RochelleMay Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Hey all, Im hoping someone can please help me. We have a discus tank with 5 3cm - 7cm discus in it. Yesterday I noticed our biggest one "Mo" wasn't eating when normally hes the greedy one. Thought it could be cause he was being fussy and wanted his favourite (bloodworms) And have just come home from work and found him resting on a leaf near the top of the tank. Hes very limp, with no real noticable signs of sickness only this all of a sudden. I have placed him in a hospital tank with a heater which is currently on 29/30 and occasionally using the bubble blower thing. What else can I do? I want him to live he is my favourite . I am about to do a water test so will advise of the parameters once I have done that. But any help in advance will be awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RochelleMay Posted January 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Oh ok, I think I may have found my problem. My Ammonia is about 8.0 Which is weird because I do a water change every other day and only tested it on tuesday and it was 0. My other water parameters are Nitrate - 0 pH - 6.8 (which it has been for the last few months and is not a problem with the discus as it is stable) Ammonia - 8 Nitrite - .10 So now my problem is what can I do to lower my ammonia so my other fish don't get sick. And to prevent mo from going to fishy heaven? And what would make my ammonia have that bigger spike within 3 days? The tank has been set up for 4 or so months so is all cycled etc and never had any problems. ARGH PLEASE HELP And also how can the ammonia go that high in only Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Hi sorry so hear your discus is not well. If the ammonia is reading that high I would immeditly do a big water change at least 50% and daily water changes till levels are reading at 0 again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RochelleMay Posted January 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Oh mypoor MO is dead . I have done a large water change also cleaned the sponge in the filter but left the rest so I dont loose all my bacteria. put in some ammo lock to temporarily help with the spike and also some melafix. Thats all I really know to do. Hope its enough for my wee guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Hi, i'd be doing a 50% water change (new water going in should be within a couple of degrees of tank water) and 25% daily tillits back to 0. The spike could be caused by a dead fish or most likely overfeeding. My Oscars are shocking eaters loosing heaps of food from their mouth and gills so i use a bare bottom tank, feed them daily and 1 hr after feeding they get a water change/food vac which keeps the water mint. What dimensions are the tank they are in and how many litres were you changing every second day, also what type of filtration do you use and whats the normal temp? Hope that helps Sorry to hear about loosing him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RochelleMay Posted January 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 It is a smallish tank I think about 60L its an Aquaone so has a filter preinstalled. The tank has 3 discus about 3cm and now 1 about 5cm. And they had been getting fed a 3 times a day but only the smallest amount since we have had them and then a week ago I cut it down to 2 a day as I am at work so couldnt do their lunch Normal temp is about 28 and everyother day I do a gravel vac and do about 30% water change. Just to get rid of all theier uneaten food. They are little guts though and theirs not normally much food left over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Check your filter to make sure its not clogged with muck. Big water changes each day. Add an airline or airstone as high ammonia will make them come up to the surface for air. 60 litres is probably a little on the small side unless you are doing big daily water changes. They will grow faster if you change the water daily anyway. I had this happen in December and lost one of my discus + heaps of cardinals and neons. Cause I think was the filter wool was clogged and I had been a bit slack over the previous 10 days on water changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RochelleMay Posted January 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 IT is small but I couldnt afford a bigger tank at the time and just want to grow them out before seperating them into the community tank - So far we have 3 large ones in ours and 3 in my dads tank , with no problems at all. So if I keep doing my gravel vac and water change daily would that be ok? And I will add in an air stone to. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 60L just wont cut it for discus. if you do have a chemical problem in the tank, the low volume of water will mean the change in water parameters will be more dramatic. try putting them in a larger tank, or maybe planting the tank as much as you can. Indian fern is great - you can leave it on the water, and the roots get rid of a lot of nasties. as for ammonia spikes - more frequent water changes will be needed. hOPE this helps, and the rest of your fish do well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 How deep is the gravel? I just took it all out of my oscar tank (4 buckets) because the leftover food was getting into the substrate and even with daily 90ltr water changes i couldnt keep up, but with no gravel (i think discus are happy in bare bottom tanks just doesnt look the nicest)about 20ltrs a day to suck up uneaten food is working wonders (brown algae on the back glass dying off now). You could say theres no such thing as to many water changes. I have heard of some discus keepers doing 90% daily as they are fussy with water quality. Bigger is always better as well, there have been a couple of AR980's on here for around $400 which are 215ltrs and more suitably sized. I have an AR850 and found the built in filter is only suitable for low-med stocking levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RochelleMay Posted January 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 The gravel isn't deep at all only 1cm or so. to keep my plants in place really. And the tank is only temporary until they grow enough to go into bigger tanks, Unfortunatly IM a poor student and really cant afford anthing else. It has be fine up until now thats why I was so shoked that it was so high. 2 of them will be going into our community tank in a week or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majik Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Hi ya you could also add salt at 1 T per 40 ltr this wont help much in regards to the ammonia but it will help if you get traces of nitrite which you may with an ammonia spike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Your tank is too small to grow the discus out in you need to be doing at least 50% water changes daily with de chlorinated water same ph temp etc, larger water changes if you can. In a tank this size ammonia etc will build up very fast and this is what will stunt or kill your discus. What size are your other tanks? If I was you I would loose all the gravel, if you really want plants put them in pots or something or use things like indian fern which can float and look cool, or java fern which doesn't really need to be planted. Any uneaten food will hide in the gravel and it wont take you missing much of that to create an ammonia spike in a 60L tank which again will cause problems. Also how old is your test kit? They do expire (have heard ph ones don't) but am unsure on ammonia etc test kits if yours is older I would replace it and retest just to be sure. Also the built in filter might not be doing a very good job they're not known for being very flash.. Maybe get a sponge filter or something else as well. Good luck and I hope you don't have anymore problems or losses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RochelleMay Posted January 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 Our other tank is a over 286 litres. And a couple of the discus are also going into dads tank which I think is similar sizing maybe a touch bigger. I will put in a sponge filter and am going to transfer 3 of the discus into the other tank so their is only 2 in their. Will also do a clean and take out gravel. And my test kit is only a couple months old so that shouldn't be a problem. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discusguru Posted January 31, 2009 Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 sorry to hear about your discus problem. If you intend to grow them up then it's better to take out the gravel. Do a 50% water change daily and slowly increase the amount daily until you can do a total WC (turn heater off first). That will get rid of everything that is causing the problem. ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RochelleMay Posted February 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RochelleMay Posted February 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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