Bringing'em out of hiding.....

[QiKsilver]

Ok so the fish are doing fine but.... they always stay in the corner only coming a few moments a day or during the night to roam the tank.

Unless i put bloodworm in the tank they rarely do anything... It's stupid to do all this work and monitoring and put that much money if they just stay in the corner and hide.... is there something i can do or all i can do is wait?

They are not dark, fins are not clamped or anything...

Guess i could remove the clown loaches and the pleco....

Thanks!

[Cosmo]

Yep, remove the clown loaches and plecos (my opinion), and make sure your water quality if high - any amount of ammonia or nitrities, and any significant level of nitrates can cause stress which may induce the behaviour you're observing. Couple other things..

Is the tank heavily decorated? If so, remove some decorations as the ability to hide seems to promote the desire to do so.

Do you spend time in front of the tank observing them, and, letting them observe you? Try dropping a small amount of food in every time you approach the tank and then stand or sit and watch for awhile. The more they associate you to food, and, trust you.. the more they'll come out.

hth
Jim

[kaceyo]

Personaly I wouldn' put clown Loaches in with Discus (especialy new arrivals) but alot of people do. They are far too active for a discus tank and could be the reason your discus don't feel comfortable enough to come out. Are these new fish? It does sometimes take awhile for them to acclimate to their new situation.
Add 2 tbsp non-iodized salt/10gal and lots of wc's to ease the stress.

Kacey

[Ryan]

Yes, I would first ditch the loaches. They are very active fish and may make your discus jumpy, especially in a new environment. They need time to adjust and get comfortable on their own.

If they come out for bloodworms, then it's a good sign they're eating. The best way to get discus to quit hiding is to associate your presence with positive things, like food. Each time you're near the tank, drop a little snack in. They'll quickly learn that you = feeding time and they'll rush to greet you everytime you're around the tank.

Ryan

[QiKsilver]

K thx for tips.... Yes they do have some hiding spot... they were almost used to me until i drop the damn cover in a big BOOM and then they freaked for a day or two.

I just came out of 14 days of salt threatment. I'll wait a few weeks before repeating the salt.

Thanks!

[RyanH]

Salt is a good short-term remedy for easing the stress of newcomers and disease control. However, Discus are freshwater fish and using it long-term is not a good idea IMO. Lose the salt and the hiding places and feed your fish often. Change tons of water. Before you know it, they will be the most outgoing fish you've ever owned and eating right out of your hand.

Also, I've found that tanks that face windows causes shadows in the room and tend to freak Discus out. If your tank is facing a window or if you have very bright lights behind you when approaching the tank, your fish cannot see what is moving around them... only a shadow. I no longer have any tanks that directly face windows and I have much calmer fish now.

hth
-Ryan

[ronrca]

Yes they do have some hiding spot... they were almost used to me until i drop the damn cover in a big BOOM and then they freaked for a day or two. They do that yes and particularly newcomers and juvs. I have two tanks beside each other, 1 juv tank and 1 adult tank. When Im working in the fishroom and banging around, the juvs find cover, the adults are fine. I have had the adults longer than the juvs therefore the adults have become use to me.

One word that will help however hard to do! Patience
The discus have to get use to you. You do not have to get use to them! :thumbsup:

[discus2010]

Well see the problems with my discus is that they have the same problems with hiding but they don't want to eat much either i put the beef heart in the tank and over the process of the day they eat half of a half a cube (pre-made cubes) THey all seem to be hiding in a corner and come out only at night and when I'm not there. I have already lost one due to a fin and body infection. So I'm really worried. THe water had had a really high ammonia level because that i hadn't cycled the tank properly fro the amount of fish i had so i bought Bio-Spira and added to the tank. I checked the water today and the ammonia levels went down. But i don't want to do a w/c today because of the Bio-Spira. Now the fish are acting like there sick. The ammonia is 0-.25 ppm the nitrites are at 0 and the PH is at 7.2 so what can i do to help them i added salt three days ago.

[RyanH]

They are living in an uncycled tank. You absolutely must increase their water changes if you want them to start feeling better. I would also lay off the beefheart until your tank is cycled and clean. I would try a good pellet or flake food.

