Things not looking too good.

[Dieselfool]

I'm hoping that some of you who read this has already been following by build/start up thread on showtank forum. Well I picked up my 8 x 3" Discus 8 days ago and everything seemed fine untill today. They came out of r/o and I drip aclimated them to my tap water for a few hrs. They've all been eating well and swimming around fine. This morning I notice that one of my Cobalt Blues looks almost black. As the day progreses, I start to see almost all of the 8 getting darker. When I fed them this monring, not all of them came to eat, and the ones that did didn't seem to be as hungry as usual. At 1st. I thought it might be stress as 2 of my Geos have spawned in the last couple of days and the male was getting quite aggressive with all the other males. Really chasing them around and generaly causing a big comotion. Then I see one of the Discus sitting almost on the bottom behind a log. Thinking maybe the flow from my filters might be too much, I turned them down a bit. Later in the aft., the one on the bottom starts listing to one side. I checked my water, and ammonia and nitIte showed okay. I've had to really feed the rest of the fish for most of the week to be able to keep them away from the Discus so they could eat. I've got 6 3"+ Geos and 8 or 9 3"+ Clown loaches so there never seems to be any un-eaten food left laying about the tank. But thinking the water might be just too dirty for them, I did a 50% w/c from my tap using the same conditioner I've always used. I might also mention that 2 days and 5 days before putting in the Discus I also did 50% w/c. While doing the w/c the one was now laying almost flat on the bottom. As the tank filled, he seemed to perk up some. Now the tank is filled and now 2 of them are on the bottom listing at about 50%. I'm not sure what else to do at this point, so it's off to bed. I've got a funny feeling I'm going to wake up to at least a couple of dead fish.:( Any sugestions? I might also add that this is my 1st. go with Discus.
Thanks.
Al.

[Maria Ashton]

I am no expert but is it possible your clown loaches are stressing the discus out? The other thing is that they could have tape worms - any white poo?

[lipadj46]

how big is this tank? Start doing 100% daily water changes. Also I agree clown loaches and discus are not a good match

[Maria Ashton]

Having thought about it a bit more I would also be inclined to up the % and frequency of wc - I read it takes fish weeks to get used to new water anyway and you do not have weeks right now. If your tank is at 30 degrees C I would think about lowering the temp slowly to 28, if its bacterial this will slow it down. I am no expert on meds and I think what you have in the US is different to what is available here in the Netherlands. Andrew Soh has written two highly acclaimed books on Discus with very detailed sections on health including viruses and bacterial infections and medicines. I dont have a copy but someone on here might or might have tips from the book. Mine is on order.

[jarret8x]

Also micro bubbles don't help. So maybe start aging water instead of going straight from the tap.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[Maria Ashton]

PM Second Hand Pat, see what she has to say.

[TURQ64]

The fish don't appear to favor your water chemistry; most likely the cause of the darkening, off feeding, and the listing. I see no mention of QT. In hindsight, this is why experienced Discus keepers QT their fish for from a few weeks, to eight....looks like there's plenty of opinions weighing in, so I'll bail out, as I'm not a planted tank expert, and also only preach what I practice. Good luck.

[Second Hand Pat]

Morning Al,

Sorry to hear your babies are not doing well. First, there is a form in the disease section that should be filled out. This will be a starting point for info so other members to provide advise. Post pictures if you can.

Here's is what I would do. These guys need to be pulled from your 180 and placed in a smaller BB tank. A 40 breeder or 55 would be fine but nothing smaller. I would start with daily large WCs, 50% or better. This might be enough to bring them back. But if you have to treat with meds it will be much cheaper to treat in a smaller tank then the 180. I am still a newbie at this too so I do not have the experience to advise any meds.

Also these guys can not compete with the geo and loaches for food at this size so a growout tank is better for them for the next 6 months or so. I tend to agree with Gary on this concerning the water chemistry and Gary knows his stuff.

Also aging your water may be needed especially if you get a ph swing after aerating in a 24 hour period. This would address any micro bubble issue.

[Chad Hughes]

Al,

Always address water first.

It's not always the cleanliness of the water that is an issues. Chemistry of the water, as mention in above posts, can cause problems. You didn't mention micro bubbles in your original post, but others mentioned micro bubbles in response to your post. Do you have micro bubbles when you fill the tank? If so, this is typically an indicator of super saturation of CO2 in your water.

