Crazy, wild dashing around

[markwill]

This question has come up before but I am not sure I completely understand how normal this is. I've had my discus tank established for a couple of months now and, for the most part, my fish are well settled. With the exception of one notable fish (Stripes), all are eating well. As of a couple of weeks ago they rush to the front of the tank when someone walks by and have even started eating out of my hand. I think that speaks to happy, comfortable discus. However...

I still get situations where one of more discus suddenly dart crazily. This happens when there is some movement outside the tank but it doesn't require sudden movement. For example, I was feeding them this morning and they had moved to the front of the tank as usual. They had started to eat. Then - for no obvious reason that I could tell - a couple of them completely lost it. Moving around at amazing speed, jumping out the water and crashing into the tank. This continued for what seemed like an age - but was probably about 4 - 5 seconds or so.

The end result was two fish with serious gashes. One, in particular, had a decent chunk removed above the eyes and a bit of skin flapping in the current. He seems perfectly comfortable now but it's not a pretty sight. Two others have less scary gashes.

I've seen some people say that this is to be expected now and again. But the damage they are doing is worrying to me.

Should I really just expect this as part of the deal? I'm half waiting for one of my fish to seriously injure himself.

Mark

[Cosmo]

Mark,

Could be normal behavior, unless you've had these fish together for some time. Could be a water issue, or perhaps some electrical charge is coming off an underwater appliance... or, mayby they just don't like you :D joking

Sometimes, especially feeding time, they can "spook" each other as competing fish go for the same morsal at the same time and end up going in opposite directions at hi speed. This can be all it take to set off the others who think a preditor may be the cause of the sudden flight?

I'd reconsider your decorations and perhaps remove anything with sharp edges. Also, watch those gashes for infections that can be deadly. If they begin to look "strange' treat with Furan 2 as it seems to do wonders for external issues.

hth
Jim

[Carol_Roberts]

Do you have decorations in your tank? IF yes, get rid of them. We get reports of this dashing and no one has successfully found an answer as to why. Extra water changes and salt are the best we can offer

[mi-ko]

I have had the same problem. So I called the seller about the discus I bought and he told me to change 50% of water and wait 5 hours and do the same thing. I did as he told me using Novaqua plus and the discus stopped dashing around. The seller told me that too much nitrite in the water. Hope this will help.

[Skip]

did you test the water?

discus are stupid fish.. if one takes off.. the others will too.. why.>!?? just because.. lol.. my TV freaks them out sometimes..

[lipadj46]

ha! this thread is over 6 years old, the fish hopefully died of old age

[Squidman]

Your discus may be stupid, but mine are geniuses. They come out to play with me, but if my wife cruises by the tank, they panic and hide. At first I thought it was coincidence, but now I am convinvced that they recognize certain people. Kinda funny imo.