Remove any and all substrate. Any uneaten food should be syphoned out with 1/2 hour of sitting in the tank. Your filter will cycle with time no matter what; but your fish are suffering from the ammonia and poor water quality now. Change their water today and every day until things are under control.

You can add salt to help ease their stress levels. 2T/ 10 gallons.

Watch for white feces and dark color. I would also be concerned with ammonia burns. If you see white feces you'll want to treat with Metronidazole for 5-7 days. Three dosages a day of 500mg/ gallon.

-Ryan

[discus2010]

I have been watchign the poo and ect. but the water quality is improving and there starting to peck at the food slowly and they seem to be getting better I believe the bio spira worked and they aren't as dark and there fins are no longer clamped so i am thinking they are doing better i am going to try to see if they prefer the blood worms to the beefheart.

[OIF03VET]

I have only about 6 months experience with discus. Before I got them I was almost turned off by the horror stories and being told they are borning fish that never swim around, you have to keep them in bare tanks, they dont do well with other fish ect ect. I talked to one person that turned me around, he told me that the most important thing is consistancy. I have had a 65 gallon tall with 8 discus 2 inchers up to a couple 5 inchers. I have gravel, lots of driftwood and fake plants, lost of hiding places, but they dont hide. The tank is in the Dining room, a high traffic room in my house on a wood floor, lots of noise and vibrations. I have undergravel filters with a Pinguin hang on filter, I have two 250 watt heaters that keep the water at 89degrees. I have 17 Rasboras, 10 juli cats, 14 rummy nose, 2 flying foxes, 12 neons and the 8 discus. I feed them 2-3 times a day on frozen beef heart and FBW. I never spot clean the tank after feeding. I only do 1, 35% water change a week. I test my water every other day for nitrates, nitrites, ph, and amonia. It is always good. My discus grow, and grow in this environment. They are happy and swim to thier feeding corner every time some one enters the room which is very often. They are almost never shy. I dont know what I am doing right because everything I read says I am doing everything wrong. I love discus, I plan on continuing in the hobbie until I am no longer able. All of the fears I used to have about discus are gone. Basically there is an exception to every rule, I got lucky and personify many of those exception. Enjoy your fish. They will come around.

[discus2010]

WOW how do you do that! I do w/c every day for 50% and i have them with all the recommended conditions except my tank wasn't properly cycled and they wont stop being shy, hiding, fasting, turning dark, getting sick, clamping there fins, staying on the floor, half falling on each others. There driving me insane! they don't want to get better they want to be all BLAH. I keep trying to do what everyone says but then all of a sudden the water conditions get better. Then the water conditions get bad again i have a nitrites spike 48 hours after the bio-spira was added! The ammonia increased as well as the nitrites but not as high! AWWWWWWW someone help me!

THERE SO MOODY:mad: :( :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[OIF03VET]

How big is your tank, how many discus, what size, ph, water temp, do you premix you water conditioners and match temp before you refill the water? Do you dump the water in or slowly add it?

[kaceyo]

The reason you had a nitrite spike is because the Bio-Spira WAS working. The bacteria first convert the existing ammonia into nitrite, hence the spike. Then different bacteria convert the nitrite into nitrate. The filter being uncycled is no little thing. You can't expect the fish to act normal under those conditions. The people that run tanks wihout a cycled bio-filter have to do two massive (80%-100%) WC's a day to keep up with the ammo output. For now the best you can do is use AmQuel or Prime or a similar anti-ammonia additive on very frequent wc's till the filter catches up with the output of ammo.
HTH,

Kacey

[discus2010]

my ph is at 7.2 straight from the tap.
my ammonia level is at .00-.25
the water is aged for 24-26 hours with aeration
i make sure the temperature is within 2 degree's
the ph is the same always
the nitrites are at (.50) after a 50% w/c
But i'm worried about adding the prime into my water because it would stop the bacteria growth?
since it breaks down (locks nitrites)
it is a 55 gallon tank with 6 2" fish and 2 2.5" fish it is bb with an aqua clear running