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Discus suddenly skittish and not eating so well...


roger

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Hiya

I have a 350l tank with 5 Discus, 2 GBN, 20-something cardinal tetras, 6 Rams, 5 leopard catfish.

It's got lots of plants and some BBA & cyno.

The fish have been awesome until about a week ago. The discus have suddenly become shy. They run and hide when anyone approaches the tank where as they used to all come to the front for food. Now they seem to eat only reluctantly.

All rams and cardinals still come to the front for food. My GBN has been busy with eggs/ babies. I did have 2 girls and a bloke (GBN's) but this morning I found one of the girls dead and looking a bit munted :(

I've been getting a little worried at the change in the discus's behaviour and the dead bristlenose but this afternoon I've discovered two of the discus with eggs!!

I'm guessing the water is OK as the discus and bn are laying eggs but I'm still a little worried at the suddenly shy discus. Is it just like a human household where new babies change everything and everyone acts a little weird??? Or is my PH too low? I've read so much on the internet and so much of it is contradictory...

TIA

Cam

Temp 29 deg C

Ammonia 0 (always)

Nitrite 0 (always)

Nitrate 2-5ppm

PH 6.0 (that's as low as my test kit goes)

I use filtered rain water with about 3x 30% water changes per week.

Dose 15ml flourish excel 2x a day

5b8ac48b.jpg

PS Feel free to laugh at my algae garden....

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Things can certainly change when Discus are guarding their eggs.

Did this behaviour only start when the Discus laid??

When did you do your last water change??

No - they only laid today but all Discus been odd for about a week. I hadn't seen any pairing up or aggressive behavior out of the norm. Maybe they only fought when I wasnt looking - a bit like my kids ;-)

2 days ago for the water change

Thanks

Cam

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I had one tank of growout fish, juveniles to sub adults. They would go through periods of a similiar annoying/upsetting behaviour. No matter how cautious you were around the tank, one would do a mad dash and the rest would follow, crashing into things and damaging their bodies. Then they would be fine for a long period of time and then revert back to the silly behaviour.

Discus are rather complex when it comes to their emotional side, but are aslo quite simple at times and the 'pack mentality' rules their behaviour ie one dashes so they all do.

I have given up worrying about their swings in mood, and mad dashing, and not eating. I now just leave them to it and they always sort it out, eventually.

Spawning Discus will always change the mood of a tank full of Discus, but I have never had the mad dash behaviour caused by a spawning pair.

Two of my discus community tanks are producing 3 lots of fry every week, and there is no mad dashing, just lots of territory defence.

Hope that helps?

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Hi Roger

Yeah more than likely just the breeding causing the problem

leading into the spawning.

Maybe a ph crash? rain water doesn't offer much buffering capacity,you could mix it with tap

especially when using co2 can drop the ph

How long have you been adding the excel?

Not sure about the dose and its effects on the discus, maybe someone can offer some help

just a few thoughts.

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Hi Roger

Yeah more than likely just the breeding causing the problem

leading into the spawning.

Maybe a ph crash? rain water doesn't offer much buffering capacity,you could mix it with tap

especially when using co2 can drop the ph

How long have you been adding the excel?

Not sure about the dose and its effects on the discus, maybe someone can offer some help

just a few thoughts.

Hi Flosty

The PH is usually low side. Although it has been sitting about 6.2-6.4. The filtered rain water is what comes out of my tap as I'm on tank water ;-)

I did consider trying CO2 but was cautious about poisoning the tank as I have such soft water.

I've been dosing Flourish Excel for 3 or 4 months now - more to try and get rid of the Black Beard Algae than for the plants but all I've had so far is excellent growth on my plants AND my algae - doh!

Any thoughts are great - thank you

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Discus are sensitive to flourish excel but in saying that I dose every day without issues. If you mix the excel in water before adding it, it will help as ime the discus seem to like to swim directly through where the excel has just been poured.

The best way to kill off the bba is to get hold of a syringe and squirt the excel directly on to it. You will notice it turning red within a couple of days and ime once it starts to die off the other bba in the tank seems to reduce. Work your way around the tank.

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Discus are sensitive to flourish excel but in saying that I dose every day without issues. If you mix the excel in water before adding it, it will help as ime the discus seem to like to swim directly through where the excel has just been poured.

The best way to kill off the bba is to get hold of a syringe and squirt the excel directly on to it. You will notice it turning red within a couple of days and ime once it starts to die off the other bba in the tank seems to reduce. Work your way around the tank.

Wow - that's some great information - thank you!

I dose Excel 15ml morning and night (using a dosing pump as I'm notoriously forgetful) into the corner filter thingy so it isn't directly into the tank.

Cheers

Cam (off to get my syringe out and kill me some BBA)

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Hmmm should we be concerned he has a syringe handy to use? :gigl:

Oh oh oh!!! Bugger - that does sound bad! I have a reef tank too and use a syringe (like the ones to give my kids Pamol) to target feed corals. Honestly...

and I'm a she ;-)

Cheers

Cam

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