Every water source is different. One of the first things I address with new discus owners is water. I have them test their tap directly from the tap and then test it after a 24 hours aging period. What I'm looking for is any change in pH. If the Original pH is low and increases over the 24 hour period, then aging the water prior to adding it to the tank is required. The only way around aging is smaller water changes. When I say small, I mean siphon out whatever waste is present on the bottom of the tank and replace the water you took out. Shouldn't be more than 10~15 gallons. If you need to do larger water changes, aged water is likely required. I know what you;re thinking.... "None of my other fish seem stressed!" Welcome to the discus world. The pickiest fish on the planet!

How many water changes have you done in the 8 days that these guys have been in your care? I'm guessing you did a couple. If they were over 50% in quantity and your tap water has a low pH, the swings in the tank are causing stress. Discus and stress do not mix well at all. If you haven;t changed your tank water in the past 24 hours, test your tap then test your tank. What's the pH difference?

I'm hoping all is well this morning!

Best weishes.


I'm hoping that some of you who read this has already been following by build/start up thread on showtank forum. Well I picked up my 8 x 3" Discus 8 days ago and everything seemed fine untill today. They came out of r/o and I drip aclimated them to my tap water for a few hrs. They've all been eating well and swimming around fine. This morning I notice that one of my Cobalt Blues looks almost black. As the day progreses, I start to see almost all of the 8 getting darker. When I fed them this monring, not all of them came to eat, and the ones that did didn't seem to be as hungry as usual. At 1st. I thought it might be stress as 2 of my Geos have spawned in the last couple of days and the male was getting quite aggressive with all the other males. Really chasing them around and generaly causing a big comotion. Then I see one of the Discus sitting almost on the bottom behind a log. Thinking maybe the flow from my filters might be too much, I turned them down a bit. Later in the aft., the one on the bottom starts listing to one side. I checked my water, and ammonia and nitIte showed okay. I've had to really feed the rest of the fish for most of the week to be able to keep them away from the Discus so they could eat. I've got 6 3"+ Geos and 8 or 9 3"+ Clown loaches so there never seems to be any un-eaten food left laying about the tank. But thinking the water might be just too dirty for them, I did a 50% w/c from my tap using the same conditioner I've always used. I might also mention that 2 days and 5 days before putting in the Discus I also did 50% w/c. While doing the w/c the one was now laying almost flat on the bottom. As the tank filled, he seemed to perk up some. Now the tank is filled and now 2 of them are on the bottom listing at about 50%. I'm not sure what else to do at this point, so it's off to bed. I've got a funny feeling I'm going to wake up to at least a couple of dead fish.:( Any sugestions? I might also add that this is my 1st. go with Discus.
Thanks.
Al.

[Dieselfool]

I am no expert but is it possible your clown loaches are stressing the discus out? The other thing is that they could have tape worms - any white poo?

No white poo, only dark from what I've seen. Don't think it's the C/Ls as they pretty much keep to themselves and are only out in force during feeding. Never more that 1 or 2 out at a time.


how big is this tank? Start doing 100% daily water changes. Also I agree clown loaches and discus are not a good match

180 gallon.


Having thought about it a bit more I would also be inclined to up the % and frequency of wc - I read it takes fish weeks to get used to new water anyway and you do not have weeks right now. If your tank is at 30 degrees C I would think about lowering the temp slowly to 28, if its bacterial this will slow it down. I am no expert on meds and I think what you have in the US is different to what is available here in the Netherlands. Andrew Soh has written two highly acclaimed books on Discus with very detailed sections on health including viruses and bacterial infections and medicines. I dont have a copy but someone on here might or might have tips from the book. Mine is on order.

Temp is at 84 degrees and constant.


Also micro bubbles don't help. So maybe start aging water instead of going straight from the tap.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Yes, lots of bubbles when re-filling. Maybe turning the flow down when re-filling might help? Aging water is not really a viable option at this point as I really don't have the space for a barrel.


The fish don't appear to favor your water chemistry; most likely the cause of the darkening, off feeding, and the listing. I see no mention of QT. In hindsight, this is why experienced Discus keepers QT their fish for from a few weeks, to eight....looks like there's plenty of opinions weighing in, so I'll bail out, as I'm not a planted tank expert, and also only preach what I practice. Good luck.

