discus smashing into glassand swimming very fast

[mikalli]

hi there could someone please help me have had one of my discus swimming very fast and smashing into the glass and then goes to the corner of tank breathing very fast for a few minutes and changes colour to a very light colour.breatheing very rapidlyand then settles down after 10 min.has done this three times today and twice the oyher day.his stomach looks like its sunken in at times.very confused as water is great and temp thanking you :(

[Merrilyn]

First thing, turn the tank light out, and just leave the room light on.

Usually this sort of behaviour is due to a high bacteria count in the water. Now, there's no test that you can perform at home to test this theory, but what you can do, is do a very large water change. This will usually settle the fish down again.

Discus are known to dash thru the tank when startled by something, and if the bacteria count in the water is high, it seems to irritate them and they do it more frequently.

Try that, and let me know how you go.

[mikalli]

thankyou lady red will try now how long will i leave light out for have just done big water change

[Merrilyn]

I'd leave it off for the rest of the night. See how they are in the morning, and you can turn the light back on then.

Keep me posted.

[Mulisha]

I have had his happen to my fish when i had them in a BB tank they were very touchy if u know what i mean u couldn't go near them quickly or do anything fast near them. Now i have moved them from a 3ft BB tank to a gravel planted tank 5ft and couldn't see much happyier fish :lol: :lol:

Does your tank have any sides painted to minmise reflection?

HTH

[mikalli]

thanks for your reply no dont have any sides painted tank has gravel in it and plants .do u think it could be the reflection on side of tanks

[Trebs]

What's the ammonia and nitrite readings?

[Mulisha]

Well i think reflection plays a big part in it becuase they don't feel sercure with none of the sides covered also covering the side with hide all your cords and highlight your plants and fishs colours i would go for a light blue it makes the fishs colours stand out well.

for example if you were put in a large glass box with no side covered or anything and put in the middle of the shopping center would you feel scared LOL?

That's how they must feel so IMO covering the sides is a must :lol: :lol:

HTH

[mikalli]

hi there trebs thanks for your reply have just checked readings P.H is 6.4 ammonia is 0.50 nitrate is 40 nitrite is 0ppm temp is 29.5 .and yesterday readings were p.h 6.0 ammonia is 0.25 nitrate is 40 nitrite is 0.0ppm .yesterdays readings were before i started my water change now i have two doing it and they are really flipping out bad at times could somebody please advise me very confused what to do i have turned air stone up.thanking you.

[Trebs]

The Ammonia is the problem, you really need to get that down. Firstly,
What % water changes are you doing?
How long has the tank been running?
Anything changed in the setup recently?
What is the PH of the water you are adding when changing water?
Has your PH been any lower than 6 recently?

Lots of Q's I know but it will help us help you.

Turning up the airstone will help, keep that running. Also cut way back on your feeding.

[G-1000]

Trebs

It may be a possibility that the ammonia levels slightly increased due to the water conditioner used in the water change.

Still, to have nitrates of 40 means you need to perform more frequent water changes OR you have a lot of decaying material in your tank.

G

[Trebs]

Not sure what you mean G. Did you mean to say there is ammonia already present in the tap water used for the wc? If so, that's certainly worth checking the ammonia level of the water before adding it to the tank.

[Merrilyn]

Mikalli, test your water in your waterchange barrel, or if you are using tap water, then test that.

Your ammonia reading should be zero. Any ammonia reading is too much. Nitrates of 40 are too high also. They should be below 10. What type of water conditioner are you using, and are you adding anything else to the tank, eg fertilizer or some other water conditioner. How are you maintaining your water at pH of 6.4. Is that natural from the tap, or are you using something to drop the pH.

[mikalli]

hi there all thankyou so much for your infornmation .havent changed a thing in tanksince been set up tank has been running great for last six months.ph has always stayed around 6.0 and never fluctuatuate.and ammonia has always sat at oppm.only last two weeks have noticed ammonia started to rise.have added toxivec this afternoon to lock up the ammonia.should i do a water change.have been doing water change once a week 25%have a 650litre tank. cannister filter and a internal filter have never had problems before as check water parameters weekly and record them.i use tap water and prime to take chlorine out.and also use discus buffer and discus trace vac gravel once a week.always nitrate has sat at 40ppmnitrite has always been 0ppm.tap water has a reading of 7.6. my snow white and red turquise and gold millenium are the biger ones in tank and they are the ones hitting into the glass really hard and swimming so fast where my younger ones seem to be ok.am feel so helpless what should i do perform a water change again they had one yesterday .please can you help as is happened very often now

[mikalli]

just checked tap water it is saying ph is7.6 ammonia 0.50ppm

[mikalli]

hi there all thankyou so much for your infornmation .havent changed a thing in tanksince been set up tank has been running great for last six months.ph has always stayed around 6.0 and never fluctuatuate.and ammonia has always sat at oppm.only last two weeks have noticed ammonia started to rise.have added toxivec this afternoon to lock up the ammonia.should i do a water change.have been doing water change once a week 25%have a 650litre tank. cannister filter and a internal filter have never had problems before as check water parameters weekly and record them.i use tap water and prime to take chlorine out.and also use discus buffer and discus trace vac gravel once a week.always nitrate has sat at 40ppmnitrite has always been 0ppm.tap water has a reading of 7.6. my snow white and red turquise and gold millenium are the biger ones in tank and they are the ones hitting into the glass really hard and swimming so fast where my younger ones seem to be ok.am feel so helpless what should i do perform a water change again they had one yesterday .please can you help as is happened very often now

[mikalli]

just checked tap water it is saying ph is7.6 ammonia 0.50ppm

[mikalli]

just checked tap water it is saying ph is7.6 ammonia 0.50ppmhi there lady red can you please help

[fishgeek]

flicking or flashing is most commonly due to water or external parasites

prehaps if you suspect that even your source water is less than ideal use some polyfilter(resin that will bind most organic and inorganic pollutants)

then you need to source clean water for future water changes

[Merrilyn]

Hi mikalli. The ammonia reading in your tap water explains why you are getting ammonia readings in your tank. The Prime that you are using to neutralize the chlorine will be binding up the ammonia so that it's not toxic, but you will still be getting a reading of ammonia when you do a test.

I'd like you to try something. Do a 50% waterchange today and again for the next three days. Don't add any discus buffer or discus trace. Just simply add the required amount of Prime.

I'm concerned that your tap water is 7.6 and yet your tank tests at a pH of 6. What else do you have in your tank other than driftwood? Plants, ornaments, rocks? That's a huge drop in pH.

I still believe that there is something in the water that is causing the irritation. Maybe the combination of the chemicals, and maybe the fact that your tap water has changed so much.

Can you talk to the local shop, or maybe some other local breeders, and see if they are experiencing similar problems with the water. If this persists, you may need to invest in an RO unit to filter out the unwanted toxins from your water.

Keep me posted.