Something strange is happening..

[tarzan]

Hi!

Since im coming up with a question like this, i think it belong in the beginner section..

Most of the time my fish are just hanging in one side of the aquarium, they are not dark, but they looks abit scared. In that same side, i have a pair laying eggs all the time. I REALY dont know why they are so scared, and it bugs me!

I try to do a 50% WC everyday, and keeping my gravel realy clean. The filter is working great, because i have 0 ammon/nitrit. I use temped tapwater directly (my pH differnce is only about 0.3 from tap to tank) Everytime i do this waterchange, my fish looks sick.. they are dark, hanging with their heads, and sometimes they just FREAK out and bang themself into the class.

What are the most normal things, that makes discus this scared?

[jules]

Using your water directly from the tap will likely cause a swing in PH.
Test the PH directly from the tap and then let it sit for 24 hours and test again.
Also are there any chemicals in your tap water?

[keith_cny]

what is water temp, actual ph, tank size, how many fish, any other tanks/fish, well water or city water??

[Don_Lee]

Are you aerating your water before it goes in? Sometimes water coming from the tap doesn't have much oxygen IME.

Don

[MonkeeFish]

Do you treat for chlorine and those kind of stuff???

[Carol_Roberts]

my fish are just hanging in one side of the aquarium, they are not dark, but they looks abit scared. In that same side, i have a pair laying eggs all the time.

It's pretty common for a pair to stake out a territory and try to keep the rest of the fish away. Give the pair their own tank.

[alex_m]

IMO you are using too much tap water.

IMO you can reduce it to 10 % per day.

alex

[tarzan]

Hi!

I have a 300Litre tank, with 6 Discus. There are a bit gravel, which i will get rid of soon.

Everything was OK when i had plants and roots in it, but when i removed all this hell broke loose..

Now, some of my fish does white poop, and one of them have a long white thing out of it's anus. They are very shy, and only eats when the light are off, and im not there.. I've just turned up the heat from 30c to 32c and will go 35c tomorrow (i've read that this should get rid of the white poop)

I have this in my water report.

Nitrat (NO3-)*mg/l*<1*
Nitrit (NO3-)*mg/l*< 0,01*
Chlorid (Cl-)*mg/l* 74*
Chlor*mg/l*None
Carbonat hardness*ºdH*18,5*
Magnesium (Mg++)*16*
PH 7.8

Does this look bad?

[tarzan]

my fish are just hanging in one side of the aquarium, they are not dark, but they looks abit scared. In that same side, i have a pair laying eggs all the time.

It's pretty common for a pair to stake out a territory and try to keep the rest of the fish away. Give the pair their own tank.

Yeah, but they are all hiding in the same spot as the pair is laying eggs..

[jules]

Tarzan can you tell me what Chlorid(Cl-) is in English?(sorry I don't know German)
Could it be Bleach?

Thanks...

[tarzan]

hmm, i have no idea :(

But Cl is Chlorine, and this im having is "CL-" i dont know what that "-" is doing..

Any1 know this ?

[Carol_Roberts]

When you do a water change do you add a product to remove chlorine?

[tarzan]

No. but just got some Nutrafin Water Conditioner (Aqua+)

This says it will remove Chlorine/Chloramines and bind som heavy metals (what metals?!)

Normaly i would only do a 1/3 WC every other day, but since my plants now are gone, i started do more 50% WC .. and thats when hell broke loose..

I will start using this conditioner today!

[Carol_Roberts]

I bet that will take care of your problem ;D

[tarzan]

But, do they have som sort of poisoning now? Or are they just shy because of the shock..

[Carol_Roberts]

Hopefully they will get over the mild poisoning with daily water changes.

[tarzan]

Ok, i've started using conditioner with my waterchanges, at have just removed all the gravel.

The problem is, i keep getting Nitrites now!! This is the 4'th day of the removal, and everytime i get home from work, it read about 0.3 !!

I do about 60% waterchanges a day, but nothing works... How fast would nitrit normaly build up in a tank, with no filter? I got a 85gal with 6 discus.
I've tested the tap water, no nitrite there.

Either my filter is totaly broken, or this conditioner evils my water - i have no clue :(

btw, i added some bio-start to my water last night, but i had to to a 50% WC this morning because of the high nitrit..

??? ??? ???

[Carol_Roberts]

What type of filter do yo have - is it fully cycled? IF yes, Your filter will catch up in a few more days. You are doing the right thing. Keep up the large daily water changes for now.

Add 1 or 2 tablespoons salt per 10 gallons to counteract nitrrIte poisoning

[jules]

I don't think your filter is totally cycled because of the chlorine in the water- this is why you are still getting nitrites.
I assume Bio-start is bacteria - this should speeden up the process.

[Carol_Roberts]

Good catch Jules. ;D I missed that and I'm sure you are right.

Same advice - your filter will catch up - keep up the daily water changes with dechlorinated water.

[tarzan]

Hi all,

My filter was full cycled before - i've never read nitrites in the water before (when i had gravel) It's a Eheim canister.

I will try the salt, and keep going with my WC (with the conditioner)

[jules]

Maybe you had a little "good bacteria" in your gravel.

[tarzan]

Ok! now things seems to calm down.. I have about 0.1 nitrite (before it was WAY higher!) So things looks good now.

Im still not 100% sure what made my filter crash.. maybe it was gravel, maybe it was 50% WC with no anti-chlorine i started to do ::)

I think ill skip WC the next couple of days, just to "relax" my fish a bit.. they are still hiding in the corner, and only nips at the food when it's their fav. food (whiteworms) and im nowhere NEAR the tank..

I dunno if they are still poisened, and realy realy hope that this will get better in time.

[tarzan]

Oh, and im not sure to add salt.. i've heard that it could crash the filter a bit?

[Carol_Roberts]

Salt won't hurt that much. Do daily 25% WC for the next couple of days if nitrIte stays close to zero. If nitrItes increase, then increase water chagnes

[tarzan]

Should i turn off my UV-filter when using salt ?