pair fighting

[Palue]

I have a pair of discus whom have been having issues the past while. It seems that the female keeps pecking him, I thought that maybe one of my bristlenose plecos were latching onto him but have not seen any of this behavior at all. I don't hear any splashing at night but the odd time during the day. It seems that when he does this there is nothing near him. They flash their bodies at each other and one other thing is they have stopped laying eggs. I have added a small school of rummynose tetras and neon tetras to the tank, they don't bother the fish at all from what I have seen.

The male (cobalt blue) will go quite dark, stay at the top and I can see areas where something has been pecking at him. The female has no marks at all but I have seen her go at him.

Tank temp 81 degrees (they are not happy at higher temps)
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 40 ( a bit high)
PH 7.5

I do weekly water changes to the tank, I don't lower my ph and leave it as it is, nitrates can bounce a bit but is usually in the 40 range.

Can someone tell me what would be taking place with this pair?? Do they no longer want to be together??

[Eddie]

Some pairs have a love hate relationship. I have a few females that kick the pi$$ out of the males sometimes, and bad too. If it becomes too bad, you will need to put a divider in the tank or remove the male so he does not fall ill from stress. A clear divider would be the best option.

Eddie

[Jennie]

palue, did you qt those tetras. I remember you wee looking to get some recently?
I have a pair of discus whom have been having issues the past while. It seems that the female keeps pecking him, I thought that maybe one of my bristlenose plecos were latching onto him but have not seen any of this behavior at all. I don't hear any splashing at night but the odd time during the day. It seems that when he does this there is nothing near him. They flash their bodies at each other and one other thing is they have stopped laying eggs. I have added a small school of rummynose tetras and neon tetras to the tank, they don't bother the fish at all from what I have seen.

The male (cobalt blue) will go quite dark, stay at the top and I can see areas where something has been pecking at him. The female has no marks at all but I have seen her go at him.

Tank temp 81 degrees (they are not happy at higher temps)
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 40 ( a bit high)
PH 7.5

I do weekly water changes to the tank, I don't lower my ph and leave it as it is, nitrates can bounce a bit but is usually in the 40 range.

Can someone tell me what would be taking place with this pair?? Do they no longer want to be together??

[johnnathan]

You have to separate them for 2 - 3 weeks.

it happen some of the pair ..

:D:D:D

[Palue]

I only have the one tank setup, I do have a 10 gal but its to small to put one of them into that. As for the tetras, no I do not qt them, I do add garlic to my system when I add new fish, its an awesome ick killer and I just love it. The tetras did not have ick but I do it as a precaution and the fish go insane for the food too when you add garlic. I used this when I had a reef system as with corals one cannot add meds it would kill the corals but garlic is magic...;)

He is eating well, they are not fighting today and I don't see any marks on him. I am watching those bristlnose very closely though to make sure they are not bothering the discus but I have never seen any of them go after the discus.

Things changed when I had to part with two of the discus from this tank, I kept this pair and from that point on they just have not been the same.

I also don't think they like the tetras in the tank. But I have lost 4 already of the neons so I don't think I have to worry to much about having a large school of them for long. The stronger ones will survive I guess.

Right now he is at the worm feeder eating bloodworms. He can be a bit of a pain in the you know what, he was my first discus and by himself the first two years, I spoiled him with blood worms on a regular basis and he will eat flake but only a bit of it. He will not touch beef heart but he is huge so he is not starving.

I think he is having a real issue with the tetras in the tank, but I will continue to watch them both carefully.

[Palue]

I also forgot to mention, when I go near the tank he flashes his body at me. Fins are right up as well, whey would he do this??

[Jennie]

he could have parasites