Discus Jumped!

[Turtlemaxxx]

This morning at 5:40 I heard a weird crashing noise and went to see what the cat (s) knocked over. I saw nothing. 15 minutes later i heard a weird noise, turned out to be one of my discus flopping on the floor behind the tank with the cat trying to figure out what it was.

I scooped it up and back in the tank it went. The g/f says its doing... fine... apparently keeps spooking and running into the tank wall or cover.

1. Are discus aggressive breeders? This is supposed to be a breeding pair but I have only had them for about a month and a half.

2. Are Discus just jumpers and I missed this in my searching because I was concentrating on other things during my searches.

It is an old Oceanic 60gal. btw. 36x18x21 <--- the 21 is an ish

-Matt

I (the FIANCEE lol) have been watching the tank all day having minor heart attacks every time this discus spooks. Both discus love hiding around the wood piece in the tank, but currently they're practically attached to it and absolutely refuse to move... which makes it very difficult to get a good look at my baby. I am nervous to put my hand in the tank to herd it into the light because I can tell there are minor abrasions from the fall and I believe the eyes are clouded? From watching the discus's behavior, I'm truly concerned something is wrong with its eyes because it is resting almost against the wood piece as reassurance. The stress bars on both fish are practically black as well. As the day has gone by, I have noticed that the jumper seems to lean more and more? Basically, I'm freaking out that my baby will die and the other along with it from lonliness. :( So any advice in keeping him/her would be fabulous. Thank you in advance.

- Anna

[Chad Hughes]

That's a crazy story. I've had fish jump out, but never a discus. I do hear they jump though, as you saw demonstrated. Alwyas keep a cover on that tank! :o

[William Palumbo]

You'll find out only breeding pairs and showfish jump out!...Bill

[MostlyDiscus]

I have had discus jump many times. It seems that they spook also for no apparent reason. Maybe you might want to keep the cats away from the tank, they are aware of the fish now. If you can eliminate the shadows in the tank that might help.

Ed

[FLGirl1977]

That's a crazy story. I've had fish jump out, but never a discus. I do hear they jump though, as you saw demonstrated. Alwyas keep a cover on that tank! :o

Chad, take a look at this thread:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=68542

Pretty self-explanatory... :p

[Chad Hughes]

Chad, take a look at this thread:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=68542

Pretty self-explanatory... :p

Wow! Well, at least there is a sloution..... put your aquarium in a kiddie pool so if a discus jumps, they'll just land in the pool! LOL! :p

[White Worm]

Yep, have had one jump out of a small gap. Male breeder......problem is that i didnt see it until he was dried up. :(

[Turtlemaxxx]

OK, this is matt, i said g/f because i can't spell that "f" word.

The PH is still holding steady at 7.6 out of the tap.

the water is hard, but softer than they were in b4 we got them, <-- my test is old and doesn't seem to work right. The bubble wand makes me have white deposits on the outside of the tank though.

Do titanium heaters have problems with stray voltage?

tomorrow will be one month exactly since we got them. Apparently some guy didn't want his breeding pair anymore and just dropped them off. After they were at the LFS for about 3 months, i took them home to give them better care, their HITH is gone on one and almost gone on the other. I did not medicate the tank, i raised the temp to 86* added a bubble wand for oxygenation, and have been doing at least 30% water changes at least every other day. Anna says she has seen them displaying some breeding behavior, shimmy-ing their fins and the like.

They have pretty much always been a little skittish for us, unless we stand outside of the tank for a minute or so then they come out. They never eat in front of us but i can see though the door that they are eating it. I feed Tetra Crisps, frozen blood worms, and Tetra color tropical granules.

The tank is covered, the back where the fish jumped out is only wide enough to get the XP3's tubes though, about 3/4" along the back.

The filtration is an XP3 that was running on my 180 for over a year.

the black back fell off a 2 weeks ago and it is going back on tonight.

There is a large piece of driftwood in there with florite and some plants. here is a pic from when i first got them.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l319/Turtlemaxxx/SANY2625.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l319/Turtlemaxxx/SANY2626.jpg

[Eddie]

Nice looking turqs, they look lovely.

Eddie

[Peachtree Discus]

I (the FIANCEE lol) have been watching the tank all day having minor heart attacks every time this discus spooks. Both discus love hiding around the wood piece in the tank, but currently they're practically attached to it and absolutely refuse to move... which makes it very difficult to get a good look at my baby. I am nervous to put my hand in the tank to herd it into the light because I can tell there are minor abrasions from the fall and I believe the eyes are clouded? From watching the discus's behavior, I'm truly concerned something is wrong with its eyes because it is resting almost against the wood piece as reassurance. The stress bars on both fish are practically black as well. As the day has gone by, I have noticed that the jumper seems to lean more and more? Basically, I'm freaking out that my baby will die and the other along with it from lonliness. :( So any advice in keeping him/her would be fabulous. Thank you in advance.
- Anna

close off the entire top of the tank. discus are excellent jumpers and they will find the (un)lucky open spot eventually. cloudy eyes usually is an indicator that you need to change more water. how often are you changing? IMO, its a little weird for a breeder to sell (let alone drop off) a pair.

if you give them a place to hide - they will hide. they are fairly new to you and therefore uncomfortable with their environment. they are likely to be more skiddish if you are watching them all day. i also would not herd the fish into the light as they will become more skiddish about "those big things (you)" harassing them at random times. give them some time to get adjusted (1-2 months :( ). just go about ur life and give them some space. after they learn that you don't harm/harass them and you are the food provider...they run up to the tank like puppies.