I may have to agree with you on the water. It seems logical as these guys were fine for the 1st. 7 days. I didn't feel that Qt was nessesary as these guys were the 1st. Discus in the tank. I fully intend to QT any new fish comming in (if I get anymore at all). There are no plants in this tank, just lots of wood and the bottom is quite open so any the mess left does get blown across to the other filter, leaving a relatively clean bottom.


Morning Al,

Sorry to hear your babies are not doing well. First, there is a form in the disease section that should be filled out. This will be a starting point for info so other members to provide advise. Post pictures if you can.

Here's is what I would do. These guys need to be pulled from your 180 and placed in a smaller BB tank. A 40 breeder or 55 would be fine but nothing smaller. I would start with daily large WCs, 50% or better. This might be enough to bring them back. But if you have to treat with meds it will be much cheaper to treat in a smaller tank then the 180. I am still a newbie at this too so I do not have the experience to advise any meds.
Also these guys can not compete with the geo and loaches for food at this size so a growout tank is better for them for the next 6 months or so. I tend to agree with Gary on this concerning the water chemistry and Gary knows his stuff.

Also aging your water may be needed especially if you get a ph swing after aerating in a 24 hour period. This would address any micro bubble issue.

Morning Pat.
These guy were getting enough to eat as I was feeding bloodworms through the syringe from my water test kit. It didn't take them long to figure out the where worms were comming from. They are quite smart I must say.They would all come up together and eat while the others were feeding off the bottom.
Since they've been in the tank there hasn't been any W/Cs (untill last night) so I think we can eliminate that. Infact they do seem to be a bit better this morning, not much, just a bit. I did a small feeding this morning, however only 6 of the 8 were out (which isn't un-common), but they usualy ALL come out once they know it's feeding time. So...of the 6, 2 appear to be in great shape, 2 somewhat dark, and 2 very dark and sitting on the bottom. All 6 did eat though, just not as aggresively as usual.
I don't think the daily W/Cs could happen as I work a 4 on, 4 off shift and when I'm on I sometimes don't even make it home, and when I do it's after a 14hr shift (I'm a driver). Right now I have 2 days left of my 4 off so I hoping to nip this in the bud.
Right now I'm thinking that another 50% W/C might help. so unless anybody on here yells NOOOOOO! in the next couple of hrs, this is what I'm going to try.

I do thank you all very much for all the help. If any other ideas or thoughts come to mind, please feel free to post up. I'll be checking back here quite regularly.
Al.

[strawberryblonde]

I'm not an expert, but if it was me I'd follow the WC ideas. If you can get them to a BB tank for a few weeks so they can recover without the loaches around that would be ideal. If not, keep doing those huge WC's. It's a real pain to do on a large tank, but is the first, best step when you see small problems developing.

I just went through this on my 150g. No diseases and nothing I could put my finger on, but something was "off" with my discus so I pulled ALL decor out of the tank, scrubbed it well and did daily 80% WC's. They perked back up after 5 days.

Hope your guys get back to normal soon.

[Dieselfool]

Hey Chad, thanks for chiming in. There were no mico bubbles present in the tank before this all started. However there were some when I did the water change last night but as usual they dissapated relatively quickly. There were no W/Cs done during the 8 days these guys have been in, but there were a couple of 50% changes done a few days prior to putting them in. This all just seemd to happen out of the blue. Nothing was done or changed during the 1st. 7 days. The PH is somewhat high here, but always a steady 8.0 or so. But my water hardness is at about 250ppm, but a few people on here have said that they have no problems with their discus even in water much harder than mine.
Anyway, I'll look back here in a bit before I do another W/C.
Once again, thanks everybody.
Al.

[Maria Ashton]

Al - Clown loaches are active at night, I read about one guy who had them for years with his discus and found that they were "whiskering" his discus at night. I am not sure what he meant but he removed the loaches and things improved. Also I think water changes rarely do harm, even if you do just once a week its good. I realize that with your job and the size of your tank its not easy, good luck
Maria

[Second Hand Pat]

Hey Al, now I understand the username :). Hope you get things turned around.
Pat

[Skip]

was the tank cycled? prior to adding discus into a tank with no qt..

