Pet Store Planted Display Tank.

[Mau5]

Hi Everyone!

First off I'm new to this forum so i don't know exactly where i should post this, sorry in advance for the novel.

I work at a pet store and i sell fish. we have a discus tank that is out "planted display". it is a 150 gallon AGA tank with dual over flows. i do about a 30 gallon water change twice a week. nitrates are usually 20-40ppm. tanks temp is constant 84F. ph is around 6.5-7. we use all RO water and i have been putting almond leaves in the sump so help soften the water more.

As of this morning we had about 25 congo tetras 15-20 cardinal tetras, 6-8 sml clown loaches, 6 koi swordtails, 4 threadfin rainbows, ~15 ghost catfish, 12 horse face loaches, 3 farlowella cats, 12 clown plecos, 1 royal pleco, 1 gold nugget pleco, 2 cobalt blue discus, 1 turquoise discus, 2 red pigeon bloods and 1 Marlboro red. ( im probably forgetting a lot as well)

With that being said that is WAY way way to much movement for discus and i imagine some of your jaws dropped by the time i finished that paragraph. i keep trying to tell my manager this and he wouldn't listen. so before i left work tonight i took out everything but the discus, cardinal tetras, gold and royal plecos, and the ghost cats. hes probably not gonna be happy tmw! haha

i have little to 0 experience with these fish. they are beautiful and very interactive! i can feed them right out of my hand-Amazing! but i know they are stressed.

The blue discus stay away from the reds. the reds are not looking good. they eat like champs but they all have black around their dorsal fins and faces.it looks like black spots everywhere, but they aren't raised bumps. they don't have black bars. the 3 blues do though. 1 of the PB is almost completely white now with color only remaining on the edges of its fins. but like i said they all eat very well.

What is the first step to getting these guys back up to health? they are fed live brine, frozen brine, PE mysis because its high in protein and omega 3's and frozen bloodworms. we don't feed flakes or pellets. i don't think they are diseased but i cant be 100%. i know i need to learn more about these guys and i figured you are they experts!

I will try to be as precise with anymore information you require, including pictures if they will help!

i dont want you to think im just another LFS/LPS employee who tries to sell anyfish to anyone that wants to buy them. i care about these animals and im really passionate about aquariums and i take it very seriously. i hate to see fish in distress like this and im not afraid to reach out and ask for help!

-Chris

[Skip]

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?46982-What-not-to-buy

[Skip]

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?86009-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Getting-Started-with-Discus

[rostick555]

Ill let everyone else fill in the gaps but 20-40ppm of nitrates is WAY WAY WAY to HIGH! I would start with daily water changes of 50% and more if you can do it but 50% is a good number to start with. There is a lot of info here on this forum and you should be able to find what you need!

[discuspaul]

Wow Chris, I feel for you, but applaud what you have done so far by removing all those other fish - hopefully your manager will be ok with it. It's a start, but it's likely going to be a long uphill road ahead to make a meaningful inroad into getting those discus in the best of shape, being as they're in a LFS and your mgr. doesn't seem to care about setting that tank up properly.
Tell us, is your store on a central water circulation/filtering system ? I suspect not if you're able to maintain the temp @ 84 F, and that's real good.
If if it is not, my best suggestion at this stage is to try and up the wcs in that tank, to 50% or more, at least 3 X a week - more if you can. Get those nitrates down while you're doing that.
Your feeding seems ok - you could try some good quality flakes, pellets, or granules on occasion.
Pics would be helpful if you can provide them.
Best of luck to you - David vs. Goliath ! You seem like a great person !

[x2h]

pictures would be nice...I've seen discus in my LFS that are as thin as paper...not good. Hope yours are different.

[Mau5]

Paul - The tank is its own system. Its a 150 with dual over flows. it feeds into a proflex 4 sump with 3 filter socks, i just got the wetdry switched to a fuge. we have 4 100 watt heaters so if one sticks their is a failsafe.

warlock- in the "what not to buy" link its similar to the picture in post #5, but its a pigeon blood. id repost but im not good at forum hax. lol

Our 500 gal RO tank didn't have a heater in it so it was a cool 62.6F when i checked it 3 days ago. i plugged in the heater which is a 500 watt titanium heat i believe set on a controller. its taken 3 days to get up to 81.2. so i can do much bigger water changes without worrying about the big temp fluctuations. I was only doing 20 gallons 3 times a week.

I can take some pics tmw.

the day after i most of those fish out the discus were much more active/interactive. id like to see how much of a difference that makes. i also started putting some discus buffer in the tank to help keep the ph more stable. i will also try to incorporate some flake/pellets into thier diet. any brand suggestions?

Thanks for the help guys!

[discuspaul]

You're doing a great job, Chris, - keep it up.
Glad to hear that display tank is on it's own water & other 'supply' - gives you the flexibility of doing larger, more frequent wcs, if you can, along with maintaining proper temp, stable water params, and ability to adopt a more stringent tank & filter cleansing routine - again, assuming you can find the time & the manager allows you to do so.

You won't be able to post pics here until you get at least 10 posts in, but we'll look forward to seeing them when you can.

As for foods, you have a lot of them at the store, so you have your choice don't you.
You could try Omega One flakes, Discus Bio-gold pellets, TetraMin tropical Crisps, Tetra color granules, and frozen foods of course, Bloodworms, Mysis Shrimp, Brine Shrimp, Krill - whatever you have handy - blackworms if you have them - they should take it all.

Now, if your manager will so permit, perhaps you could push things a bit & manage to convince him to get 5 to 8 more discus, or so, in that show tank, and really make it a dazzling display for your customers - and you'll be able to look after them properly to keep them healthy & thriving.
All the best of luck to you.

[shoveltrash]

Chris I applaud you for trying to improve things!

I visited my local big LFS recently.....one of the salesman was bragging "you need to check out our wild Discus upstairs on display!"
with trepidation I went up there, and OY those poor fish :cry:. they looked horrible!
'wish someone who worked there would take personal interest in them :(.

good luck!!!!

[TNT77]

Paul is the #1 person to go to on these forums... everyone else is all about dem post counts
Yes Im sure Skip and everyone else who are here to help are all about post counts except for Paul.

[Skip]

Paul is the #1 person to go to on these forums... everyone else is all about dem post counts


oscarsx, whats up

[TNT77]

oscarsx, whats up
Ohhh haha makes sense lol.