[ApacheDan]

Anna, I lost many discus to jumping or worst hitting themselves against the glass so hard that they kill themselves. Many things can be the cause, sudden change of water parameters or anything else that triggers the flight instinct. Mind you, they cannot see glass, so they will try to run through it..

If you see most breeders paint their tank walls to avoid shades, or anything that will spook them. You might like to put some background backpaper to your tank, as well as maybe have some artificial plants or anything else that can make them feel secure or a place to hide....they will come out when they feel good...

One last thing that has work for me is to add dithering fish....if they see other fish moving around, they will feel safer. I've had good luck with German Blue Rams...

[FLGirl1977]

Hello! Those are some beauties you have there! :)

Something I've experienced, the larger of a tank they reside in, the more 'at ease' and calm they seem to be. If you have the option of getting a larger tank (maybe check craigslist) then go for it. In my tank I've noticed that if they do freak out, they're less apt to hit glass in a large tank... whereas in a smaller tank it's like a pin-ball machine. Also, dithers will work.. a school of rummynoses and a couple of corys would do well. Nothing too big though.. Last but not least, if you decide to get a larger tank, discus LOVE company of their own kind! 6 or more would be best.

HTH, and good luck with those gorgeous babies! :)

Oh, something else that helped me too if a larger tank isn't in the cards, I found a really LARGE nice looking fake plant that reaches all the way to the surface and leans with the surface... so it actually provides over-head cover (I'll find a link)... makes them feel much more secure and less skiddish.

[FLGirl1977]

Here's a link:
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/15684/product.web

I have the bamboo one (from this brand), but this is a really nice one as well.. it measures all the way up to 36'', so it actually 'floats' with the surface... great cover! Trust me, it really works! :)

[Dutch dude]

Hmm,....if I read through the postings I can't find info that point to a change in the tank or water qualety, parameters (PH, GH and so on) or other reason. HITH is a serious illnes and is coused by flaggelates. Flagellates become a problem on stressed fish with a poor health. The previous owner of the fish probably didn't took proper care of them what would explain the HITH and the reason why he sold the fish. The both of you do take proper care becouse at least one fish start to cure from the HITH witch is a good sign.

The jump accident clearly damaged the fish and stressed both of them out. I read you have cats. Cats are active during the night and like the heat of a tank. Mine often walk over the tanks or sleep on it. A jump from the ground on the lid makes some noise and more then once they spooked the sh*t out of my discus. Over time they get used to it. One of the cats liked to play with the discus and taped with his paw on the glass. This also scared the discus but after a while they don't even pay atention to the cats any more so the cats lost their interest in chasing and playing with the discus. It might very well be that the cats were the reason for freaking out your discus and make one jump. If the discus can jump out of the tank, the cats paw will fit into the tank! So first concern should be to properly close the tank.

For now I would keep the light levels low so the fish become calmer. Right now every unexpected movement can stress them out and make them skittish and dart around the tank. So I suggest to keep an eye on them but take more distance. If the jumper only have some scratches he will probably cure from it. I'm more woried abouth his eyes. Bad sight might also increase stress and make it more skittish. I suggest to leave them alone right now and perform a large wc tomorrow. I also suggest to keep a small light on in the room during the night and if possible keep the cats out for a couple of days.

If everything turns out to be OK I suggest to let them use to your presence. That will take quit some time dough. But,...if people manage to hand feed wilds you probably manage to had feed yours as well.

I already posted this on C-F.

It can very well be that the eyes of the jumper are cloudy becouse it spend 15 minutes on the floor! Does only the jumper have cloudy eyes are does the other one also have cloudy eyes?

Reason for selling the breeder can very well be that the previous owner didn't had enough time to take proper care witch also explains the HITH

[Turtlemaxxx]

DD: Our cats are weird, they don't jump more than like a foot in the air. The female has climbed a chair to a bookshelf to the top of the 180 and promptly fell asleep once or twice but the male is too dumb to do that. So I dont think that the cats are a problem, that and the discus are in the extra room. I have not caught them in there bothering them but i do sleep when they prowl.

They are under pretty much just moonlight and they are at least out and about.
I do have 3 corys in there already along with a handfull of ghost shrimp.

The eyes on the one that fell are the only ones that are clouded, more like it scratched the lenses from the wall, 2x4, carpet, and prolly the net a little too, than a disease. I hope.

and the gap on the back of the tank was like 1" by 34" it was the gap at the back of the tank, I got a 2" PVC pipe resting in there to block it right now.

more to come,

matt