argh. discus problem.

[loupgarou]

a) some of my discus have turned black, and some have a slime coating or their eyes are getting opaque.

my water parameters are:

PH 6.8
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
KH 10

has to be my KH right@!!!!. darn. dunno what happened to it. lol.


gonna do a 75% water change

[Simon]

did yr water perimeter change frequently? u had them for how long? sounds like stress to me

[loupgarou]

yaeh. was tweaking kh/co2/ph.

hmm. ok: I'll reduce co2 and reduce bicarbonate after the water change.

I suspect at kh 10 and a ph of 6.8 I'm overdosing on co2

[Simon]

do a water change, it helps

[loupgarou]

3 of my juvenile discus died.

[Simon]

how long did u actually have them?

[David]

hi loupgarou

sorry to hear of your discus...ooh well, just take that as a learning curve....

On hindside loupgarou, your KH is way too high and at ph of 6.8..well you already know that you have over injected....Your 75% water change call is too risky...no doubt that you reduced the CO2 volume in the water column, but think you may have forgotten that your KH would have collapes from 10 to 5 or even 4, that may have unstablised your water parameter especially the PH level....chances likely on the upside...perhaps a 40% water change and an airstone may have been a better call.

[loupgarou]

actually might suspect disease even. "discus plague" eeks.

ok: out of the 6 remaining discus, 2 are doing well, in that they don't change color, no slime coating. these would be the discus in my tank the oldest: about 5 mths.

a hardy pearl gourami died as well.

my remaining four were bought from fishio since 2 weeks ago. red golden albino, turquoise, snakeskin and blue diamond. all of them are suffering from stress or something, 3 are black, huddling at the water surface, even flat sometimes, the gill are almost exposed or the gill plate shrunk. slime coating is heavy almost making the eyes opaque.


remaining fish seem fine to me

[Simon]

the first thing when u realise yr KH is so high, u shld do a major water change.. but its too late liao.. hows the rest of them now?

[David]

hi loupgarou

dont think it is discus plague...here's an article about it....


Discus Plague

[loupgarou]

rest of the discus are floating except for the strong ones. my silver arowana at 13 inches jumped out and died.

doing another water change. I have no idea what is in the water. all water parameters are fine.

2 barbs,3 clown loaches, otos are doing fine.

[loupgarou]

another casualty today.

3 are doing well,almost perfect, suspect the other 2 will be fine eventually (cos they aren't floating upside down, but still black.)

[Simon]

they must been super stressed

[AirStern]

me just started my discus collection .... (david, finally i pluck up the courage to have discus)

a bit of my collection, i have two juvenile turqoise discus in my planted tank ..... red checkerboard, golden snakeskin and royal blue spotted in one bare tank ...

so far the only casualty is one checkerboard. which makes me left with 5 others ... kena slime and look utter stress up that time ....

all i felt is that the discus is really stress up, do you put up with other fishes as well?

[loupgarou]

I think that chinese algae eater is also a super source of stress. now dunno how to get it out. feel like transmore the whole tank.. heh

[Simon]

u have otos? ever seen them eating the slime off yr discus? seen anything u think is stressing them? have u tried salt bath and increase the temp is ard 30?

[loupgarou]

hmm: I'll try the salt bath (how much concentration?). there's only 1 discus left that's still very black.

I got rid of the CAE already, it learned how to fly.

the oto's are harmless I think. don't see them attacking discus unlike the cae where the discus had to struggle to shake it off

[Simon]

check the salt bath for white spot thread

[David]

hi airstern

welcome to the world of discus keeping... sound me up if you need help

[akoh]

Guys ! don't forget Temp.! it should be abt 30 degree C. The last time I had this problem , I tried the " blackening medication " purchased from the taiwanese lfs. Put in half the recommendation and at same time throw in a heater, and they recovered a couple days later ! , man ! check it out ! cheers !

Akoh
Safe Diving !