discus rubbing on plants

[cyberguyz]

Hey all

I was wondering what does it mean when the discus approaches a plant, appears to size it up, then darts across it hitting it around the gill area? There are no signs of distress on the fish itself, nor its gills, and they seem to be fine. From all of your wonderful advice this morning I changed 50% of the water, removed most of the gravel, and most of the rocks ( I left 2 in there) the fish do not seem to be rubbing on the rocks just the plants...any ideas? If it is something, how do I treat it? I cranked the heater to full 88 degrees, but due to the water change this morning it will take some time I imagine to get up there....

thanks as always

Brendan

[cyberguyz]

BTW

what causes this condition if so? plants? rocks? gravel? dirty water? temp?

you can see where I am going with this, I know nothing....but trying to educate myself ASAP !!!

[Carol_Roberts]

If it happens once or twice a day it's just normal scratching if it happens several times an hour I would suspect gill flukes or bacterial infection. First thing is add salt at 2 tablespoons per 10 gallons and keep up water changes. If they are scratchign a lot try formalin or rid ick or quick cure.

[cyberguyz]

from this scratching, I can see small marks on the head above the gills on the one doing this...is this a result from the scratching, or something else? Can it be cured with the solutions you recommended? - salt, water changes, medication?

thanks again
B

[jared]

If these are live plants, be careful with salt and other meds they will fry them. 88 is also approaching the limit for temperature before you make veggie soup out of them. Do you have a hospital tank?
Jared

[falcon]

The key is, as Carol mentioned, how often do they do it? Few times a day is normal, few time in an hour is not.

falcon

[cyberguyz]

seems to be only a few times a day now...but the one who was doing it seems to be color faded, not completely, but he's half as brilliant as he was...is this just temporary? Im changing water like crazy. Also, is it safe to add a chlorine neutralizer to my water for changes? For example, for the time being if I were to fill my bucket directly from the tap, ensuring temp was same as in tank, and treat it for chlorine, could I dump it straight in the tank safely?

ps - thanks everyone for the advice the bb tank although not as nice to look at is way easier to clean, and I can see the fish all the time...heh heh...i dont even watch tv anymore....Im glued to the "other" tube now.

[oodi]

Brendan,

I age my water before using it for water changes. I have a heater and an airstone in the barrel, and let it age for 24 hrs before using it. The PH can fluctuate if not aged, and this may be part of your problem.

You can test this, by taking a reading of your water straight out of the tap. Put an airstone in the bucket, and test again after 24 hrs.

Judi
:)

[Carol_Roberts]

My pH from the tap is 6.8. The pH raises to 7.8 after 3 hours of heavy agitation with a pond pump. If your pH from the tap is within .4 or .5 lower you can safely do water changes directly from the tap using dechlor product for a few days.

Some people have higher pH from the tap. Discus don't mind higher pH.

In general it is always safer to "age" (circulate/aerate/agitate) your water to stabilize the pH.

[cyberguyz]

after you clean the tank (vacuum) and change water, do you experience cloudiness? I have done 2 water changes today vacuuming the entire bottom, wiping it down during the first, and a simple change for the second, and the water seems cloudy, is this normal? how long does it take to settle if so, and if not what do I do? I just added 4 new juvies to the tank so that there could be 6 in total. Nothing in there but discus, and airstones, heater, power filtration (aquaclear 2xsponge, 1xcarbon/ammonia pack) and bare bottomed.

could the cloudiness be from remaining debris not yet settled from removing the gravel / plants last night around midnight?

thanks again

B

[Carol_Roberts]

The cloudiness is probably from removing the substrate. Do you have a prefilter sponge on the intake of your filter? IF not you may have a bunc of gunk inside your filter box too. You can rinse the filter media in used (dechlorinated) tank water and pour ou the water inside the filter box.

[cyberguyz]

youre the best Carol !

many thanks

B