

I have noticed that the water in my planted tank seems more stabil and cleaner as far as ph is concerned.

I've never had a major health or stress related issue with either...

[Carol_Roberts]

Actually discus have very few plants in their natural enviornment. You can keep a bare bottom glass tank much cleaner than a planted tank. You will find most here reccommend a bare bottom tank to grow out juveniles. Many who have adults in planted tanks don't leave them there full time, but give them "vacations" in bare bottom tanks at the first sign of stress or illness.
Carol :heart1:

[Ryan]

I think a big misconception is that discus live in densely planted areas in their natural habitat. As Carol said, there are very few plants where discus are found for the most part. It is mostly driftwood and such. I guess people would assume that discus come from a planted environment because you always see pictures in books and magazines of discus in planted settings? That was always my impression too, until I did some reading.

Ryan

[Denny]

you will also find piranhas in their native habitat :o they will not get along too well in the same tank.

the amazon is a pretty big place and has the ability to flush itself out. plus due to it's size the population density is low in terms of fish per gallon. discus tend to have a hard time living in less than perfect conditions. and in a closed tank environment, there are things that tend to build up rather quickly that affect the fish. especially young ones.


denny

[fcdiscus]

It is not that stress causes disease, it lowers the immunity to fight diseases. If they are kept well in any enviorment, they do well. Frank

[Ralph]

There are two main reasons why plants can't replace WCs.

Plants do remove substances that in quantity can be toxic or at least stressful to discus (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, CO2, copper, etc.). They don't remove everything though from the liquid, solid, and gaseous wastes that the fish put out.
The ratio of plants to fish in most tanks is too small. The plants can't use up the "toxins" fast enough to keep the water clean. In January, I'm going to set up a small planted tank without a filter (with tetras) as an informal experiment (it's been done before of course). The fish load is going to be very low though. I'll be posting info in the Show Tanks Section.

My answer to your question is that plants likely help your water quality but not enough to make WCs unnecessary. As to how much of a WC is required for discus health, that hasn't even been settled in BB tanks.

I think plants do affect the water conditions in the Amazon in several ways. Algae blooms do occur on the river and algae is a form of plant life. Also, during inundation, many plants and trees retain their leaves, even underwater. Floating plants, emergent plants and trees absorb substances from the river through their roots. Some of the rivers do have aquatic plants. The main contributing factor though has got to be the shear mass of incoming clean rainwater (some of it though melting snow).

[Smokey]

I agree. Plants are not the save all solution.
But they do look nice.

Smokey
I can not even grow algea.