Lazonby
01-25-2005, 11:28 PM
I picked up 6 discus (3") today at the LFS. While they aren't the finest of quality, they are the best I've seen there in quite some time. They've been at the LFS for a few weeks and still doing well, so I figured I would take my chances. There were 9 crammed in a small tank, probably no larger than 10g. This is the dumbest thing I've seen LFS's do, with guppies residing in larger tanks...but anyway...There were no signs of any major disease...no labored breathing, no slimy patches, no signs of major stress, etc, and the employee (I know him well enough that he wouldn't lie, because I'm buddies with the owner) said they eat well. I got them home and placed them into my 75g, a tank I just re-did (tank swap) on Sunday.
Cycling was not necessary, as I used my Eheim 2028 that's been in constant operation for over 3 years. My other fish (Cardinal tetras, Krib pair, A. Agassizzi juvi) are pretty happy about it, and my oto's are going nuts over the fresh, clean water! There are no threats to the discus or fighting otherwise in this tank (violators will be prosecuted :) ). About the discus, they are still acclimating (my water is same as LFS), with the ph lowered slightly (.2) from the pressurized CO2 for the plants. I'll be lowering it very gradually over the next couple of weeks to find the optimum level for plants & fish, probably from 7.8 for tap to 7.2 or 7.0. Temps at the moment are 80F.
The discus are in the corners, but appear to be gradually moving around a bit. I fed the other fish a little bit ago, and the discus were hesitant, but curious. This I expected. I'll try with better food tommorrow. Some of the things I've noticed about the discus now that I've got them home are that they need nourishment (eg, a proper diet), a couple have some slight cloudiness in their eyes, there's a little bit of labored breathing in all, and some slight signs of HITH, but it could be pores. Coloration isn't too bad, & better than I expected--no stress bars or unusual darkness. Except for the cloudy eyes, this is about how all of the fish are that come from the LFS. Usually with good food and clean water, they improve greatly over the next week. I'll be doing a big water change tomorrow morning.
My question is do you think there is anything that I've mentioned that might be of major concern? Or should I just do water changes religiously and see how it goes? I'm kind of concerned about the cloudy eyes, and the heavy breathing (CO2 is being shut off for a while). I'm hoping they will be breathing a little better after the water change tomorrow. I've got half of the lighting shut off while they acclimate (130 from 260 PC). Think I should raise the temps? One more thing: They appear to be slightly stunted, but maybe this could be an age thing, as their eyeballs are a bit larger than I think they should be, but not too pronounced. My Green Terror was the same way when I got him (2"), but now that he's an adult, his eyes are normal (he gets lots of food), and of course, he's in another tank. Thanks for your help!
Cycling was not necessary, as I used my Eheim 2028 that's been in constant operation for over 3 years. My other fish (Cardinal tetras, Krib pair, A. Agassizzi juvi) are pretty happy about it, and my oto's are going nuts over the fresh, clean water! There are no threats to the discus or fighting otherwise in this tank (violators will be prosecuted :) ). About the discus, they are still acclimating (my water is same as LFS), with the ph lowered slightly (.2) from the pressurized CO2 for the plants. I'll be lowering it very gradually over the next couple of weeks to find the optimum level for plants & fish, probably from 7.8 for tap to 7.2 or 7.0. Temps at the moment are 80F.
The discus are in the corners, but appear to be gradually moving around a bit. I fed the other fish a little bit ago, and the discus were hesitant, but curious. This I expected. I'll try with better food tommorrow. Some of the things I've noticed about the discus now that I've got them home are that they need nourishment (eg, a proper diet), a couple have some slight cloudiness in their eyes, there's a little bit of labored breathing in all, and some slight signs of HITH, but it could be pores. Coloration isn't too bad, & better than I expected--no stress bars or unusual darkness. Except for the cloudy eyes, this is about how all of the fish are that come from the LFS. Usually with good food and clean water, they improve greatly over the next week. I'll be doing a big water change tomorrow morning.
My question is do you think there is anything that I've mentioned that might be of major concern? Or should I just do water changes religiously and see how it goes? I'm kind of concerned about the cloudy eyes, and the heavy breathing (CO2 is being shut off for a while). I'm hoping they will be breathing a little better after the water change tomorrow. I've got half of the lighting shut off while they acclimate (130 from 260 PC). Think I should raise the temps? One more thing: They appear to be slightly stunted, but maybe this could be an age thing, as their eyeballs are a bit larger than I think they should be, but not too pronounced. My Green Terror was the same way when I got him (2"), but now that he's an adult, his eyes are normal (he gets lots of food), and of course, he's in another tank. Thanks for your help!