Discus colors fade.

[Patr1ck]

Hello all.
I was wondering why it is that when I buy a discus from the lfs they look so beautiful, beaming with color, but after being in my tank for a couple days their colors fade including their eyes. They are in a lightly planted tank, with 25% wc once a week(just like the lfs does with their discus tanks). They get ro water treated with ro right and discus essential. They are fed a mix of brine shrimp, blood worms, white worms, and daphnia 2x a day. My tanks have a dark substrate, could that be the cause? If not any other possibilities? Ph @7.0, Tds 250, kh 3

[kenhappen2u]

yes , dark substrate can def cause there color to fade ....i had black gravel and a dark blue background and just after a day or two there colors faded and looked kinda like all the same fish . as soon as i went to a bare bottom tank and changed the background to a light blue color there was a night and day Difference . all the fish's color's came back and were even better looking then in there growout tanks from where they were bought .

AS far as your water changes go.... if it were me i would up your WC's to 50-60% every other day if not more .... LPS are not going to do daily WC"s as there are there to sell fish and with new fish being added daily and sold ..why would they need/want to do Daily WC's on so many tanks that takes up alot of time and money . doing a 25% WC once a week will catch up with you sooner than later . with the amount of food and times your feeding them ... i do a 60-75% evey other day . thats only because we pay for our water usage ...if i could i would do a 50-75% daily .

ken

[Eddie]

What is your set-up as far as fish? What type and how many? Definitely gotta stay up on the water quality and as Ken mentioned, a light substrate does help. I have always pinpointed it down to water quality issue when my fish were not displaying their normal colors, especially in the eyes.

Eddie

[Patr1ck]

I have 4 discus they are all almost 5 ". They are in a 90 gal lightly planted tank with some driftwood, a fluval 405 and, a penguin 350. There are also 4 hatchet fish, 1 golden wonder killie, and 4 corys.

[Eddie]

I think you just need more Discus! :D

I'm serious though, 90 gallons is a lot of room for 4 discus. How about adding 3 or 4 more.

Eddie

[Patr1ck]

I agree.:D

Patrick

[1077]

What temp is tank? I am wondering how wonder Killi is fairing in temps. above 78degrees.

[Patr1ck]

The temp is 84 and she seems happy, she eats like a pig. She has an interstering story. I moved her parents to a smaller tank because they were after the smaller ottos in the main tank. The father was bullying the mother killie (was looking a little ragged)in the smaller tank , so I regretfully took them back to the lfs. Mean while in the small tank. I had 3 colombian tetras and a powder blue jack dempsey (christmas present for my brother in law). I came home from work one day and noticed a small spec in the corner top of the tank. I thought "no...more snails" I looked closer and I saw that it was a small fish. immediately I scooped it in the net and let the net be its home till it was big enough. It was too small to tell if it was a killie or a tetra yet. Somehow it survived the hungry tetras and the dempsey, amazing. She was the first fish that has been born in my tank. It took a while to tell if she was a male or a female, her colors are quite vivid for a female. She now hangs out with the hatchet fish in the main tank.

Patrick