Pale discus

[kctcasey]

Hi all,

I live in the east of Singapore and have been rearing discus for more than 1 year.

I grew my 9 juvenile discus in a 3ft tank with heater and OHF (sponge and ceramic rings). Their colours started to grow while growing in size. A couple of them even started to pair up and appetite was excellent. Fed frozen bloodworm and tetrabits. I wash the sponge from the OHF with tank water.

However 6 months into the hobby they started to lose their colours and appear fatigue, from then on their colours never came back and all of them remained pale.

I've noticed every water change can have different impact on their colours. Their colours can recover about 20% after 1 water change, but their colours can fade after the next water change. They have never returned back to their original colours since 6 months ago.

I was using Pet Fran Water Conditioner while I started the hobby. However 6 months into the hobby, they started to shake their fins violently after doing water change and sometimes turn dark. The symptoms of colour fading and fatigue started. Appetite decreased too. This continued for 1 month.

I switched to Seachem Prime for 3 months. Their colours did return 20% more often, but the symptoms remained.

I switched to Seachem Safe about 2 months ago. No difference in symptoms but most of them had normal appetite again. Tried over dosing just to check for excessive chlorine or heavy metals in our tap water. But nothing has helped.

They are currently all 4" size.

Has anyone encountered similar issue? Would appreciate any form of help or advice to continue this hobby.

[ljohn78]

Hi all,

I live in the east of Singapore and have been rearing discus for more than 1 year.

I grew my 9 juvenile discus in a 3ft tank with heater and OHF (sponge and ceramic rings). Their colours started to grow while growing in size. A couple of them even started to pair up and appetite was excellent. Fed frozen bloodworm and tetrabits. I wash the sponge from the OHF with tank water.

However 6 months into the hobby they started to lose their colours and appear fatigue, from then on their colours never came back and all of them remained pale.

I've noticed every water change can have different impact on their colours. Their colours can recover about 20% after 1 water change, but their colours can fade after the next water change. They have never returned back to their original colours since 6 months ago.

I was using Pet Fran Water Conditioner while I started the hobby. However 6 months into the hobby, they started to shake their fins violently after doing water change and sometimes turn dark. The symptoms of colour fading and fatigue started. Appetite decreased too. This continued for 1 month.

I switched to Seachem Prime for 3 months. Their colours did return 20% more often, but the symptoms remained.

I switched to Seachem Safe about 2 months ago. No difference in symptoms but most of them had normal appetite again. Tried over dosing just to check for excessive chlorine or heavy metals in our tap water. But nothing has helped.

They are currently all 4" size.

Has anyone encountered similar issue? Would appreciate any form of help or advice to continue this hobby.

Hi OP.

Even thou you posted along text but there are still alot of missing information for a proper advice.

1. What is the HOB you are using? Is it adequate for the 6 discus?
2. What is your water parameter before and after water change? pH, gH, kH, ammonia... the typical stuff.
3. You mention you use a heater so what temperature is it set at?
4. How many times are you feeding a day?
5. What percentage water change and frequency?

Given the above questions, i will still try my best to give you some of my 2 cents.

1. If your tank is normal 3 feet 40 gallon, i think you are over the 1 inch per gallon. You have 45 inch per 40 gallon water. Even thou the rule is a rough guide and can be ignored sometimes.

2. Discus need alot of filtration. Typical HOB is just not adequate in my opinion. Furthermore, a 3 feet tank should use a wet dry filter or something more powerful. The HOB might be ok when the discus were smaller but not after they grew for 6 months.

3. So adding point 1 and 2 and without water parameter info, i am guessing your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate level might not be ideal causing stress and delecoloration to the fish.

4. What is your substrate or tank background or lighting? Are there enough hiding spots? Discus color can change according to surrounding too.

5. What is the temp of the fresh water added to the tank? If the water you are adding is not the same as tank water, you can cause temp shock and color change.

6. Shivering the fins and darkening the fins are normal for discus. Its a behaviour to pair up or fight for hierarchy. Unless the fins are clamped to the body then something might be wrong.

7. The above opinions are not exhaustive. There are not enough information to give a thorough analysis but you can use them as a starting point to troubleshoot.

