Some Rules of the Road

[Cosmo]

SimplyDiscus is an incredible resourse for both beginners and long time Discus fanatics. There are many who post here frequently with far more knowledge than myself, but, it occurred to me that I"ve never seen a post in the beginners section regarding some of the basic do's and don'ts for those who are new to Discus (or even fishkeeping in general), so, for what it is or isn't worth, I've put together my own list of the "rules of the road" that I've accummulated over the past twenty some years in the hobby. Hopefully it will be helpful to some, and hurtful to none.

Like I said up front, there are guru's on the forum with far more knoweldge than I, so if I am off base with any of these, please post a correction, or, your contradictory view so that I don't inadvertantly lead anyone down a wrong path.. tks

Never, and I know you're never supposed to say never, but...

NEVER:

- buy a fish at a LFS if any of the other fish in the same tank look sick! Salesmen and/or owners will come up with all sorts of stories on why a fish may look sick but is really ok. If the fish you want looks great, but one or more tank mates have frayed or clamped fins... take a pass, or, plan on en extended quarantine.

- put a newly bought fish into your general population without first quarantining it for a period of time. They may look healthy, but they may be carrying something you don't want your others to catch.

- pour the water your fish comes home in into your tank

CAUTIONS:

- Insure your tank is cycled before adding fish.

- Don't buy so many fish that you overload your tanks biosystems. Nothing worse than "new tank syndrome".

- Insure your Discus will be kept only with suitable tank mates.

ALWAYS

- Buy your fish from reputable sources.

- (some disagree with me on this one , but..) slowly acclimate your new fish to it's new water . Variances in Ph, temperature, and other factors can make a healthy fish sick, or, even outright kill it if the variances are too great. The greater the variance, the longer the acclimation period should be (may require adding an airstone to the acclimation tank or bucket if extended).

- Maintain high quality water, test for ph, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates regularly.

- Change water in enough volume and with enough frequency to maintain a healthy environment.

- Prevent illnesses thru propper feeding, care, and maintenance.
Prevention is much cheaper, and more humane, than treating the sickly

- Seek advise from others when unsure of what is happening in the tank. Don't over react to perceived problems and take un-necessary or even harmful actions.

- If you believe your Discus isn't acting right, or may be sick, treat or seek advise before the problem becomes too serious or potentially fatal.


There are probably many I've missed, if so, others please add what I left off.

Jim

[RandalB]

- (some disagree with me on this one , but..) slowly acclimate your new fish to it's new water . Variances in Ph, temperature, and other factors can make a healthy fish sick, or, even outright kill it if the variances are too great. The greater the variance, the longer the acclimation period should be (may require adding an airstone to the acclimation tank or bucket if extended).


You're right Jim, I disagree with this one. Other than that, good info.

The whole school of thought on the "Grab and Plop" method is moving the fish out of an ammonia rich environment to clean water as soon as possible, thereby removing the stress and physical damage caused by the water in that bag or bucket. Which is more stressful? pH or Ammonia? If the fish has been shipped to you, that bag has low pH (Carbon Dioxide --> Carbonic Acid= Low pH) so the ammonia is not as dangerous. As soon as the bag is opened and the acclimation process is started, the Co2 starts off-gassing and the pH starts going up making the Ammonia more toxic. The longer the period, the more potential for damage. A shot or two of Amquel or similar would help this, but why bother? As long as the person is moving the fish from lower to higher pH and lower to higher temp, the fish will more than likely be just fine. I've done this with every Discus I've ever gotten and all my Marine Fish/Inverts/Corals. I've never lost a fish/invert/coral because I don't acclimate. That includes the REALLY fragile stuff like Sea Stars and other Saltwater inverts. Did my reef tank look dead to you? Almost all the corals in there were shipped to me from Alabama (Gotta love those Trades!) via 2nd day shipping and all of them were placed directly in the tank from the bags.

Now I know I won't convince you about this more than I can convince you about Chicago Tap water, but there is definately a lot evidence that supports the "Grab and Plop" method, at least IME.

Thank goodness the Discus community won't try to lynch me for suggesting this like the reef community did... LOL

RandalB

[GulfCoastDiscus]

I do the same thing Randal except the temp part. Normally the bag the fish are in has low temp. So I have the tank in 83 to 84 when I first put the fish in then I slowly bring the temp up with 2 tbsp of salt per 10 gal.

Dan

[Carol_Roberts]

Great Post Cosmo ;D

The basic stuff becomes second nature and we forget to warn new hobbyists about many of these pitfalls.

I will admit I'm a dyed in the wool discus plopper too. ;)

[Cosmo]

Great post Randal, have never yet (first one next week) had fish shipped to me, always bought them locally so never had to consider the condition of the water that shipped fish arrive in which is of course is going to be highly polluted and very low in ph.

In this case, I'd have to agree that getting them out of that environment and into fresh water quickly would be preferable. Guess you're off though on not being able to convice me :) since the chemistry can't be denied. However, I'll probably stick with acclimating on fish I can buy and drive home.

As mentioned, planning on making my first interstate order next week, so I'v very very glad you all wrote and pointed this out, not only for my benefit, but, for the benefit of any others that read my first post and may have encountered problems.

Dan, like your point on temp so I'll be sure to drop my Q tank down before my shipment arrives, are there any other pointers that I should keep in mind? Carol, any meds or tonics that would be helpful to the newly arrived ones?

Thank you all for this valuable info

Jim

PS. Randal, I'm trying, really trying to talk myself into tap water... still not there but may be forced to since I'm working on a drip system for the fishroom and have yet been able to figure out to keep a continuous drip of RO at stable parameters.. Also.. in answer to your rhetorical question, your reef tank looks great.. not dead at all... lol