problem?

[newguy]

I have three discus and I have had them for about two months. two of the discus have grown and doubled in size but one is the same size and hasnt grown much. for the past week the small one looks like it is sick it has no color and just sits behind the plants with its fins down. the others are fine and look good. the sick one eats sometimes but not all the time. they have clean water. does anyone have any suggestions for what is wrong or what I could do? any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

[Carol_Roberts]

This is typically what happens with three discus. (It happened to me when I was first starting out.)

If you really want to keep discus get a bare bottom 55 with a an aqua clear 500 and a group of 5-6 juvenile discus. Grow them out for a couple of months. Then you can add the remaining discus if they are healthy. Or we can tell you how to treat them prior to adding to the new tank.

For now you can try a divider in your current tank.

[newguy]

thanks for the help. the people at the local LFS told me to buy three because they do better that way( wanted 5). so if I dont have another tank or a divider is there any thing I can do? they were fine together until a week ago? will this happen if I get anymore? thanks again for the help.

[Carol_Roberts]

Since he is hiding in the plants you must have gravel.
How big of tank?
What else is in it?
How often and how much water do you change?
What type of filter?
Do you see any white, stringy, muscus-like feces from the sick discus?

[newguy]

the tank is a 50 gal. and it has lots of hiding places. I have some small tetras and guppies in there with them. the filters are two penguin 330's and I do 25% water changes every other day with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites. and 5 ppm Nitrates. the water temp is kept at 84*F. I dont see any signs of any illness on the sick looking one although he does seem skinny but that is because the other ones dont let him eat very much of the food. I think I am going to just get another tank for him. I was wondering could I make a tuperware that I use for pretreating the water as a tank for him? I love these discus far to much to let them be unhappy. I am a first time discus owner who has fallen in love with them :). thanks again for the help.

[fcdiscus]

I have raised a solo Discus in a 10 gallon tank all by himself. Get the 10 and make the heat at 86 and add a sponge filter, and 4 tablespoons salt. Change 50% of the water daily for 6 weeks and keep the salt in there at the same rate for 2 weeks. Care and patience will work wonders. Frank

[newguy]

thanks for the help. I am going to get another tank today. so do discus like salt in their water? I was wanting to add some but I couldnt find any info on what they liked the salinity to ba around? thanks.

[fcdiscus]

The salt is a great tonic for ailing or weak fish. It is not a necessary thing for all the time, but a useful medicating agent when the need arises. Frank