[Cevoe]

Hello, Al.
I would suggest reading Chad's post again as the first step in determining if a ph swing is causing the problem.
Large, daily water changes are almost always a good first course of action but if the variance in ph between new and aged water is great then you are adding stress to the discus.
Any water changes you did prior to putting these fish into the tank would not be relevant, by the way.
The damage of skipping any kind of quarantine has already been done but separating the discus from the other fish now would be a good idea.
Good luck in getting them back up.

[Dieselfool]

Hey Al, now I understand the username :). Hope you get things turned around.
Pat

LOL. Yes you did ask awhile back about my user name didn't you? Well here's a couple of pics of my mobile office.

http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu22/dieselfool/Just%20stuff/IMG_2233.jpg

http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu22/dieselfool/Just%20stuff/2.jpg





was the tank cycled? prior to adding discus into a tank with no qt..

Yes, the tank was up and running for about 2 months prior. The Tetras went in 1st. Then followed 2 weeks later with theGeos, then 2 more weeks till the C/Ls went in.
Al.

[Skip]

your tank may have gone thru another cycle since adding 8 disus increased the bio load..

did you check your ammonia levels? when they turned black?

[Skip]

ps.. your mobile office rocks!

[Dieselfool]

your tank may have gone thru another cycle since adding 8 disus increased the bio load..

did you check your ammonia levels? when they turned black?

Yes I did. Everything seemed okay.
Just did another 50% w/c so we'll see how things go. It's kinda funny, 2 of them look fine, 2 look a little dark, 2 look very dark and 2 are almost black and sitting on the bottom listing at 50% lookin like they're ready to kick the bucket. The 2 on the bottom will get up and go if one of the others bother it. Their breathing doesn't seem to be any different that the rest too.
Al.

[Skip]

sometimes the water change is best thing.. BUT it does not mean they will bounce back in a snap..

what decholorinator are you using?

[Dieselfool]

ps.. your mobile office rocks!

The 2nd pic almost cost me $237 and 3 points. I took it to court and plea-bargined it down. Still cost me a 1 day suspention from work. LOL. I don't know why they even give suspentions, I just work an extra day the next week to make up for it. Like all the other trucking companys up here, we're always short of drivers.
Al.

[Dieselfool]

[QUOTE=warlock4169;802017]sometimes the water change is best thing.. BUT it does not mean they will bounce back in a snap..

what decholorinator are you using?[/QUOTE

Just using the Big Al's brand they sell up here. Got a big jug of it when I bought one of my tanks and started using it with my Africans and never had a problem. You think I should switch? A couple of bucks on a bottle is nothing when dealing with a few hundred bucks worth of Discus.
Al.

[Skip]

i use prime.. but now that i have more tanks.. i use SAFE (powder version).. i don't know about big al's.. if in doublt up the dosage.. possibly the water chemistry has change.. ie.. more ammonia or cholorine was added to tap water.. it happens during the summers

get a little bottle of prime.. it would not hurt..

[Skip]

read this..

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?73428-i-think-this-is-trouble-now../page2

[Chad Hughes]

I also read somewhere that you have sand in your tank? What type of sand do you have? Is it inert? Sand containing calcium will influence pH.

Just another thing to consider!

[Dieselfool]

i use prime.. but now that i have more tanks.. i use SAFE (powder version).. i don't know about big al's.. if in doublt up the dosage.. possibly the water chemistry has change.. ie.. more ammonia or cholorine was added to tap water.. it happens during the summers

get a little bottle of prime.. it would not hurt..

If I decide to do another w/c I'll go get some.


read this..

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?73428-i-think-this-is-trouble-now../page2

Read it. Thanks.


I also read somewhere that you have sand in your tank? What type of sand do you have? Is it inert? Sand containing calcium will influence pH.

Just another thing to consider!

Just using regular pool filter sand as used in so many other tanks, even some on this site.
This is the stuff I'm using.

http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu22/dieselfool/180%20Discus%20tank/IMG_1822.jpg

http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu22/dieselfool/180%20Discus%20tank/IMG_1823.jpg

The p/h hasn't changed any. And keep in mind I didn't do anything to the water before this started.

