Health care basics

[sidra]

Can anyone give me a basic rundown of routine preventative treatments for discus?

I have only had discus for two months and had NO IDEA how much more attention and care than other tropicals discus need. Not that I am complaining because they are truly exceptional fish. All of mine greet me and eat out of my hands already and I've seen amazing behavior amongst them.

In the last couple weeks I had my first issues of fin rot and external parasites which luckily I have solved and all of my fish survived. During this time I spent hours in the LFS looking at all different medications and treatments and consulting what books I have. I have live plants in my tank which limited what medications I used. (I have since bought a hospital tank).

I bought my first two discus (a cobalt and turquoise about 1 1/2" to 2" inch fish) so I didn't quarantine them. I have them in a 29 gal tank. A few weeks later I bought a 4" blue snakeskin and the three get along well.

I recently also purchased a 1 1/2" red alenquer (sp?) and a 4" cobalt and they are in a quarantine tank.

Soon I will get my 70 gal and all will go in that and the 29 will be........I'm afraid to think. Anyway...

While reading all the medication bottles and getting tons of conflicting advice from LFS stores (out of them all I did find 2 guys who were a great help) I got very confused.

I have now learned clean water, clean water, clean water!!!! I also know what anchor worms, flukes, hydra and nematodes are and what snail eggs look like and lots more.

However, what I'd like to know is what basic preventative measures should someone should take who has their fish in show tanks with live plants. I don't need to get crazy as I don't plan to breed much, if at all (though I'm hoping I have a pair) and am limited on space and won't be able to keep adding fish. I just want my fish to be healthy and thrive.

(I've read discus are quite addicting....I've had them 2 months and already have five fish in 2 tanks plus a 10 gallon tank of starter fish I cycled the tank with) and I just found my 70 gal dream tank in PA last weekend. If I didn't rent and have to worry about my landlord having a fit, I think I'd be out of control.

[Carol_Roberts]

If the tank and water are kept clean enough and the fish healthy to begin with you should not need medication. The only time I have to medicate is when fish are shipped or moved. I keep Epsom Salt (Magnesium Sulfate), Metronidazole and Formalin on hand.

[Howie_W]

However, what I'd like to know is what basic preventative measures should someone should take who has their fish in show tanks with live plants. I don't need to get crazy as I don't plan to breed much, if at all (though I'm hoping I have a pair) and am limited on space and won't be able to keep adding fish. I just want my fish to be healthy and thrive.



Always quarantine new fish...same goes for plants as well. Keep the tank, filters, and all equipment clean at all times...when the water quality goes down, your fish will suffer. Basics like not overstocking and or overfeeding go a long ways toward keeping your fish healthy.


Howie

[sidra]

Thanks, I haven't bought any new plants in a while but didn't even think about quarantining them. Duh! I guess because I've always purchased them out of tanks with no fish forgetting that most lfs have a common filtration system.

I'm was glad to hear Carol say no meds or treatments are generally necessary. I'd heard so much conflicting info I was getting very confused. I'd heard to treat with a parasitic as a preventative every few months (the only live food I feed is blackworms which I keep very clean). Maybe the live food makes a difference??? I've gotten them to eat frozen bloodworms, only 2 will eat flakes, 3 of the 5 will eat Discus Delight (very messy) so I am slowly getting them off of live food (it's really fun to feed though 'cause they like it so much). Pellets and frozen or freeze dried brine shrimp seems to be below their standards though. :p Pests!

[Alight]

http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/index.shtml

The home site has tons of info on diseases.

Carol's advice is dead on. Clean water and then Clean water is the best preventative.

One thing to watch out for with your plants, and the sources of your Discus is Tapeworm. They can be largely invisible until you treat for them.

Given my past experience, I'd probably go ahead and treat for them. Prazi or Prazi Pro is my advice on that topic. Go to the link above and look it up there.

If you treat with Prazi, you'll know pretty quickly if they had them, and that they don't anymore.

Pretty much the only other way is when they already begin to get picky with their eating, and you might (only might) see one pass a bit of tapeworm then.