Help?

[Fishish]

hi, ive been having a problem with my discus recently, they all seem to be doing fine, rummy nose tetras still have red noses, water changes done, but they stoped eating. no normally i would just think they were not hungry and they will just eat later, but i dont know what is wrong with them because 2 of them died. yes... they died... =(.. i feed them beef heart and bloodworms, i sometimes (more often recently) use garlic on their food for treatment, but if they dont even eat, does it matter? i also put aquarium salt in my tank, water temps are in the mid 80s. and every WC i do i treat the water with prime. as far as i can tell there are no external signs of a sick fish, so im assuming they have some sort of parasite? but i dont know, its getting kinda frustrating to watch them like this...

[judy]

You need to test your water and give us the results, not just "it's ok" as I saw looking up your problems on another thread. If they are sick enough that two of them have died, then you have a serious problem and we can't help you unless we have the needed information. If we can eliminate water issues, we can start thinking about other possibilities. How much salt did you put in? How long has it been in? How often are the WCs and how large? How often do you feed, how much, is the tank barebottom, do you remove uneaten food? What are the ammonia and nitrite readings in particular (nitrate would also be useful to know).
They died, but they looked fine tells us nothing except that there is a big problem. Fish do not just die; we need information if we are to narrow down possible reasons and solutions.

[strawberryblonde]

Please take Judy's advice and go buy liquid test kits for nitrites and nitrates immediately. Don't bother with buying the ammonia kit since you use Prime and that will give you a false positive ammonia reading every time.

Ok, so here's what you need to know about Rummynoses. It's true that they are sensitive to ammonia, nitrites and nitrates in the tank, but they can actually tolerate slight levels of ammonia and nitrites without their noses getting pale.

Discus, on the other hand, are super sensitive to ammonia and nitrites, especially if they are present in the tank for a long period of time. So the Rummynose won't alert you to a potential lethal dose of nitrites for Discus if it's only a small amount, but has been in your tank on a daily basis for a month or more.

Nitrite ions pass over the gills of the discus and bind in the bloodstream before oxygen passes over the gills. Once that happens the discus can't get enough oxygen and a condition called methmoglobin results. When the amount of methmoglobin has built up in the fish you will see a brownish color around the gills and down towards the belly of the discus. It kills discus since they can't get any oxygen to their bloodstream.

It doesn't kill them overnight, it takes time to build up to a deadly level.

So that's why it's extremely important to get liquid tests for your water and to test it on a daily basis. If you do have nitrites in the water column you need to do huge water changes on a daily basis until they read 0. They should always read 0 if you are vacuuming out food and wastes daily and have sufficient biological filtration.

Once you've tested your water and can give us the test results we'll be able to help you diagnose what's killing your discus.

[Fishish]

You need to test your water and give us the results, not just "it's ok" as I saw looking up your problems on another thread. If they are sick enough that two of them have died, then you have a serious problem and we can't help you unless we have the needed information. If we can eliminate water issues, we can start thinking about other possibilities. How much salt did you put in? How long has it been in? How often are the WCs and how large? How often do you feed, how much, is the tank barebottom, do you remove uneaten food? What are the ammonia and nitrite readings in particular (nitrate would also be useful to know).
They died, but they looked fine tells us nothing except that there is a big problem. Fish do not just die; we need information if we are to narrow down possible reasons and solutions.
after i posted this threat my dad went to test the water, i wasnt there, but he said that there were low nitrates, and the ph was 7.8, he said they didnt mention anything else, he went to a pet store to get it tested. water changes are 3 times a week, i had them in a 50g tank before i did a 40% WC after they incident, i moved them to my 75g tank because that one has been set up for a while with nothing but a pair of breeding angels which i removed now, the WC on the bigger tank is about 20%again like 3 times a week. the tank is not barebottom, although there is not alot of gravel in there (not enough to hold down plants) feeding twice a day, half a cube of either beefheart of bloodworms ( i sometimes use garlic with the thawing food) and i remove *** much food as i can either during water changes or if i notice it being uneating for too long in the tank. i hope this helps, sorry for the lack of attention to it on the first post, i was in a rush... i did go to multiple private pet stores to ask about this and some said increase WC's and others said to put more driftwood in the tank etc.. thanks for the help.


Please take Judy's advice and go buy liquid test kits for nitrites and nitrates immediately. Don't bother with buying the ammonia kit since you use Prime and that will give you a false positive ammonia reading every time.

Ok, so here's what you need to know about Rummynoses. It's true that they are sensitive to ammonia, nitrites and nitrates in the tank, but they can actually tolerate slight levels of ammonia and nitrites without their noses getting pale.

Discus, on the other hand, are super sensitive to ammonia and nitrites, especially if they are present in the tank for a long period of time. So the Rummynose won't alert you to a potential lethal dose of nitrites for Discus if it's only a small amount, but has been in your tank on a daily basis for a month or more.

Nitrite ions pass over the gills of the discus and bind in the bloodstream before oxygen passes over the gills. Once that happens the discus can't get enough oxygen and a condition called methmoglobin results. When the amount of methmoglobin has built up in the fish you will see a brownish color around the gills and down towards the belly of the discus. It kills discus since they can't get any oxygen to their bloodstream.

It doesn't kill them overnight, it takes time to build up to a deadly level.

So that's why it's extremely important to get liquid tests for your water and to test it on a daily basis. If you do have nitrites in the water column you need to do huge water changes on a daily basis until they read 0. They should always read 0 if you are vacuuming out food and wastes daily and have sufficient biological filtration.

Once you've tested your water and can give us the test results we'll be able to help you diagnose what's killing your discus.
Thanks for the info, it helps a lot!

[Fishish]

Mon-Wed-Fri are their usual WC days if it helps at all. they seem uninterested in food, although now in the 75g tank they do seem to roam more and i noticed they go and pick between the gravel now a little, so they might be recovering, but im uncertain yet. again thanks for the help.

[strawberryblonde]

How many discus do you have and how big are they?

How long have you owned them?

Can you buy the test kit or ask your dad to buy it for you? The one most people use is called API and you'll need one for Ammonia, one for Nitrite and one for Nitrate. They aren't very expensive and once you have them you'll be able to test your water each day and have a good idea when things are going wrong.

Don't try to treat your discus for parasites until you're sure they have them. There can be a lot of other reasons why they won't eat the food you offer.

So what else is in the new tank besides gravel? Are there any fake plants, real plants or other decorations? What type of filter are you using?

Those are all important things to know in order to help you get your fish healthy and eating well.