DISCUS HELP!!!!!!

[boydiscus]

i bought 2 discus from an aquarium and i only cycled my tank with "cycle bottle" and gold fish for 5 days ? is that a big problem. the fish store owner said as long as i keep on adding cycle it would be ok for them. Ph is blueish and greenis and i have drift wood to decrease ph, amonia 0 , nitrite 0 and temp on 29? hELP thanks a million. and whats the sign when their dying ?

[nicholas76]

HI!,

my first question is how big is your tank?? is it a 4 ft tank?

id say it shouldnt be a problem due to the low volume of fish.

That cycle product in my opinion does absolutely nothing. You would achive more with just your gold fish.

The local fish store makes a mint off new hobbyists by pushing the good old You need to keep adding cycle to your tanks line.

Your Ph is fine. Moniter it and make sure its stable at that blue/ grenn colour.

Enjoy your fish, and remember dont kill them with to much love. let them settle in. dont freak em out with tank lights.

detail your tank for us bud?

nick

[boydiscus]

umz just a 3ft tank , with a peice of drift wood bare bottom , thats about it now its only got 2 gold fish and i wont feed it until the next day and just adding cycle thats it

[Abercrombie6202]

do you have the goldfish with the discus in the same tank? Take those goldfish out, the discus could get stressed, plus goldfish are very very messy. it'll be hard to keep excellent water quality with pooping machines (goldfish)

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Goldfish are cold water fish below 80 and discus likes it between 84 to 88. In a tank that big 2 small discus won't do well. They will always hide. Small discus like it in group of 6 or more. They are less stress.

Dan

[ronrca]

Well, for starters, your filter is not cycled despite what the lfs says. Cycle in a bottle does not work even though they claim it does. 5 days will not cycle a filter. It normally takes around 3-5 weeks from scratch. Now if you have an established filter from another tank that you can use, that will help a lot.

As previously mentioned, your ph is fine and dont bother trying to change it. The most important thing is keeping discus is stable water conditions, not a specific ph. I grow out my discus at a ph of 7.8 and they do well!

Do you age your water before adding it into your tank? You age water by filling a container, aerating and heating it for 24 hours. In most cases, tap water ph is lower than the aged water because C02 dissapates. My tap water is 7.0 and aged it is 7.8!

Did you treat for chlorine/chloramines? Use Seachem Prime or other water conditioner. ;)

Temperature should be around 82-88F.

[Miles]

If you change 75% of the water daily there is no need to cycle a filter. The filters will cycle in about 6 weeks this way.
I do this method all the time and there is NO side effects at all. Make sure you wipe the tank and clean the sponge filter daily.

8)