Any idea what might be bothering these fry?

[ifixoldhouses]

I have 8 fry ranging from 2-3" in a 45 gallon BB tank, with 2 sponge filters and a 200 watt heater, drippping 1 gallon p/hr with overflow. I put a new heater in a few days ago, and removed 3 fry, and now they look stressed and hardly eat. water is ph 6.6 in tank, 7.0 from faucet, ammonia 0, nitrite 0 temp at 88
gh 4 drops, kh 4 drops, I never bother with nitrates, I change 50% per day.I clean the sponge filters under tap till they run clear, about every other day.
They spook real easy and will slam into the glass and float around stunned, even when I'm nowhere near them. They have erect fins, and normal poo, just dark looking and not feeding, I'm stumped.

HD video here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ifixoldhouses#p/a/u/0/nt_JdoYnlG0

[Eddie]

Why are you cleaning the filter in tap every other day? This is recommended when feeding baby fry. 2-3" fish are not fry, far from it, they are juvenile discus.

I am not sure but for some reason, I am thinking it has to do with the drip system, just my first assumption.

Eddie

[ifixoldhouses]

Well I clean them out when a bunch of food gets stuck in em, I'm thinking maybe they are re-establishing pecking order, since I removed 3 from the group, but they don't really move around much. I use Prime every day , I can't figure it.

[April]

id say ph swings. they cant handle it . if you keep rinsing your sponges till clean..your most likely removing allt he good bacteria also.the nitrogen cycle ph changes from morning till nite also . quit rinsing your sponges so much. your new water should match the water you have in the tank. get a ph meter..its so much easier. store water overnight with aeartion then add. i used to have the same problems. 1 or 2 degrees is like 20 fold for baby discus.

[ifixoldhouses]

I have 3 other tanks runing the same way with no problems, One of the 2.5" discus just killed himself hitting the wall.:confused:

[exv152]

...One of the 2.5" discus just killed himself hitting the wall.:confused:

This behavior plus the dark look and lack of feeding points to an illness, and not a water quality problem. Look up the symptoms related to hex and cryptobia.

[Rod]

Some are breathing very quickly, dark color and nervous, i'd suspect gill problems. prob gill flukes. Should be a slow steady breathing rate of around 60 to 80 gill beats a minute. Get the temp down a bit as well, 88 is too high especially since they are already having breathing problems, less oxygen disolved in the water at that temp. Try triclorofon at .8 ppm, 80f for 1 day. Should be a huge overnight improvement if i am right. If so, then treat 2 more times 6 days apart. Adjust heater to 82 to 84 after each treatment, 88 is completely unnessasary for discus.

[bs6749]

Which test kit do you have? I recommend the API Master Freshwater Test Kit.

Do another test on your ammonia and nitrites and post back the results. I have some larger discus (4.5-6.5+") and they get skittish as you described when the water quality is poor. They get spooked and will swim into the sides of the tank, heaters, filter intake tubes, etc knocking anything over that gets in their way, even when I'm in the other room. After a large water change they are usually fine. They haven't done it lately as I've kept the water quality great in the last 2-3 weeks. Before that I was so busy that the tank got changed once every 7-10 days (about 50-60gallons in a 100g tank).

I don't think that 88 is unreasonable for your discus, however if they are sick then it may be doing more harm than good. Add an extra airstone and drop the temp down if you decide to medicate for flukes.

I also don't think that a pH swing is causing this erratic behavior in your fish. Four tenths of a point isn't much to worry about in my experience.

Cut back on rinsing out your filter as already mentioned as you are quite possibly causing ammonia to build up by removing the beneficial bacteria.

How long have you had these fish in the tank? You might want to think about covering half of the front of the tank with a towel, blanket, or taping something to the face of the tank. That will give them something to hide behind and maybe feel more secure. They all looked like they were wanting to hide. Also avoid loud noises and sudden movements near the tank. Keep us up to date.

One last thing that I forgot to mention that may help. The tank may be "too big" for them and they could be afraid of that. Maybe try getting them all to one half of the tank and splitting the tank with some light deflector. They are all spread out right now, so maybe encouraging them to school would be beneficial. If they do start to school try adjusting the size of the tank a little each day by moving the lighting deflector backwords. You can use suction cups to secure it to the sides of the tank.