8. Singapore tap water after dechlorinating or ageing are safe for aquarium use. You dont have to worry about the tap water. Something else is the problem unless your house is extremely old then the pipes might be a reason for concern.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

[torque6]

I was wondering why the abnormal influx of newly created accounts in Mar, all starting threads. Someone trying to mask handphone some more LOL. Creating new accounts on AQ just to up your post, I see, I thought only the Republic build clone army, but you have them too. LOL. Put a trail on this thread, and I refuse to reply to this one when it was posted, hoping someone else I know (who isn't the dumbest shit clone), reply to them. But nope. Nothing. Not a single person I know or some other user who frequent the forums. LOL. Posted all questions where only you have the answer. Sherlock me? LOL, stupid people cannot be sherlock. You give me too much credit.

I think you are really sick man. Really really sick. No wonder you are home for an entire year. Probably got retrenched and made redundant because you are so sick, you needed help to get your diapers on. That would explain why you are so jealous with LAWFULLY employed individuals like me. I don’t blame you honestly.

Looks like surgery isn't doing you any good. Forget taking medications as well, because the doctors have given up on you. Just stay away from the forums bro. Coming here will only aggravate your condition and shorten your already short life.

By the way, I don't think clone accounts know what is the “number one rule here” on AQ. Because if you knew, you wouldn't have repeatedly broken it.

[kctcasey]

Thank you for your reply. My replies in blue below.

1. What is the HOB you are using? Is it adequate for the 6 discus? - I'm using Mr Aqua Overhead filter.
2. What is your water parameter before and after water change? pH, gH, kH, ammonia... the typical stuff.
Before - NH3 - 0, NO2 - 0 , NO3 - 40ppm, PH - 6.0
After - All zero, PH - 7.0
3. You mention you use a heater so what temperature is it set at? - 32 Degree
4. How many times are you feeding a day? - Frozen Bloodworms in morning, tetrabits per 3 hour interval.
5. What percentage water change and frequency? - Total 2 times per week. 50% during midweek, 90% on weekend.

Given the above questions, i will still try my best to give you some of my 2 cents.

1. If your tank is normal 3 feet 40 gallon, i think you are over the 1 inch per gallon. You have 45 inch per 40 gallon water. Even thou the rule is a rough guide and can be ignored sometimes.
- Noted

2. Discus need alot of filtration. Typical HOB is just not adequate in my opinion. Furthermore, a 3 feet tank should use a wet dry filter or something more powerful. The HOB might be ok when the discus were smaller but not after they grew for 6 months.
- I'm using MR Aqua Overhead Filter.

3. So adding point 1 and 2 and without water parameter info, i am guessing your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate level might not be ideal causing stress and delecoloration to the fish.
- I'm guessing the sudden change in PH every time i do water change. I realised this after reading your reply, thus bought a small bag of oyster shells to keep the ph constant.

4. What is your substrate or tank background or lighting? Are there enough hiding spots? Discus color can change according to surrounding too.
- Bare Bottom tank with white background on 3 sides
- Hiding spots will be behind the pump and a breeding cone

5. What is the temp of the fresh water added to the tank? If the water you are adding is not the same as tank water, you can cause temp shock and color change.
- I always turn off my heater 12 hours before I do a water change. The water temperature will return to room temperature before I do a water change.

6. Shivering the fins and darkening the fins are normal for discus. Its a behaviour to pair up or fight for hierarchy. Unless the fins are clamped to the body then something might be wrong.
- The fins are sometimes clamped to the body after a water change. Sometimes turning dark or the stress bars appear.

7. The above opinions are not exhaustive. There are not enough information to give a thorough analysis but you can use them as a starting point to troubleshoot.
- Noted. Thanks for your advice. Feel free to let me know what's wrong with my fishkeeping while I'm testing whether the oyster shells make a difference.

8. Singapore tap water after dechlorinating or ageing are safe for aquarium use. You dont have to worry about the tap water. Something else is the problem unless your house is extremely old then the pipes might be a reason for concern.
- Noted. I'm currently using a tap near my tank, and the pipe runs by itself across the house. I might try topping up the tank from a different water source in my house such as the tap from my toilet.