DiscussDiscus
12-11-2008, 08:57 AM
Hi All,
Last night I got home (dropped my coat/rucksack and walked straight to the fish room.) What I found freaked the hell out of me.
Three of my discus (including the alpha) were fully barred.(which they've never done) Two had scratches on their slime coat, the type from banging around into things, and there was a very weird film on the top of the tank -- one I've never seen before (tank has been up for approx 8 months now.)
I immediately put some food in to see if they'd eat, and got the taps running for a water change, while checking the water parameters.
86F
0 nitrite
0 nitrate
GH 75
KH 80
6.8 pH
Did a 30 gallon change (110 tank) and used a ladle to skim off as much of the film as I could. The fish ate happily last night although I did note that the bars took 20 minutes or so to fade and that they remained aggressive to each other (rather than playfully competitive)
---
cut to this morning, the Film had returned. Fish were happy to see me and ate brine shrimp and beefheart as normal. Still aggressive, some water splashing, but no bars.
---
I didn't have time to do a water change this morning, but I retested the water and it was identical to last nights parameters, its a fairly heavily planted tank so it doesn't fluctuate much. I usually do water changes because it's been a few days (never longer than 5-6 days) even though there aren't any testable differences in the strips.
---
Weird as it may sound, the film is odorless and tasteless as far as I can tell. It has the look of an oil film (small sheen) but it isn't multi-hued, a simple reflective shine. It did form some air-bubbles in the film that floated around (very small, size of a pea.. resembled the air-cavities of a Portuguese man of war if you've seen one..)
I sloughed it off again today and cranked up my air pumps on both sides of the tank to try to increase gas exchange...
---
The fish in the tank:
9 Discus (up from 1 on Sunday, new ones were in a 4wk quarantine with same water as big tank.)
20 rummy nose
4 neon tetras (the only ones left!)
4 SAE
1 clown loach
---
Any ideas? I know its a bit random, but I'm considering turning around and staying home for the day from work, I hate to think something is wrong with their tank.
Lee
Last night I got home (dropped my coat/rucksack and walked straight to the fish room.) What I found freaked the hell out of me.
Three of my discus (including the alpha) were fully barred.(which they've never done) Two had scratches on their slime coat, the type from banging around into things, and there was a very weird film on the top of the tank -- one I've never seen before (tank has been up for approx 8 months now.)
I immediately put some food in to see if they'd eat, and got the taps running for a water change, while checking the water parameters.
86F
0 nitrite
0 nitrate
GH 75
KH 80
6.8 pH
Did a 30 gallon change (110 tank) and used a ladle to skim off as much of the film as I could. The fish ate happily last night although I did note that the bars took 20 minutes or so to fade and that they remained aggressive to each other (rather than playfully competitive)
---
cut to this morning, the Film had returned. Fish were happy to see me and ate brine shrimp and beefheart as normal. Still aggressive, some water splashing, but no bars.
---
I didn't have time to do a water change this morning, but I retested the water and it was identical to last nights parameters, its a fairly heavily planted tank so it doesn't fluctuate much. I usually do water changes because it's been a few days (never longer than 5-6 days) even though there aren't any testable differences in the strips.
---
Weird as it may sound, the film is odorless and tasteless as far as I can tell. It has the look of an oil film (small sheen) but it isn't multi-hued, a simple reflective shine. It did form some air-bubbles in the film that floated around (very small, size of a pea.. resembled the air-cavities of a Portuguese man of war if you've seen one..)
I sloughed it off again today and cranked up my air pumps on both sides of the tank to try to increase gas exchange...
---
The fish in the tank:
9 Discus (up from 1 on Sunday, new ones were in a 4wk quarantine with same water as big tank.)
20 rummy nose
4 neon tetras (the only ones left!)
4 SAE
1 clown loach
---
Any ideas? I know its a bit random, but I'm considering turning around and staying home for the day from work, I hate to think something is wrong with their tank.
Lee