[ifixoldhouses]

Some are breathing very quickly, dark color and nervous, i'd suspect gill problems. prob gill flukes. Should be a slow steady breathing rate of around 60 to 80 gill beats a minute. Get the temp down a bit as well, 88 is too high especially since they are already having breathing problems, less oxygen disolved in the water at that temp. Try triclorofon at .8 ppm, 80f for 1 day. Should be a huge overnight improvement if i am right. If so, then treat 2 more times 6 days apart. Adjust heater to 82 to 84 after each treatment, 88 is completely unnessasary for discus.

I usually keep it at 85, but raised in an attempt to get them to eat, about half of them will eat , the others just watch. I have some QuickCure will that work? they do breathe pretty fast.

[Rod]

I usually keep it at 85, but raised in an attempt to get them to eat, about half of them will eat , the others just watch. I have some QuickCure will that work? they do breathe pretty fast.

Quick cure may help, that is mostly formalin isn't it? We don't get that med in Oz anymore, used to years ago but was banned, but i think i remember mostly formalin. I think the triclorofon is better though, and less risky than formalin. You can pick it up in most lps as para ex or para gone or paracide. Most parasite type meds have triclorofon as the active ingredient.

[bs6749]

Quick cure may help, that is mostly formalin isn't it? We don't get that med in Oz anymore, used to years ago but was banned, but i think i remember mostly formalin.

It's usually formalin and malachite green together Rod.

[ifixoldhouses]

How many days should I use it? 50% w/c and redose or what?

[Rod]

Every 6 days for 3 doses is standard practice. .8mg per liter of water, 27c , w/c as per normal. The med oxidizes within 24 hours and is no longer having an effect, so extra water changes are not really nessasary. Whatever you normally do to maintain water quality is fine. In your case just turn the dripper back on.

[ifixoldhouses]

One of them is on his way out, I tried giving it a salt bath, and added more F&MG, looks like trouble breathing.

[ifixoldhouses]

Which test kit do you have? I recommend the API Master Freshwater Test Kit.

Do another test on your ammonia and nitrites and post back the results. I have some larger discus (4.5-6.5+") and they get skittish as you described when the water quality is poor. They get spooked and will swim into the sides of the tank, heaters, filter intake tubes, etc knocking anything over that gets in their way, even when I'm in the other room. After a large water change they are usually fine. They haven't done it lately as I've kept the water quality great in the last 2-3 weeks. Before that I was so busy that the tank got changed once every 7-10 days (about 50-60gallons in a 100g tank).

I don't think that 88 is unreasonable for your discus, however if they are sick then it may be doing more harm than good. Add an extra airstone and drop the temp down if you decide to medicate for flukes.

I also don't think that a pH swing is causing this erratic behavior in your fish. Four tenths of a point isn't much to worry about in my experience.

Cut back on rinsing out your filter as already mentioned as you are quite possibly causing ammonia to build up by removing the beneficial bacteria.

How long have you had these fish in the tank? You might want to think about covering half of the front of the tank with a towel, blanket, or taping something to the face of the tank. That will give them something to hide behind and maybe feel more secure. They all looked like they were wanting to hide. Also avoid loud noises and sudden movements near the tank. Keep us up to date.

One last thing that I forgot to mention that may help. The tank may be "too big" for them and they could be afraid of that. Maybe try getting them all to one half of the tank and splitting the tank with some light deflector. They are all spread out right now, so maybe encouraging them to school would be beneficial. If they do start to school try adjusting the size of the tank a little each day by moving the lighting deflector backwords. You can use suction cups to secure it to the sides of the tank.

I just saw this post:) I have ApI master kit, Just checked and Amonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0

Tank has been running 2 or 3 months. The tank is down low, I have a small child that runs around it sometimes, I moved some of the others out because I thought maybe the tank was too small for 11 juvies,thats when the trouble started, I think I'll move them into the 55 with the others I took out.I have one thats been floating upside down all day, I think he's done for.