Adrienne

They are looking great David

Time will find out. I found with my 5ft 450 litre, that for the majority the 6 discus were fine, but when they decided to scrap they had really good sessions. I just left them to sort themselves out. I have driftwood in the tank and if any discus was being picked on it would go hole up under or behind the driftwood for several weeks. Make sure there are hiding areas in the tank. You probably know this already - they don't like the bright overhead lights. Give them some floating plants or - like in my tank - have great swords and tiger lotus with their leaves at the top of the tank blocking the plant lights.

You certainly have one stunning looking tank. Do you have any full tank shots or are these them? No pollution in NZ! Thats going a bit far these days. It used to be that way but not so common now. Is this your only tank or do you have more? SamH - its not the fish I want so much although they are nice, its a tank that looks like that that I would love to have.

Are you sure there are only 4 or is that all you can see. What are you feeding them now as they still look very tiny?

Be very careful you don't upset them. They are temperamental fish and if they decide to sulk and not eat then nothing you do will start them eating again.

I would say that this is the dominant male in the tank and he is going to continue to stake his claim against the other male in the tank. My two males with girls used to scrap daily. At the moment they are separated.

Very very nice tank Deepsound. Is it yours?

Okay - the two problems may not even be related. One - Imported fish can carry disease which they have become immune to but when mixed with other fish who have not been exposed to the disease, some of these fish will die. Did your fish died immediately i.e. the first night you put them into your tank or days or weeks afterwards? Two - How long has your friends tank been running and how long had the fish been in the tank before they died. How many fish died and how many are still alive. What type of fish died and what is still alive. I am not quite sure what you mean by ...all of a sudden the tank water and the guppies became sick ... do you mean that there was something wrong with the tank water. Honestly, and I do not want to appear rude, it would really help if you wrote sentences using better grammar. I both work in a school and have three teenagers but I am struggling to make sense of what you are saying.

The one that died today was the mate (not a breeding pair) of the one that died the other day. I had already removed it along with one of my breeding pairs to a different tank. Symptoms were the same as the original one that died, a lot of head up tail down breathing. The breeding pair left in the big tank seem okay atm although not eating a lot, at least they are eating. Everything else in the tank appears fit and healthy.

Lost another of my big discus this afternoon. Not particularly hopeful for the other 4 either. Everything else in the tank is absolutely fine so don't know whats going on.

RIP little man! I will now reassess my options - How long does anyone think it will be until I know if she is alright? The way I see it I have 3 choices once I know she is clear - Keep her as a lone female (which is a waste) Try and get hold of another male (if anyone has one please let me know) Offer her out to one of the peoples like JeniferH who has a pair as a spare female

As a parent I think that fish keeping is a great hobby - gently point out that there are worse things you could be doing and that it is keeping you occupied and off the streets. In fact, you could get a part time job to help pay for the addiction and this would help you pay for your fish and tank/s. Sam is very correct in what he says :lol:

Thanks Zev - I couldn't find that post!

On closer inspection he looks the following - paler than her breathing more heavily red around the head/gills (not not the normal red colouring) and his stomach looks slightly too round for his own good Given the investment in him and I'm not talking money outlay because they weren't that expensive but the fact that there are so few of them in NZ I have put furan 2 in the tank in the hope that it may help.

Have pm'd you the contact details, he also sells on tm. Tanks2U

Tank is okay this morning. I haven't yet tested it but fish are at their normal levels in the tank and the discus are more responsive to me being up at the tank. This, combined with my male hongsloi becoming unwell, has capped off what has most possibly been the worst couple of weeks I have ever had. I have been very very sick and it will be at least 3 more weeks before I have regained my full energy levels. Thank you to those who have contributed with questions and ideas. Everything asked and said has been valid and greatfully received

Can meth blue be used on apistos. I guess I am wondering if I treat the same as I would a fighter with a cotton wool tuft which in my tanks results from an over vigorous male male. He is breathing a little more heavily than her but not a lot. He does move around when she comes up to him.

My male hongsloi has a small cotton wool patch under his eye. He's very quiet in the tank which is unusual given that since I got him 4 weeks ago he has been chasing the female. Now she's ready and he's not. Not knowing a lot about apistos can someone please let me know what the best medication is for him. Is it the same as for other freshwater fish i.e. fighters, guppies? He's currently in a container floating in the tank.

I've used prime today. Phoenix - the airline runs 24/7 anyway. The snails I am working on All I can think of is that I have fed a new type of food a couple of times in the last couple of weeks but I tend to feel it has something to do with the filter clean and perhaps the tank is cycling again.

Well, discus back up at the top of the tank again this morning as well as literally hundreds of snails. pH6, nitrites 0, nitrate between 0 & 5, ammonia between .5 &1. All fish still alive, so currently doing another water change. I haven't added salt to the tank, don't want all my plants killed and not sure about my fancy plecos tolerance to it either but will head for HFF at 10am this morning and get some ammo lock (something which goes against my idea of good fish keeping principals!). Tank is not overstocked - 6 discus (now 5), 2 choc zebs, 1 tiger, 1 king tiger, 2 minute bn, 15 sterbai, 3 SAE (now 2), 2 hatchets, 8 harlequins, 20 rummynose & 1 lone surviving cardinal. Filter - fx5, media ceramic noodles, sintered glass and ?(can't remember the third). I don't have wool pads in the filter as I find it doesn't run as smoothly. Also an airline running 24/7. also - forgot to say that I haven't fed the fish for 24 hours and will wait until this evening to feed again. Normally feed tetra colour granules twice daily and blood worms every 2-3 days in the evenings.

Tap water as per normal. Same as my other 17 tanks and they are all okay.

Well, now at home and the fish are still all alive. One of the orange discus has his full colouring back but my white diamond is still not looking too happy and neither is one of the remaining SAE. Ammonia is now at 0 which is where it normally is. Ira - I do 2 to 3 50% + waterchanges a week so its not that. All I can think of is that there was a ammonia spike overnight and I only got the end reading of it this morning.

Came out this morning to turn my tank lights on and could see two of my discus air breathing (or trying to). Got closer to the tank - all the trumpet snails at the top of the water line. A few steps further on - one dead big SAE and ... in the corner one of my large discus dead. Turned the lights on to see all my fish gasping. Tested water - ammonia .5 - .75 , nitrates 5. The only thing I can link it to is a clean and rinse of the fx5 two weeks ago. I only cleaned out one media basket properly and rinsed everything else in tank water as per usual. Yesterday did a 50 - 60% water change and am currently doing another 50%. I have to go to work so can not do more this morning. This is the second time its happened, the last was 16 months ago on the same tank and I hope it never happens again. I will know the collateral damage in a couple of weeks when the old and weak of the remaining fish (probably most of my rummynose which are very old - older than my tank) give in to the damage they will have suffered. The fish that died were the smallest and most picked on of the discus and an old SAE but all the same, what a way to go.

I got 6 discus and ended up with 2 pairs. These spawn in the community planted tank all the time but my reason for not breeding them is the same as yours - I just simply don't have the time for total daily water changes for months. My 6 are fine until one pair breeds then all hell lets loose in the tank. The male bales the other 4 up at the far end of the 5ft tank until the eggs hatch the the fry get gobbled up by the harlequins. Peace then resumes for a few days until they spawn again.

My hair algae is directly linked to the amount of time my t5HO lights are on. The only way I am keeping it in check is to pick it off every day