Question

[darbex]

I dont know if I should be alarmed or not. But here goes. Yesterday I noticed one of my discus was acting like he was spooked by something. I would be just sitting there not moving and he would go off. He would basically swim from one end of the tank to the other as fast as he could go, near the top with his dorsal fin sticking out of the water like a shark. He would then stop go towards the bottom corner and begin turning left and right quickly then take off right into the glass and get dazed and be fine again. Then I saw him swim in a circle as fast has he could for no apparent reason. I also saw him swim tilted as if he was about to fight another discus but there were none near him. All his colors are bright and not dark at all. His fins are fully erect and not suppressing them at all. When he isnt psycho he looks happy and normal. Should I worry about this?

[seanyuki]

Could it be toxic in the water?...better check the water parameters like Ph,ammonia.nirate and nitrate.....do a large water change and add water conditioner like Prime....Add salt and ACRIFLAVINE as a preventative measures.

[3DDiscus]

Hi Darbex,

I had a couple of instances a few months ago that were similar. In my case, the one fish startled the others and they all went psycho too. I still don't know exactly why, but I know my amonia level was at about 1. So I did daily large (70%) water changes and most importantly I covered the tank with towels to give them some sense of security. Both times, it went away in about a week. Unfortunaely, one of my prized Valentines banged his head so hard on the side of the glass that he is now blinded in one eye. :(

Hope this helps a little. Good luck.

David

[darbex]

You may be right. I didnt check the params before WC last night. But I forgot to mention that I had a big boo boo. I did a WC on Tuesday and I usually shut off the pump (2262) and close the return valve so water doesnt come in through the return line. I then drain from the pump directly as well as through the top. Well the water started to get cloudy the next day but didnt have time to check anything. Got home yesterday and started a WC. Has I was doing it I noticed that I never opened the valve back up. I tried plugging in the pump and it wasnt running burnt out the motor. As I was pumping the water out from the pump I noticed it smelled horrible from all of the decay matter that was just sitting in the pump for 2 days. I cleaned the pump all out and took it apart and I got it to work so I ended up not burning out the motor. So in short maybe that caused a spike in the water and lead to my discus acting strange.

[darbex]

I did about an 75% WC last night so hopefully that will help them. And I will do another tonight when I get home from work.

[Jhhnn]

Hopefully everybody will be OK.

I've had trouble remembering to turn the canister back on after water changes, too, although I just shut it off to hold the prime. The worst I've done was overnight, apparently w/o harm.

I just ordered a timer kit from BGMicro, one that creates a timed on or off period when activated. I should be able to push a button to turn off the canister for a predetermined amount of time, at which point it will cycle back on automatically...

The only alternatives were ridiculously expensive- that's apparently not something too many people do with timers...

I'll report back when it's finished...

[darbex]

Did another WC today and so far everyone seems to be acting normal again. So hopefully no more problems

[darbex]

Well two of them are doing it again not constantly. I checked the params and it reads 0 for ammonia and nitrite and 10 for nitrates. Any ideas?