[Chad Hughes]

Got it! Just checking :)


If I decide to do another w/c I'll go get some.



Read it. Thanks.



Just using regular pool filter sand as used in so many other tanks, even some on this site.
This is the stuff I'm using.

http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu22/dieselfool/180%20Discus%20tank/IMG_1822.jpg

http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu22/dieselfool/180%20Discus%20tank/IMG_1823.jpg

The p/h hasn't changed any. And keep in mind I didn't do anything to the water before this started.

[Second Hand Pat]

Al, I too like your mobile office, now need a mobile tank :). How that the discus tonight?

[Dieselfool]

I just thought of something that may, or may not be of relevence. When I picked up these guys I was given a small pack of frozen bloodworms and was told that is what they were being fed. About 2 days before this started I ran out of the food provided and went and picked up some at my local BigA's. Couldn't find the same brand as all they had in stock for b/worms were the BigA's brand. The 1st. few times I fed these to them they didn't seem to intrested in them. Infact some of them even spit them out. This was on day 6 I believe. Buy day 7 they were all eating them but maybe without the same vigor as the 1st. batch. So, could the food change have something to do with this? Also, if I choose to do another w/c, could this have an adverse affect on the fish? I've already done 2 50% changes in the last 24hrs.
Thanks alot.
Al.

[Dieselfool]

Al, I too like your mobile office, now need a mobile tank :). How that the discus tonight?

Thanks. Well the lads are out and about but still not looking too good. I believe they're out right now only because the other fish are getting wound up cause they know it's almost dinner time. The last few time I fed them I only had 5 or 6 of them out to eat. A few min. ago they were all out and I just thought of the food thing. Thought I'd post up about that before feeding.
Al.

[Second Hand Pat]

Al, not sure about the bloodworms. What else do you feed?

[Keith Perkins]

Well discus can certainly be picky about their food, but I'd guess what you were seeing might have been them already not feeling well and their appetite dropping off. The first signs of trouble are often subtle.

[cjr8420]

i say its the geos if u got juvies and geos are spawning thats alone is prob more than they can handle thats why they behind a log only spot they dont get chased.breeding fish very territorial pull the female geos see if things calm down but i would pull discus for a bit. 80-100% daily wc on a 20 or 30 gal np compared to a 180 and being alone with themselves will minimize stress til they feeling better hth gl

[Dieselfool]

Al, not sure about the bloodworms. What else do you feed?

All I've been feeding them has been the b/w. Of course I've seen them picking at the other foods I feed the rest, such as shrimp pellets, various floating and sinking Cichlid pellets and some flake. They seem to have learned very quickly where the b/w are comming from and congregate there during feeding. There not afraid of the syringe or my hand, in fact most of them come right up and take the food right from the syringe. I usualy start feeding the rest 1st. to get their attention away from the other side of the tank to make sure the Discus get enough. The few times I have seen them pick up some of the other food they usualy spit it back out but not always. The feeding tonight seemed to go pretty good. All 8 were out and about with what looked like a bit more energy. After feeding I took another very close look and it seemed that some were getting a bit of their color back. But shortly after that all but the two healthyest seemed to go back to going slow, sitting on the bottom and hiding. But in light of the definite color change I think I'll forgo another w/c and see how they look in the morning.
Thanks for the very much needed help everybody.
I'll post up tommorow morning and we'll see how it's going.
Al.

[Second Hand Pat]

Shall await the morning report. :) Al, I guess you know that when these guys are feeling better might consider getting them of other foods. It does sound like they are exploring on their own however.

[Dieselfool]

Well discus can certainly be picky about their food, but I'd guess what you were seeing might have been them already not feeling well and their appetite dropping off. The first signs of trouble are often subtle.

Yeah, I'm thinking your right on this point.


i say its the geos if u got juvies and geos are spawning thats alone is prob more than they can handle thats why they behind a log only spot they dont get chased.breeding fish very territorial pull the female geos see if things calm down but i would pull discus for a bit. 80-100% daily wc on a 20 or 30 gal np compared to a 180 and being alone with themselves will minimize stress til they feeling better hth gl

Although the Geos got a bit excited, they never bothered the Discus. In fact none of the others bother them. Most of them turn away when coming head to head with one of the Discus. The comotion in the tank was just the Geos chasing each other. But with so much fast movment going on, I thought that this might be bothering the Discus. The Geos have once again settled down for the most part now and my fish are still sick so I'm kinda inclined to think that this was not the issiue.


