Discus Probs

[MartyM]

Hey there

Have a wee delema, I have recently added two discus fish to my comunity tank and everything has been ok but the amonia level has started to go up. I have a 150L tank. With a aqua one cf70 ex filter unit.

I have been told it may be due to the extra food that goes into the tank as I have noticed my self that the discus are very picky and messy eaters. Most of the left overs are hovered up by the corys (love those little guys) but I am concered about the Amonia levels as they are sitting at about .5 to 1 on the test kit scale.

I have some Amolock but I am unsure whether to use this or not, dose it knock about the bacteria cycle in the tank that will be trying to correct the current situation.

I was also told today to only feed the discus every two days, seams odd as I am sure its twice a day. they are about 10cm in diameter.

Thanks

Marty

[nz_mitch]

Here's my guess (as a beginner myself, may I caveat): The ammonia is likely due to the added bio-load of the two discus' excretion. I'd assume you should just increase the frequency of water changes to compensate while the bacteria which convert ammonia to nitrite increase in number.

...perhaps wait for someone's confirmation or condemnation of my suggestion!

[Luke*]

How long has the tank/filter been running? Is it cycled? Shouldn't be picking up ammonia. I agree with nz_mitch, up the water changes. Discus love fresh water which at the same time will rid the ammonia. Ammo-lock will get rid of all ammonia and then the filter won't be 'fed'.

Juvenile discus are best 6 times per day and with lots of fresh water gets the best growth. If you're not worried about growing prize fighers 2x per day is fine. Feed them more than once every 2 days and they like a higher temp too.

[suphew]

really need to know how many fish you have, what filter you are using, and how long the tank has been setup. It's unusual 2 see amonia in a tank that has been running for any time. Did you put the water the fish came in into the tank? It's possible that they were being medicated, and this has killed the bacteria in your tank.

I would be doing daily water changes with aged water for a week or so, normally if you had a low fish load you could just wait an let the cycle happen but since the amonia has increased you need to keep it at a lowish level. Also if the Discus look fat and healthy you could stop or lower the feeding for a week, till things are under control this wont hurt them at all.