Extremely Scared Fish

[jdh21cali]

I have 6 discus in a 55 gallon tank that I have had for about 2 months.
They have been very friendly, everytime I walk by the tank they come to the front to greet me, and eat out of my hand. Today I netted one of the fish out of the tank so I can return it to my LFS. Now when I get any where near the tank the fish freek out and ram the sides of the glass.
Will they stay this way for a long time?
Can they kill them self?
Will they ever be the same?
What causes this?
I want to remove all the fish for a few hours, so I can take the sand in the tank out but I’m scared it will stress them out even more.
Is there anything I can do, to get my fish back to there normal behavior?
Please help. THANK YOU

[dandestroy]

they probably got a very common uncurable syndrome that I like to call ....


... The paranoïa of the blue net...

Imagine you take a walk to your car every day after work...and then a big blue net...twice your size come down from the sky and skoop your best friend right beside you... and you will ever see him again...poof...gone

I bet that would scare you too.

give a day or two and they will probably recognize you as the "God hand who feed" and then they will be happy when you come near them

[Timbo]

hi

post above is correct:) whenever i have to do something traumatic to the tank, i try to feed some of their favorite treats (in my case fbw's) as soon as possible during/afterwards.

also, there is no need to remove all your fish to remove the sand. use your syphon to suck it out. chasing the fish with a net (hehe-blue net paranoïa) is quite stressful in itself and to be avoided if unnecessary, such as this case when you just want to remove the sand.

[jdh21cali]

I connect me siphon to the facet. I don’t know if it’s a good idea to wash 75lbs of sand down the drain.
Has anyone tried this?
Seems like it would take forever.

[Song]

just wondering y you are taking the sand out.... what do you find annoying about it?? m thinking of putting sand....

[sleonard]

You don't want to siphon the sand into your drain. Trust me, before even a 1/2 lb. comes out your drain will be clogged but good.

Siphon about 1/4 - 1/3 of it out at a time and drain it out the back door, a window, or somewhere else outside. You can connect your siphon back to the drain after the sand is gone.

Also, don't try to scoop it out. I tried that also and it really trashes the water.

Scott

[Greg Richardson]

Why not clean a shop vac hose real well? Put in down on bottom. Turn it on and go to work. Good vac could do it real quick.

Your fish come back to what they were. Might take a week or so but they will recover.

[poconogal]

just wondering y you are taking the sand out.... what do you find annoying about it?? m thinking of putting sand....
I once had sand in a saltwater tank. What could be more natural, right? I found it a huge pain. It would get into my filter, resulting in gritty noises. I found it difficult to get the waste off the top with the siphon, and yes, some sand would get siphoned out, too. But the one thing I've read about a sand bottom, whether in salt or freshwater, (Watley was the last Discus person whose opinion about sand in a Discus tank that I read) is that it can compact and become anaerobic (Don't know if spelled right) meaning that there can be dead spots in the sand, since you don't stir it up, that can harbor bacteria and can produce a deadly gas. In saltwater tanks, people keep fish that burrow into and thru the sand and can keep it aerated. Possibly some freshwater clams, or a Kuhli Loach would work fine to accomplish this in the Discus tank. But a clam can die and you might not notice, same for the Kuhli Loach, and foul your water. Jack Watley just advised someone, thru his column in June's (I just got it last week) Tropical Fish Hobbyist, to promptly REMOVE the sand from their tank, for the above reason, and he emphatically stated that he foresaw nothing but problems in the future with a sand bottom.

[bennyblanco]

when i removed my gravel i put all my discus in my icechest for 45min, removed the gravel and water. thats what i will do. its a good chance to clean everything.

[Timbo]

one way to do it is use your python hose to syphon to the tub/out-the-door, but have the end of the hose drain into a bucket first and most of the sand will settle in the bucket. just let the bucket overflow the water into the tub/out-the-door, and most of the sand should settle out in the bucket.