Palue
10-27-2010, 04:57 PM
Through our travels in this hobby we all experience some not so nice things. I would just like to tell you all about my very close call in loosing my Discus pair due to placing a resin ornament in the tank. Now I know you all probably don't use these things but maybe you can pass this along to someone who does.
First off this is a Hagen product I bought, its a resin rock looking cave, putting the trust in what we buy from retailers and especially Hagen one really has to wonder. Most of their stuff is made in China and that should be the first red flag.
So as you might read in my past posts I have been having issues with my Discus and water in general. The fish were looking dark, loosing their slime coat, getting fungus patches on them. What in the world could it be. At first I blamed it on the new tetras (rummy nose & neons) that I added to the tank. None of these tetras showed any kind of illness at all. The rummynoses have the reddest noses one could ever imagine. Being the canary of the aquarium world I thought for sure they would show that something is wrong with the tank, but nope nothing at all.
We just came back from a 17 day Hawaiin Cruise and the boys who always look after my fish did a great job as always but even they noticed the past few days till we got back the Discus were getting worse and really stressed, tank water looked as if you just poured warm water from the tap, you know that look in a glass.
Before we left I made sure that the filter was cleaned, water change was done as they were not looking great before then either. So with small feedings of once a day I knew the water and filter would be just fine till I got back home. Upon arriving home I could not believe what I seen, I quickly did a water change and the next day they looked a bit better. We have now been home for a week and in that time I have been doing water changes, trying to figure out what the heck is wrong with my fish. All other fish in the tank were still doing well but the discus were not, it seemed they were getting worse by the day.
I thought about getting some medication to help them but thought my first course of action will be to do some salt in the tank first. So I did this at half the dose they recommend. They were looking a bit better but still not what they should be.
Last night while sitting and just watching the tank, cloudy water and all I thought, "I wonder if that resin ornament has anything to do with this"??
Well my lord, when I took this thing out of the tank it stunk so bad I almost threw up. There are holes in it so it will sink of course and I don't know what the heck this thing is really made of but I can tell you one thing, ITS IN THE GARBAGE. I did a water change, changed the carbon and hoped and prayed for a miracle in the morning.
Well this morning, the water is pristine clear, fish have normal color, are cleaning an area to lay eggs once again. They still will have some time to heal from all this crap but wow, I am so glad that I removed this thing.
So my message to all of you and people you know, do not ever buy or put these things into your fish tanks. Lesson learned the hard way and just about at the expense of my beautiful Discus too.
As I sit here and type this their colors are just beautiful once again and they are swimming like the king and queen they should be.
Have a nice day all...;)
First off this is a Hagen product I bought, its a resin rock looking cave, putting the trust in what we buy from retailers and especially Hagen one really has to wonder. Most of their stuff is made in China and that should be the first red flag.
So as you might read in my past posts I have been having issues with my Discus and water in general. The fish were looking dark, loosing their slime coat, getting fungus patches on them. What in the world could it be. At first I blamed it on the new tetras (rummy nose & neons) that I added to the tank. None of these tetras showed any kind of illness at all. The rummynoses have the reddest noses one could ever imagine. Being the canary of the aquarium world I thought for sure they would show that something is wrong with the tank, but nope nothing at all.
We just came back from a 17 day Hawaiin Cruise and the boys who always look after my fish did a great job as always but even they noticed the past few days till we got back the Discus were getting worse and really stressed, tank water looked as if you just poured warm water from the tap, you know that look in a glass.
Before we left I made sure that the filter was cleaned, water change was done as they were not looking great before then either. So with small feedings of once a day I knew the water and filter would be just fine till I got back home. Upon arriving home I could not believe what I seen, I quickly did a water change and the next day they looked a bit better. We have now been home for a week and in that time I have been doing water changes, trying to figure out what the heck is wrong with my fish. All other fish in the tank were still doing well but the discus were not, it seemed they were getting worse by the day.
I thought about getting some medication to help them but thought my first course of action will be to do some salt in the tank first. So I did this at half the dose they recommend. They were looking a bit better but still not what they should be.
Last night while sitting and just watching the tank, cloudy water and all I thought, "I wonder if that resin ornament has anything to do with this"??
Well my lord, when I took this thing out of the tank it stunk so bad I almost threw up. There are holes in it so it will sink of course and I don't know what the heck this thing is really made of but I can tell you one thing, ITS IN THE GARBAGE. I did a water change, changed the carbon and hoped and prayed for a miracle in the morning.
Well this morning, the water is pristine clear, fish have normal color, are cleaning an area to lay eggs once again. They still will have some time to heal from all this crap but wow, I am so glad that I removed this thing.
So my message to all of you and people you know, do not ever buy or put these things into your fish tanks. Lesson learned the hard way and just about at the expense of my beautiful Discus too.
As I sit here and type this their colors are just beautiful once again and they are swimming like the king and queen they should be.
Have a nice day all...;)