Sudden change in behavior

[steakman]

I inherited 3 discus from a friend about a year ago. They were all in 4-5 inch in size.
I did not know anything about discus when I first got them. To follow my friend's footstep, I had not done any WC in 6 months. I housed them in a 75 gallon tank with 2 Eheim canister filters rated for 300 gallon tank. They were all doing just fine.

I got 3 more from a guy I knew, they are about the same size, 5-6 inch.
When 2 of them paired up, and laid eggs, I started to learn more about them by joining some of the forums dedicated to discus. To my horror, I learn that discus required a frequent WC at least on a weekly basic.

Since then, roughly about 3 months ago, I've started a routine of WC of at least 25%/time, and 2x/week.

Last week, I did a 50% WC. To my dismay, the fish all of a sudden started to go hiding behind any object. When I approach to feed them, they darted all over the place, bang their heads and stressed themselves out, breathed heavily for a while before slowing down.

Now when I approach, I have to move super slowly so I don't spook them.

They are still eating but not the same enthusiastic way the used to be.

I've used the same tap water and Prime before without problem.

I've had 2 new fish QTed in a 25 gallon tank for 2 weeks now with the same tap water for WC without problem.

Anybody had this problem in the past?

What causes this change in behavior?

Thank you for your advice.

[jimg]

many things could cause that. putting the tank in a busy area, parasites, water problems, medications, too much current, etc.
I would double check all water parameters. make sure you use prime/safe. Sometimes one can get skittish and the rest follow.
keep up with the wc's and watch closely.

[TURQ64]

My guess is that unfortunately they were becoming used to the poisonous effects of nitrates, etc and the WC put them off their game..Keep changing water, it's the best thing for them, and I bet they'll come around shortly..Gary

[jimfur]

Without going into the whole " they are sick thing" This was my experience with the darting around that happened in two seperate rooms that I had a tank setup when we moved into our new house. The first is upstairs in an main level extra bedroom ( we have nothing in it) I setup my 120 gallon tank, the tank was on the wall peprendicular to the door but so you really could not see the tank from outside the room, here is the problem, the fish cannot see you coming either. A couple times of someone coming in the room fast scares the heck of the fish and then it doesn't take long and every time it is an issue. I slid the tank down the wall so I could see it from outside the room ( thus the fish could see also) I never had the issue again. The other was in my fish room, I had a tank behind where the door opened in the basement, everytome I went in there the fish would hide behind the sponge filter, I thought about what happened upstairs and took the door off and now the fish could see me from the end of the tank and eagerly greet me for feeding time. It sounds strange but sometimes it is not a disease but how you have them setup. location, height of tank ( I have much better luck with the stands I build for fish tanks because they are higher off the floor than the one s you buy in LFS). Just my experience with the darting behavior ( when it is all of them doing it).

Jim

[strawberryblonde]

When you left the tank alone for so long a lot of nasty stuff gathered in the substrate and filters. I suspect that by upping the water change, you are now releasing some of those nasty germs and rotten food bits, poop, moldy crud, etc into the water column.

It can spike the nitrites/nitrates in the tank when you do that, but fortunately there's a cure. Just keep removing at least 50% of the water during each water change, be sure to dose the tank with a double dose of prime (dose for 150 gallons of water before adding tap water to the tank) and do those water changes once a day for a week or so.

It will shock the fish a bit in the beginning, but the faster you get all the crud out of the tank the faster they will go back to normal behavior.

A big note though, and this is really important. Only vacuum a small portion of the gravel each day...working your way across the tank so that all the gravel is super clean after one week of the water changes. That way you only release a small amount of the nasties each day. Doing the whole thing at once could make the fish good and sick.

Be sure to test your water for nitrites and nitrates every morning and if you see any nitrites in the tank in the morning, dose the tank with one capful of Prime before you leave for work. It will neutrilize the nitrites till you get home and can do your daily water change.

Basically, now that you've started doing the right thing by upping your water changes, you have to go all the way and get the crud out so your fish can have clean water...part way is just making the bacteria levels bad for them. But you're definitely on the right track!!! =)