New Discus laying on its side

[ekurutz]

Hey everyone!! I'm new to the site and new to the discus hobby! Anyways, I just received two new discus in the mail this afternoon from Choice Aquariums (Great Lakes Discus), and one of the fish seems to be acclimating great, however the other frequently goes to the bottom of the tank and lays in the gravel tilted to the side. I'm just wondering if this is normal due to the stress from shipping, or if the fish is dying. Any info would be greatly appreciated! thanks!

[bucky017]

Could definately be from the stress of shipping. They'll usually be fine within a day. I received 4 fish from Mike Beals about a month ago, and 2 of them did that for the first day. The next morning they were completely fine.

[trebor69]

its not an uncommon thing for newly arrived discus to do this

I wouldnt worry.... in a day or two all should be fine

[Discus-n00b]

Mine did this as well after coming out of the shipping bags, were fine a few hours later.

[Wahter]

Just keep an eye on the fish - make sure it's still breathing and no one is picking on it. It should be fine within 2 days.



Walter

[ekurutz]

he's up and swimming around...only goes to the bottom on occassion. I must say, Cary Strong's pigeon blood blues are possibly the most beautiful fish I have ever seen, let alone owned. Anyone thinking about getting a pigeon blood I highly highly highly recommend you get it from Great Lakes Discus! I couldn't be more happy!

[Elite Aquaria]

Glad you are happy with your fish...post some pictures when you have some time.

[Discus-n00b]

I second the pictures! ;)

[ekurutz]

I'd love to take a few pictures to post, however the fish seem to have taken a liking to my driftwood, and have been hiding behind there! when they come out I'll try to get a few pics!

[ekurutz]

Day 3 and the discus are doing great!! The pigeon blood has however, beecom very territorial of this certain spot behind my driftwood that both fish love to hide in. :( thankfully because there are lots of plants in the tank the other one has plenty of other places to hide! Haven't had much luck getting pictures but here's the best of what I got lol.

[Valik]

Yup I like your pigeon, the last pic there is the only one you really get a decent view of him. I love the pigeons!

[ekurutz]

http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr246/ekurutz/discus.jpg

this is the best picture that I have been able to get of the pigeon blood blue! It's taken on a cell phone so it's not that clear but it's better than any of the pictures!

[ekurutz]

on to a new question. So my red turquoise discus has had these spots on it for a few days now. They look alot more like air bubbles than like ich but I'm not sure. unfortunately they are still pretty shy and don't like pictures so I can't really show you what they look it. The fish is active, eats, and doesn't seem to be showing any of the symptoms of ich, it just has the air bubble like things on it lol. Any ideas what this may be?

[Valik]

Sounds like ich to me, the first time I ever had an encounter with ich I thought they were air bubbles at first. are they white?

[ekurutz]

yes they are white :(...what do I do??? I've heard that discus aren't very tolerent to medication or lots chemicals in the water, plus i have both a bushy nose pleco and a panda cory that also won't respond well to the medication. the temperature is set at 86 right now and I know that ich thrives in lower temperatures water. Any suggestions. I've also heard that adding small amounts of sea salt to the water helps treat the ich but I heard that could be very dangerous for both the discus and the other tank inhabitants as well.
These spots have been on the fish since the day I got the fish in the mail which was only 5 days ago, and at the time I just dismissed it because I thought coming from a reputable breeder there was no way it would have ich. would it even be possible that the ich orginiated in my tank and was not already with the fish if, the fish is already showing advanced stages of ich after only 4 or 5 days? Any quick advice would be greatly appreciated! I feel like I need to act immediately!

P.S. since the discus arrived I have been doing 20% water changes every other day, and making sure to siphon the substrate with every water change. is this amount of water changing adequate to get rid of the ich or will I have to increase the number and/ or volume of water changes as well?

[ekurutz]

good news! woke up this morning and the vast majority of the white spots on the discus were gone!!! I did a large water change today as well to hopefully get any risidual ich out that might be living in the stones or in the water, which i'll probably keep doing for another week or so. lol, I don't know if anyone's reading about my trials and tribulations with my discus but if you are thank you!

[Valik]

I would treat the tank, and add salt, tablespoon per 5 gallons. Make sure the salt is non-iodized. Best thing would be to get them into a hospital/QT tank but it doesn't sound like you have one. I'm not the best at what medications will do to anything else in the tank as I don't normally keep anything else in with my Discus. Also I recommend giving a Cary A call at Great Lakes where you got your discus from and following his advice to the letter he is quite knowledgeable when it comes to this type of stuff. Good Luck