Shall await the morning report. :) Al, I guess you know that when these guys are feeling better might consider getting them of other foods. It does sound like they are exploring on their own however.

Yes they do seem to be exploring other foods on their own. I did plan on moving them over to some dry foods as well as the worms, however I did want to keep them on the b/w at least till they settled in to try and avoid exactly whats happening now. Any sugestions for pellets or flake that you guys have had luck with? Don't want to keep buying different foods till I hit the right combination.
Al.

[Maria Ashton]

Al when things calm down and the fish are happier have a look in the feeding section of the forum, lots of people feed earthworms - they seem to be popular with discus. I feed a combination of beef heart, fish like salmon and granules but I have found discus to be incredibly fussy, mine love beef heart but the shop bought mixes rather than the batches I make. One advantage of beef heart is that, if your fish are ill but still eating you can put medication in it. Anyway best of luck with them.

[Dieselfool]

Al when things calm down and the fish are happier have a look in the feeding section of the forum, lots of people feed earthworms - they seem to be popular with discus. I feed a combination of beef heart, fish like salmon and granules but I have found discus to be incredibly fussy, mine love beef heart but the shop bought mixes rather than the batches I make. One advantage of beef heart is that, if your fish are ill but still eating you can put medication in it. Anyway best of luck with them.

Thanks Malga I will take a look at the feeding forum. I've read that beefheart tends to be messy in the tank.

Update: Things may be turning around here. This morning their colors seem to have started coming back somewhat on most of them. All 8 were out and about whith what looked to be a bit more energy. The 2 worst still seemed a bit slow though. All of them came up to eat, although not a vigorsly as before. 2 of them seem to still be quite dark and 1 proceeded to head right back to sitting on the bottom after feeding. So I think I'll do another 50% w/c and see how that goes.
Al.

[Second Hand Pat]

Al, like Malga suggested, a good BH mix is an excellent choice. If you care to make your own there are several recipes here on simply. ATM I am feeding a seafood mix, blackworms and three types of Ken's flake (sponsor here on simply).

[Darrell Ward]

Sounds like you experienced stress to me. Either from the water itself, or other tank mates. I tend to think a water problem, since they are improving with increased water changes. They don't sound like they are sick, sick discus generally refuse to eat. I agree with the others, a bloodworm diet alone is a poor one. Poor diet can lead to problems also.

[Maria Ashton]

Very glad to hear things are on the up, I have one fish who isnt quite 100%, it goes dark and gets stressed a bit but bounces back, it might be being bullied, I am not sure as I havent seen any evidence of it. Anyway it eats and isnt always dark so I keep hoping. Re beef heart yes it is very messy but it will seriously perk your fish up, even if you only feed it once every few days. I gave it to mine after a disaster with overloading the filter which hadnt cycled and some form of poisoning, saved all the fish with two drastic water changes and after a feed of BH they have not looked back - in fact two of them are breeding now and I dont know what to do.

If you try and keep your feeding to one part of the tank it makes it easier to clean up with a syphon or whatever.

All the best
Maria

[Dieselfool]

Nothing new to update. All 8 are sitll alive at least. I'm beginning to think that this may just be a case of switching them from r/o to tapwater. This is one of the reasons I've resisted the advice to pull them out of the 180 and put them in the 55 alone. If it is just the water, then I wouldn't expect any different outcome. Except putting even more stress on them by having to up-root my whole tank just to get them out of there. My one question about this is, after switching from r/o to tap, would it be un-common for them to be fine for 7 days? Seems like a long time for the affects to kick in. Well I'm back to work tomorrow and may not be home for a day or three so i guess it's just a wait a see for now. My daughter in-law will be feeding and up-dating me, so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.
Once again thanks for all the help.
Al.

[Second Hand Pat]

Al, you could be right about leaving them as they are. Crossing fingers that all will be well.

[Coffee1stLife2nd]

hope everything works out for you...but they do sound like they are getting better... I would like to say this sounds like excellent advice something i haven't read before but will most certainty do this...Thanks for the advice.... **** What I'm looking for is any change in pH. If the Original pH is low and increases over the 24 hour period, then aging the water prior to adding it to the tank is required. ****

[Coffee1stLife2nd]

this is off topic and i do apologize BUT how do you copy and put it in the bubble.. again sorry...

[Second Hand Pat]

Click on the "Reply With Quote" in the lower right corner in the post of interest.

[Coffee1stLife2nd]

What I'm looking for is any change in pH. If the Original pH is low and increases over the 24 hour period, then aging the water prior to adding it to the tank is required.

[Coffee1stLife2nd]

Click on the "Reply With Quote" in the lower right corner in the post of interest.
testing to see if this works...thanks ...

[Dieselfool]

Well me being gone for 4 days may have done the trick. They'er looking alot better. Have 2 that are still kinda dark and hovering around the bottom. But I'm optimistic now. At least all 8 are out.
Al.

[Second Hand Pat]

Hey Al, a WC or two might be just the ticket while you are home. Glad to hear they are doing better. :) Pat

[Dieselfool]

Hey Al, a WC or two might be just the ticket while you are home. Glad to hear they are doing better. :) Pat

1st. thing in the morning. I mean after my coffee of course. LOL.

[Second Hand Pat]

Coffee always comes first ;)

[Maria Ashton]

Really pleased to hear it

[Dieselfool]

Been a couple of days so I thought I'd update. 5 are looking good, 2 are still a little dark and 1 looks like it's on death's front door. 3 of them have seemed to have developed a little bit of tail rot. I'm guessing there immune system has broken down some due to stress. Would I be correct in this assumption? Anyway, went to the LFS and pick up a bottle of Melafix and started treatmeant yesterday. Once I get this all sorted out, maybe I'll just try plop and drop for my next Discus purchase.
Cheers.
Al.

[Dieselfool]

Ohhhhh, 100 posts. Does this mean I officaly in the club? LOL.
Al.

[Maria Ashton]

Can you put the three sick ones in a quarantine tank to treat? Unless you need to worm them I would treat them elsewhere as you'll need a lot of medicine to treat in a large display tank and I understand that there are too many variables working against you in a display tank. Have you thought about doing salt dips with them? There is also PP but I am not familiar with PP but so many other people rate it as a treatment. My little one who goes dark on and off is back to being dark this evening. I am considering salt dipping it tomorrow and returning it to the tank post large wc.

Also worth looking at the thread on heat treatment, will see if I can find it and post the link
Maria

[MKD]

please correct me if i am wrong, no one mention about stress coast or epsom salt. if you have not tried it, try it. It may help in this situation, new fish, switch from R/O to tap. just my 2 cents.

[Dieselfool]

Got home from work tonight and 7 of the 8 are looking real good.
Al.

[Second Hand Pat]

Got home from work tonight and 7 of the 8 are looking real good.
Al.

That is great Al...:thumbsup:

[Maria Ashton]

thats good to hear. I think of your tank and fish every time mine go dark and are reluctant to feed, so far they seem to bounce back - some kind of stress thing but yet to work out what.

[Dieselfool]

thats good to hear. I think of your tank and fish every time mine go dark and are reluctant to feed, so far they seem to bounce back - some kind of stress thing but yet to work out what.

Yeah, most likely just stress. Had all 8 of mine out tonight. But only 7 ate dinner. But the 8th one was getting some color back. Seems to be going back and forth with the color. They've been in there 3 weeks tonight, and 2 weeks with these isssues.
Al.

[Jason K.]

Ohhhhh, 100 posts. Does this mean I officaly in the club? LOL.
Al.
your were in the club with your first post... welcome to the world of discus keeping. I think it was eddie that said..."fix your water and you'll fix your fish..."

[Dieselfool]

Update: Well it looks like everybody is comming around. The 8th one is finaly eating, he's still a bit timid though, but eating non the less. He still goes a bit dark now and again. I'm hoping this is finished with cause I'm not sure who was stressed more, me or the fish. LOL. Hopefully I can get this bit of finrot cleared up soon. I think the next ones I'll just try plop and drop. Once again I'd like to thank everybody for your help.
Al.

[Maria Ashton]

yeay as my kids would say.

[Second Hand Pat]

Al, I never worried about a fish until I had discus. Glad your guys are coming around ;)
Pat